Seattle Culture

UW Launches Final Phase of Campaign to Restore Historic ASUW Shell House

Effort coincides with release of The Boys in the Boat on Christmas day

By Rob Smith November 10, 2023

ASUW Shell House, between 1923 and 1926.
ASUW Shell House, between 1923 and 1926.
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, UW 41962

The race is on.

The University of Washington has launched the final phase of an ambitious campaign to restore the historic shell house where the 1936 Gold-medal winning Olympic rowing team once trained.

The “Pull Together” campaign is designed to encourage final gifts toward the renovation of the century-old ASUW Shell House on the Montlake Cut. About $500,000 is remaining toward the $18.5 million goal.

The effort coincides with the George Clooney-directed movie celebrating the 1936 team, The Boys in the Boat, which will be released Christmas day. The Pull Together effort will be officially unveiled during the UW-Utah football game on Nov. 11. An official UW rowing pregame tailgate in “The Zone” will be followed by several in-game activities, including a screening of the official “The Boys in the Boat” trailer. 

Other activities include the Nov. 24 opening of an exhibit at the Museum of History and Industry featuring artifacts from the 1936 team, and tours of the shell house on Nov. 25.

The movie is based on the bestselling book The Boys in the Boat by Redmond author Daniel James Brown.

“One of my favorite parts of the story is what happened here in Seattle when the community learned that the Olympic committee didn’t have funds to send the boys to Berlin, and that the team from Penn might be sent in their place,” Brown says. “We have this new opportunity to harness the energy of the story again to bring still more light and goodness into the world.”

Contribute to the Pull Together campaign here.

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