Seattle

12 min readFeb 10, 2023

Pioneer Square is the city’s oldest neighborhood having been rebuilt in 1889 after a massive fire took out most of the existing city.

There you will find the bust of Chief Si’ahl (1790–1866) leader of the Duwamish and Suquamish people at the time of first European settlement. Beneath the bust is two double-sided panels featuring quotations by the Chief given during the treaty negotiations of 1854. The sides facing us is in Lushootseed (Chief Seattle’s native language). You will find the English translation on the other side. One panel reads: “Far away brothers and sisters, we still remember you” while the other one reads: “Chief Seattle, now the streets are our home.”

In the vicinity of this Occidental Park you have the 50-foot totem pole and there is an interesting story behind it. The totem pole belonged to the Tlingit indigenous people in Alaska. A group of Seattle businessmen visiting Alaska in 1899 shockingly seized it without permission from the Tlingit village and brought it to Seattle. The tribe sued and won, but the pole remained in Pioneer Square until 1940 when fire damaged it and the tribes were summoned to build a replica.

Flanking the square is the Pioneer Building completed in 1892- three years after the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. During the mining boom in the Klondike, over thirty mining companies held offices in the building. It was “Seattle’s finest speakeasy” in the 1920s during Prohibition. The building fell into disrepair in the 1930s and was fortunately added to the National Historic Places list in 1970 and saw significant renovation by 1980. Today it houses offices for small businesses.

Building you see below is the Good Arts Building. Completed in 1890, throughout the years, the building has been a hub of entrepreneurial, creative, and colorful endeavors. The name “Good Arts” pays homage to “Good Eats,” a two-story diner once housed in its walls. The building has also been home to department stores, a cigar shop, jazz club, boxing gym, brothels, speakeasies, and the original office of Washington Mutual Savings Bank.

The Cadillac Hotel pictured below is renowned for being the first building built after the Great Fire in 1889 and the oldest in Pioneer Square. Throughout the years it survived an attack by an arsonist in 1970 and an earthquake in 2001. After renovations it today serves as Klondike Gold Rush Museum ran by the National Parks Service.

The most striking thing you notice is the fiberglass horse atop the entrance. It hints about the original occupants of the building: Duncan & Sons, saddle makers, from 1920 to 1970. The horse was left it in place even after the business moved only to disappear during rehabilitation work after the 2001 earthquake but recently has been returned.

The Furuya Building housed the M. Furuya Co., the Pacific Northwest’s most successful Japanese import/export business. It was then converted into a business block and three stories were added in 1905 during a decade of great population growth and economic growth in Seattle.

I couldn’t dig up anything about this structure but got to love the mounted clock on the corner of the building

Although their name remains painted in bold letters on the side of the building Washington Shoe Co. is still in business today but no longer occupies the Pioneer Square location. Built in 1892, the Washington Shoe Building was originally a manufacturing location and retail store for the Washington Shoe Company. During the 1897 Klondike Gold Rush, the company supplied boots to incoming stampeders in Seattle who were on their way to Alaska to seek their fortunes.

Constructed in 1890, this café is one of the oldest operating restaurants at its original location in the Seattle area and possibly on the west coast. With its notorious history as a saloon, hotel, and even a brothel, this location reportedly has more than its share of ghostly inhabitants, and has been named one of the most haunted locations in America.

Next exhibit is the Interurban building. Completed in 1892, the building served as an interurban railroad depot and ticket office until 1920.

Really the landmark building of this area is the Smith Tower. In 1914, Smith Tower became the first skyscraper in Seattle and the tallest building west of the Mississippi River. For more than one hundred years, it has remained a cultural icon of the city, offering breathtaking, panoramic views and spectacular architectural beauty.

Th Federal Office building is an 11-story building that covers an entire city block near Seattle’s Pioneer Square area. The Federal Office Building is an exuberant example of Art Deco architecture emphasizing verticality and is heavily ornamented with stylized, geometric motifs.

Most Seattleites identify this building as “the one with the walrus tusks” because of the walrus-head cartouches visible on the building’s third level. When the building opened in 1917, it was the first downtown building to use exterior color in terra cotta. The original purpose was gathering place for the Arctic Club originally established by two explorers after a successful trip to the Klondike Gold Rush. Club served to foster trade between Seattle and Alaska. The Arctic Building was the second home of the Arctic Club and the second “Arctic Building” in Seattle. When the Arctic Club disbanded in 1971, the ground floor was subsequently used as retail space, with upper stories leased as offices for the Seattle Department of Community Development. In 2008, ownership of the building transferred to the global hotelier, Hilton, and it is operated today as the Arctic Club DoubleTree Hotel

The Exchange Building was originally completed in 1929 to house the Seattle Stock Exchange. It was converted to office space following the market crash and received landmark status in 1990. Early tenants of the building were innovators like Edison Lamp Works, General Electric, and Standard Oil.

King Street Station which opened in 1906 was financed by JJ Hill whom we learned about in St Paul. It formed the terminus of the Great Northern Railroad and the Northern Pacific. Designed by St. Paul–based architects Reed and Stem, more famously behind New York’s City’s Grand Central Station. Today it serves Amtrak and the Sound Transit Commuter trains.

Lumen Field is the stadium where the NFL Seattle Seahawks play at. Current stadium is at the same site of the former Kingdome stadium whose debris was recycled, with about half of it being utilized in the construction of the new stadium. The soil at the site was a tidal marsh top layer of which is a soft fill that was salvaged from grading work that flattened parts of Seattle’s hills. That was pilings driven 50 to 70 feet below ground level to form a foundation pier.

The SoDo neighborhood was originally an abbreviation for South of the Dome, referring to the Kingdome. The neighborhood was initially a working-class industrial district known for warehouses, factories, and businesses that use large amounts of power, such as those involved in manufacturing or processing. Today it is home to exhilarating nightlife, sports events and a growing beverage scene. Some of SODO’s warehouse buildings remain in their original use; others have been carved up for artists’ lofts, art galleries, unique office environments and an assortment of other businesses. One such example is the Starbucks Center the world headquarters for Starbucks. It was originally the central structure in a complex built by Sears, Roebuck to fulfill the Sears Catalog in the Western U.S. After the catalog business was closed, the building was sold in 1987, and eventually redeveloped as the Sodo Center. Later, Starbucks became the building’s primary tenant and secured naming rights.

Another gem within SoDo is the Orient Express. Its a restaurant that serves tasty Chinese food from a string of old train cars. One of which was once Franklin D. Roosevelt’s personal transport

One last thing before I leave this neighborhood, another historic landmark. Started out as a product of the Seattle Brewing and Malting Company that started out in 1893. They launched the “Rainier” brand of lager beer which became so popular that by 1904 they were the largest brewery west of the Mississippi River. After shutting its doors during the Prohibition era (1916–1933) the brewery ultimately re-emerged as the Rainier Brewing Company but rights were sold to San Francisco. From then efforts were made to bring back the brand back to Seattle which did not succeed until 1953. The early 1970s saw major national brands gobbling up smaller brands and Rainier brand was affected. Today the brand survives but is a contract brew for Pabst, and produced in a southern California plant owned by Miller. As for the massive complex, it is now leased to an array of commercial businesses and also includes work/live lofts.

We venture back into downtown and come across a 48 feet kinetic piece pounding a hammer four times every minute by means of an electric motor. Designed by sculptor Jonathan Borofsky, Hammering Man was built to honor the working class men and women of the world. It is one of many Hammering Men placed around the world–all working simultaneously. Taller versions are in Seoul, Korea and Frankfurt, Germany.

By the very architect that constructed the WTC buildings Japanese-American Minoru Yamasaki, we have a weird structure dubbed the beaver building because it tapers towards ground level as if a beaver had chewed it at its base. The building completed in 1977 was named after Rainier Bank, its original tenant. For a brief period in 2007–2008, Rainier Tower’s owner launched a campaign called “Movies on the Pedestal” where the building’s pedestal was used as a 50-feet projection screen.

An architectural marvel nearby is Seattle Central Library, opened in 2004. From the outside, you can see a large glass building, straight lines that intersect. It is articulated by large blocks at different levels corresponding to the library premises.

Washington Athletic Club which opened in 1930 as fancy clubhouse was status symbol for the wealthy few for a long time.

Rainier Square Tower completed in 2020 is the second tallest building in the city.

If you ask what is the tallest building in Seattle? Its the 943-foot Columbia Center completed in 1985.

In between the tall buildings hidden in plain sight is the oldest church in downtown Seattle. The Sanctuary at The Mark is its official name. The Mark is the 650-foot-high, faceted glass and steel structure that now towers behind The Sanctuary on the same block

Every city’s got its neon clad theater and for Seattle its the Paramount Theater.It enjoyed a long and storied history, beginning with its grand opening as the Seattle Theatre in 1928. At the time vaudeville and silent movies were the dominant form of national and local entertainment. It fell into disrepair throughout the 80’s and early 90’s, but former Microsoft execs invested in it and brought it back to its former glory. Today its a thriving landmark theatre offering performances as well as a series of dance, jazz, live concerts, speakers, comedy, special events, and family shows.

Its fascinating how a highway slices through this part of town juxtaposing modern glass and steel high rises and you spot one building that seems to have escaped demolition, the Olive Tower which found a way to survive through providing affordable housing

Another historic building tucked between modernist towers is the Camlin Hotel. It was built in 1925 using proceeds from the Camlin Investment Company. It was originally considered a long-term housing hotel for elite and affluent residents. It was famous for its top-level cocktail lounge — the Cloud Room hosted famous acts such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Elvis Presley, and Miles Davis.

You may think I am showcasing a Macys department store but quite the contrary, actually calling to attention what this building used to be the falgship store of the Bon Marche department stores. It started out in 1890 founded by native of Germany. He worked in Paris before moving to the US and was inspired by a chain of a similar name. By 1986, Bon Marche was one of the best-known retailers in the Northwest, with about 40 stores throughout the region. Ultimately in 1992 it befallen the fate of similar department stores, ended up in the hands of Federated Department Stores, Inc., a Cincinnati-based company which also owns the Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s chains. In 2003 the Bon Marches were rebranded into Bon-Macy’s until 2005 when every store became simply “Macy’s”

From this vantage point there is much to see. Aside from the sleek Fifteen Twenty-One Second Avenue 38-story tower you have a State Hotel and on the facing facade you have a mural by renowned artist Shepard Fairey. Titled “Obey Fire Sale”, the mural is a comment on the challenges any individual faces when pushing for environmental and climate responsibility.

Overlooking Elliott Bay, Miners Landing is so named for its role in the Klondike Gold Rush; it was the site where the first gold was brought back to the city. Seattle Great Wheel is one of the most popular attractions on pier 57. Standing at over 175 feet tall, it was the tallest Ferris wheel on the US West Coast when it was first opened in June 2012

References

Seattle

Written by Jad