Clio Logo
This is a contributing entry and appears exclusively within that tour.Learn More.

This entry is saved as a draft, but has not been submitted for review.

Columbia Hotel

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

Joseph Hellenthal, a German brick mason, built the first brick building in Columbia City as a home for his family. Hellenthal served on the first Columbia Town Council. The Hellenthal home became a hotel, operated by the Purkeypile family. The Columbia Hotel’;s guests included Buffalo Bill Cody. The building housed several other businesses, including a speakeasy, a dry goods store, and Slim’s Restaurant and Lounge. In 1997 Lottie Motts Coffee shop opened here, part of a new wave of revitalization in the neighborhood. Lottie Motts became Lottie’s Lounge in 2007.

Images

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

This building was built in 1892 and was the first brick building in Columbia City. The builder, Joseph Hellenthal, was an emigrant from Germany who came over the Atlantic in 1880 and then moved from Texas to Columbia City in 1881. When this building was constructed, it was only two stories and would become the Hotel Dakota in 1903. The building's size was effectively doubled with a third story added as well as an expansion into the south, and was renamed Columbia Hotel. It operated until 1920, but in it's guest register included the famous Buffalo Bill. After this, the building housed many different establishments, and in the present day it has become a residential and commercial space. What was once the dining room of the hotel is now a cafe. Starting in the 1980 this building was subject to many different remodelings and restorations through the 1990s.

Sources

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form Columbia City Historic District, CIty of Seattle. December 16th 2004. Accessed September 28th 2020. http://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/Neighborhoods/HistoricPreservation/HistoricDistricts/ColumbiaCity/ColumbiaCity-National-Register-Nomination.pdf.

Additional Information