In 2018, UW Recreation began campaigning for a $13 million restoration of the old shell house to shed light on its history and enrich the waterfront.

[2] After the United States entered World War I in 1917, the University of Washington granted the government access to its campus facilities for U.S. naval training and storage.

The Shell House was also partially transformed into a workshop for George Yeoman Pocock, the renowned boatbuilder who previously built pontoons for the Boeing company.

[1] Six years later, George Pocock relocated his business off campus,[5] and in 1969, the newly revived UW women's rowing program took over the Shell House.

[1] It wasn't until the release of The Boys in the Boat and a campaign by the University's Recreation department in 2018 that the Shell House became recognized by the public for its rich history.

[5][7] The University set in motion its efforts to renovate the ASUW Shell House by 2021[1] and "bring long overdue attention to [the] entire waterfront.