By RUTH SCHUBERT
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

In a neighborhood that liberally offers up gargoyles, body piercing and video-simulated intergalactic battle games, Patty Whisler might be considered part of a subculture: the family-oriented homeowner.

Whisler and her husband, UW botany Professor Howard Whisler, have lived in the northeastern end of the U-District for 34 years. They raised two daughters and one son there, sending them to the now-closed University Heights Elementary School.

"It seems to me that what we've been trying to do is preserve this very delicate balance between family living . . . and the inevitable youth culture that grows up around university campuses," says Whisler, who continues to work on planning for the Urban Center.

The Whislers live in the haven of single-family homes north of campus. Tied together by the Olmsted-designed 17th Avenue with its grand canopy of Horse Chestnut trees, the neighborhood has long attracted tenured faculty, artists and architects, doctors and lawyers.

Interspersed, however, are homes that landlords have broken down into rooming houses.

On a recent evening, block watch captain Judith Osman was busily dropping off warning letters to absentee landlords.

"Sometimes tenants move in who do not think of themselves as members of a neighborhood," the letter warned. Osman and other neighbors want to retain the family atmosphere.

Continued:

• Young, vibrant, hard to pigeonhole
• Small city grew around a campus
• Balance sought in future growth