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The building was commissioned by real estate investor and political leader&nbsp;<span>Watson C. Squire along with his business partner Norval Latimer in 1891. This was part of the construction boom in Seattle following the great Seattle fire of 1889 which had destroyed much of the downtown buildings in this area. The Grand Central Hotel opened in this building in 1897-a time when the city was full of transient workers and miners on their way to or from the gold fields in the Yukon. <br><br>By the late 1960s, this and many other buildings throughout the Pioneer Square had fallen into disrepair and were in danger of being demolished. However, the building was saved when local developers decided to place a bet on urban re-development. Thanks to the conversion of a parking lot into Occidental Park, the building now faces one of the most beloved urban spaces in the city and is home to a popular local bakery and numerous&nbsp;other shops.&nbsp;</span>

The building in 1969. Photo from the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections Division, photo by Victor Steinbrueck

Information about the preservation of this and other buildings throughout Pioneer Square

Audio

Constructed in 1890 and known as the Squire-Latimer Building for many years, this ornate brick building was the home of Seattle's Grand Central Hotel (1897-1933). Like many luxury hotels, the Grand Central did not outlast the lean years of the Great Depression. The building is now home to a two-story indoor retail area known as the Grand Central Arcade.

Grand Central Arcade

This walking tour includes a host of Seattle landmarks in less than two miles. The tour starts at King Street Station and the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Visitor's Center winds its way north to Pioneer Square with stops at the Grand Central Hotel, Prudential Building, and some of downtown Seattle's most iconic buildings and landmarks within Pioneer Square before moving further north to the Rector Hotel and Rainer Club.. 

<p>As the Northern Pacific Railroad's transcontinental line approached completion in the 1880s, it was already becoming evident that the earlier decision to end the line at Tacoma rather than Seattle had been a mistake. This was one Seattle had already realized and attempted to rectify by opening their own branch lines. By the 1890s, much of Northern Pacific's business had shifted to Seattle. Railroad Avenue (present-day Alaskan Way) opened along the Elliott Bay shore in 1887. But it was short-lived due to suffering through Seattle's 18 89 Great Fire. Canadian immigrant James J. Hill, owner of the Great Northern Railway, became the first builder of a transcontinental line without government aid when he extended his line to Seattle in 1893. In the same year the nationwide financial panic struck and bankrupted Northern Pacific. The two companies shared a wood-framed terminal called Union Depot along Railroad Avenue until Hill bought control of the Northern Pacific three years later. Plans for a new station were formed and the complex on filled tide flats away from the waterfront were announced in 1902. The St. Paul, Minnesota architectural firm Reed &amp; Stem was commissioned the following year. The L-shaped train station was opened in May of 1906 with the four-faced clock tower being the tallest structure in Seattle at the time. With ornamental plaster ceilings, chandeliers, white marble columns, and terrazzo floors, including a compass pattern mosaic at the entrance, the King Street Station was built to be glamorous. Like many other rail stations, the King Street Station declined as air travel increased over the course of the 20th century. The clock and building were not maintained and attempts to modernize the station only detracted from the original elegance as the floors and ceiling were covered over with acoustical tiles, windows boarded over, the waiting room partitioned, the marble and mosaic walls covered with plastic laminate, and the lighting replaced with fluorescent bulbs. By the 1990s, the building was owned by the Burlington Northern &amp; Santa Fe Railroad (BNSF), with leases to Amtrak and the Sound Transit commuter rail service. The process of renovation began, after the City of Seattle purchased the station from BNSF in 2008 and a full-scale restoration project began. What had been covered up in the 1960s, the floors, decorative plasterwork, and windows, were uncovered and restored. The clock tower was repaired and new train platforms were added. The station made it on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The restored main waiting room was re-opened in April 2013.</p>

<p>Let's begin our tour narration here at King Street Station. Built in 1906, King Street Station once served as a train station for the Great Northern Railway and Northern Pacific Railway. The Reed and Stem firm's design of the brick, stone, and terra cotta building with a four-sided clock tower was inspired by the campanile of Venice, Italy in the Piazza de San Marco. The station is now apart of the Amtrak rail and Sound Transit commuter intermodal system with commercial spaces for lease. It was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1973.</p>

King Street Station

The Seattle Metropolitan Police Museum has an extensive research library containing historic documents, photographs and artifacts dating back to the 1800s from both the Seattle Police Department and King County Sheriffs Office.&nbsp; The Museum also has a vast amount of information regarding personnel history, vehicle data, cultural &amp; social writings and complete volumes of the&nbsp;<em>Seattle Police Callbox</em>,&nbsp;<em>Washington State Sheriff &amp;</em>&nbsp;<em>Police Reporter</em>&nbsp;as well as the&nbsp;<em>Northwest Police Journal</em>, which covers all police related issues throughout the state of Washington from the 1920s through the 1970s. &nbsp;<br><br>The Police Museum was formed in 1997 by Seattle Police Officer Jim Ritter and other police officers who transformed an abandoned building into the largest privately operated police museum in the United States representing a major U.S. city and county.&nbsp;<span>The Police Museum is does not receive financial support from any government agency and is funded entirely through the generous donations of over 1,000 Seattle Police Officers and King County Sheriffs Deputies, Admission fees, Gift shop sales, private donations, facility rentals and grants.<br><br></span>The Seattle Metropolitan Police Museum's fleet of original vintage police vehicles is comprised of fifteen (15) cars used from 1963 to present. Due to limited space at our main facility, these historic vehicles are kept off-site at a variety of locations.<span><br><br></span>

This museum was located in Seattle's historic Pioneer Square for many years before closing in late 2017. The Seattle Metropolitan Police Museum is searching for donations that will allow it to reopen in a new location. Prior to closing, it was the largest police museum in the western U.S. and featured historical displays with an interactive learning area for children and adults. The museum had a fleet of historic police vehicles and offered displays that educated the public about the historic, cultural, technological and social transitions of the Seattle Police Department and King County Sheriffs Office.  

Seattle Metropolitan Police Museum (Curently Closed)

<p>In August of 1896, three men in Alaska uncovered gold nuggets in a tributary of the Klondike River. This river, which would be named Bonanza Creek, was soon overrun by prospectors who hoped to find gold of their own. Over the next several months the finds from this region would trickle into Seattle and San Francisco, alerting the population about the amount of gold that existed in the far North. This development would spur one of the most drastic gold rushes in North American history, instigating hundreds of thousands to make the trek north, motivated by widespread and rampant poverty, and the sense of adventure the journey promised. </p><p>The trip to Klondike began in the Alaskan towns of Skagway and Dyea. From there, treasure seekers set off on a 600-mile journey to the goldfields. However, the weather on route to the goldfields, and once in the region itself, was unlike anything many of the people had ever experienced or were able to prepare for. For months the trekkers traveled on foot, carrying a year's worth of supplies on their backs, over snow-covered mountains, up river in handmade boats, and across unsafe ice and other obstacles. Death was rampant from malnutrition, disease, avalanche, hypothermia, murder and suicide. </p><p>Of the nearly 70,000 people who attempted to reach the Klondike region, only hundreds ever found enough gold to be considered wealthy. Lasting only several years, the Klondike Rush ended suddenly, as the majority of men recognized the lack of available resources and prepared to return home, the majority of them broke. However, the era is known as a significant North American adventure, one of the grandest and most memorable of the late 19th century. </p>

<p>Housed in the historic former Cadillac Hotel building in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood, the Seattle Unit of Klondike Gold Rush National Park is an interactive and interpretive museum. The park highlights the journey that gained popularity among wealth seekers in the late 19th century. Through hands-on and educational displays, exhibits, and activities, visitors can learn what drove this frantic Northern stampede, the journey the trekkers faced, and the results of the pilgrimage. The building itself was constructed in 1889 and is a fine example of Victorian and Italianate architecture.</p>

Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Seattle Unit

<div>The Heritage Building, built in 1904, demonstrates the growth of the lumber industry in Seattle and Tacoma. The number of lumber industries more than doubled in Seattle during the first decade of the 20th century, employing greater than 2,300 workers by 1914.&nbsp;The rapid transition of Seattle from frontier town to metropolis included an expansive railway boom, which made Seattle a prime location for those looking to ship lumber to points East.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>After many of the forests in California had been exploited, lumber industry leaders looked towards Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. Lumber companies looked to make their fortunes by exporting lumber to such places as China, Australia, and Alaska. The industry facilitated greater investment in road and railway construction and led to the growth of cities throughout the region. &nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Two of the lumber industry's tycoons involved William C. Talbot and Cyrus Walker, owners of the Pope and Talbot Lumber Company, who purchased the lot in 1899 that would become the Heritage Building in 1904. The company owned the building until 1943. The Heritage Building, entirely clad in stone, is a five-story building with a full basement that is noted or its simplicity and unity of its classical design. In 1982, a restoration project helped return the building to&nbsp;its historical appearance.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The building stands as a monument to Seattle's rapid growth in the late 19th and early 20th century, as well as the prosperity provided by shipping timber. Seattle grew, largely in part, due to gold rushes in the Yukon and Alaska, but the subsequent population and economic booms can be attributed to investors choosing Seattle as a prime location for railways, shipping, banking, and of course, lumber.&nbsp;</div>

This five story building was completed in 1904, a time when Seattle's economy and population was booming. The building's original owners, the Pope and Talbot Lumber Company, demonstrate the importance of the lumber industry to Seattle's economic development. Thanks to investments in railroads and infrastructure, many industries and workers chose Seattle over San Francisco and other West Coast cities. In addition to natural resources, Seattle offered a perfect location for businesses who wished to ship goods to Asia and Alaska. 

The Heritage Building 

<p>Constructed between 1889 and 1890, the Grand Central Hotel, originally known as the Squire-Latimer Building, was used as offices until 1897. Lawyer and investor Watson Carvosso Squire and Norval H. Latimer, a banker, co-owned the building. The Squire-Latimer Building was built on the site of Watson Squire's Opera House, which opened in 1879 but was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1889. In 1907, however, the building was converted into the Grand Central Hotel because it became a hotel during the Klondike Gold Rush. In 1896, Skookum Jim Mason, Dawson Charlie, and George Washington Carmack found gold in a Klondike River tributary in Yukon Territory in Canada. This discovery set off a gold rush. In 1897, people flooded Seattle for its port on their way to the Yukon and needed accommodations. The current name, the Grand Central on the Park, comes from the name Grand Central Hotel. An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 people seeking gold went to the Yukon. By 1898, however, the most of the gold rushers returned home, and the fortunes of the Grand Central Hotel followed suit as business moved away from this part of the city.</p><p><br /></p><p>The hotel continued to operated for several decades after the short-lived gold-rush, but it was not well-maintained and like many downtown Seattle buildings in the 1960s had fallen into a state of disrepair. In the 1970s, the building was restored by Richard White, Alan Black, and architect Ralph Anderson. The building is again used as office space and has shops on the lower levels reflecting the return of business to Seattle's downtown as a result of a new boom in the Pacific Northwest.</p>

Constructed in 1890 as the Squire-Latimer Building, this office building soon became home to Seattle's Grand Central Hotel. The business accommodated travelers passing through Seattle on their way to the gold rush in Canada following the start of the Klondike Gold Rush which began in 1896 when gold was discovered in a tributary in Canada's Yukon Territory. In the first year, an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 people traveled to the Yukon to strike it rich finding gold. A portion of the tens of thousands traveling through port cities went through Seattle. This marker shares the history of the hotel which operated for several decades and serves as a reminder of the impact of the gold rush on the city's history. 

Grand Central Hotel Historical Marker

The Gold Rushes of the late 1800s are legendary, be it 1849 in San Francisco, Pike's Peak, the Black Hills of South Dakota, or the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon of Canada, which helped Settle see a population boom of more than 100,000 people around the turn of the 20th century. The Prudential Building stands as a reminder of that boom; <br><br>Soil from the regrading of the Seattle’s hills was used to fill in the swamplands bordering Elliott Bay, which is where the Prudential building resides. The population boom fostered in an era where residents significantly altered the center of Seattle's&nbsp;topography, often for the purposes of allowing the all-important railroads, a vital need for any city in the late 19th century. &nbsp;<br><br>Some argue that it was one of the biggest urban alterations in history.&nbsp;Today's Pioneer Square originally existed as a swampy, low-lying island. The regrades leveled the land, making it easy to construct roads and trains. In the process, Denny Hill was virtually destroyed, as was much of what was once Jackson HIll. In total, nearly 45,400,000 tons of earth from what amounted to 60 regrades provided landfill for the city's waterfront and the land that served the industrial district, where the Prudential Building sits. &nbsp;<br><div><br></div>The Prudential Building was the predecessor to an immense building boom in Seattle. The Prudential Building is symbolic of the Chicago School influence. Indeed, many of the Chicago warehouse buildings, including the Prudential Building, built of that era (and now located in historic Pioneer Square) involved a simple design, but sturdy.&nbsp;<br><br><br><div><br></div><div><br></div>

The Prudential Building likely was built between 1902 and 1905, a time of great prosperity and growth in Seattle. Part of the city's rapid expansion was related to the arrival of settlers and businesses who hoped to do business in the Klondike region of the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush. This factory building is one of many examples of the influence of the Chicago School architectural style. 

Prudential Building (Fred Cole Building)

Dexter Horton was among the first settlers of European descent to arrive in what grew&nbsp;to become that city of Seattle. He and his wife and daughter were part of the "Bethel Company," a group of about fifty settlers that worked together to cross the continent and arrive in Oregon Territory in 1852. Dexter Horton first found work as a mill hand and carpenter while his wife Hannah served as a cook at the mill. After earning enough money to build a solid stone building, and the credit required to start a bank, Horton opened the first bank in the area.<br><br>Horton later sold his firm and the building was renamed in honor of David Maynard in the 1920s. Local historian Bill Speidel credits Maynard with establishing the city on the advice of a Native American leader that pioneers referred to as "Chief Seattle." The settlement was originally known as the village of Duwamps. Maynard's cabin was located at the corner of Main Street and First Avenue South. Maynard traveled to Olympia and other communities, recruiting skilled laborers who build many of the early businesses throughout the area now constitutes Pioneer Square &nbsp;<br><br>Maynard served as the federal agent responsible for maintaining good relationships with area Native tribes. In this capacity, he grew to have tremendous respect for area tribes and negotiated several important treaties. Maynard suggested that their new community follow a tradition established by Chicago, Kansas City, and many other prominent cities in naming their settlement after a Native tribe or leader. Despite Maynard's efforts, conflict between area tribes and the new arrivals escalated with a series of violent attacks that culminated in the "Battle of Seattle" on January&nbsp;26, 1856. Native tribes lost dozens in the short-lived conflict owing to the presence of naval ships and Marines. This event was one of several episodes of violence that was part of the Yakima War- the name given to years of conflict between Native tribes and settlers.&nbsp;<br><br>Although Maynard was influential in selecting the city's name and laying out the downtown area, he later sold his landholdings in the Pioneer Square area in favor of a 300-acre farm. After losing his farmhouse to a fire, he returned to the city and practiced medicine until his death in 1873. &nbsp; &nbsp;

Completed in 1892 and home to Seattle's first bank, this building was named in honor of David "Doc" Maynard, who is often referred to as the "Founding Father" of Seattle. The building was known as the Dexter Horton Bank building prior to the 1920s. Horton established his bank in 1870, a firm that later became part of the Seattle First National Bank. 

Maynard Building

<p>The Pioneer Building, Richardsonian
Romanesque in style, is one of the best preserved buildings in Pioneer Square.
&nbsp;Once at the heart of the city, Seattle's founders settled Pioneer
Square in 1852, following a brief six-month settlement at Alki Point on the far
side of Elliott Bay. The early structures in the neighborhood were mostly
wooden, and nearly all burned in the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. City
engineered saw the opportunity to improve Seattle’s drainage system as the city
rebuilt. To create a slant that encouraged drainage to flow out of the city,
the engineers elevated Seattle’s street level a fully story using hand-cranked
jacks more powerful than those used in changing a tire. The catacombs created
were largely forgotten and trod upon from above until the 1960’s. By the end of
1890, dozens of brick and stone buildings had been erected in their stead; to
this day, the architectural character of the neighborhood derives from these
late 19th century buildings<br></p><p>A cast
iron umbrella once a much larger shelter for transit passengers, the
Pergola sits in the center of the square.&nbsp;Prompted&nbsp;by Seattle's first World Fair,&nbsp;the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition,&nbsp;the Yesler and James Street Cable Car
Company erected the Pergola as a waiting shelter to serve tourists and transit passengers.&nbsp;The Pergola was the
most lavish of its kind west of the Mississippi with ornamental iron columnns,
wrought iron ornamentation and a large underground restroom. &nbsp;</p><p>
In
January 2011 a semi-truck toppled the 93-year-old cast-iron Pioneer Square
Pergola. &nbsp;The 18-month project, paid for by an insurance settlement by the
trucking company, cost approximately $3.5 million to restore this landmark.
Careful restoration efforts allowed for the reuse of original fabric of the
building rather than recasting new elements.</p><p>The
Totem Pole standing in downtown is a replica of an original pole carved around
1790. The Totem Pole first appeared in 1899, after members of the Chamber of
Commerce, vacationing in Alaska, stole it from Tlingit Indians. The men gave
the Totem Pole to the city as a gift, but the tribe sued for its return and
$20,000 in damages. The courts found the men guilty of theft, but fined them
only $500 and allowed the city to retain ownership of the landmark. Attorney
William H. Thompson defended the thieves by arguing that the theft was for the
greater good because more people would see it downtown, "The village has
long since been deserted ... Here the totem will voice the natives' deeds with
surer speech than if lying prone on moss and fern on the shore of Tongass
Island."&nbsp;However, on October 22, 1938, an arsonist seriously damaged
the landmark. The Totem Pole was removed and in 1940 a replica replaced it.<br></p>

The Pioneer Building, Pergola and Totem Pole tell of a time when Pioneer Square was the heart of Seattle. These three landmarks offer an unusual conglomeration that represents Seattle’s unique history. Their origins differ- built on the site of the home of a founding father of Seattle (1892), constructed as a place to wait for a street car (1909), stolen from Alaska (1790), respectively. Time has altered the Pioneer Building, Pergola, and the Totem Pole, just as it has Seattle.

Pioneer Square Totem Pole, Pioneer Building, and Pergola

<p>Pioneer Square was founded in 1854 by the first white settlers to reach the Puget Sound region. After spending six months in the settlement at Alki Point (what is currently known as West Seattle), the Yesler party, lead by Henry Yesler, opened a steam sawmill where First Avenue and Yesler Way meet today. The hills that surround Pioneer Square were used to roll logs into the growing city, and wooden buildings began to line Seattle’s first road, known then as Commercial Street (now known as First Avenue).&nbsp;</p>
<p>In 1889 the Great Seattle Fire burned nearly the entire settlement down. At that time, Seattle was the largest city in Washington with nearly 50,000 residents. In the next decade, a series of brick and stone buildings were developed in their place. However, these buildings were constructed into the hills surrounding the area, with one upper door, and one lower. Years later, when the streets were raised, the lower level of the buildings were blocked off. The result was the creation of what is now known as "Seattle Underground," a network of underground passageways and basement entrances. Many of these buildings still comprise the historical neighborhood boundaries and remain some of the country’s finest examples of 19th century Richardsonian Romanesque architecture.</p>
<p>In last decade of the 1800s, the city was flooded with travelers hopeful to find gold in the Klondike Gold Rush. Thousands of people known as “stampeders” advanced on the city as they prepared to travel north. This spurred an economic prosperity that continued to propel the western city forward. In 1914 the Smith Tower was built and became the tallest building west of the Mississippi River.&nbsp;</p>
<p>However, economic transitions caused attention to be drawn away from Pioneer Square as businesses moved uptown. Today the area is a protected historical zone. Preservation efforts remain in place to protect the buildings and features that symbolize the city’s beginning. Pioneer Square is now a residential and commercial area, and the presence of Seattle sports stadium’s brings tourists into the region. It is also often the topic of gentrification, as the balance between socioeconomic status residents remains evident.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Pioneer Building is the anchor of one of the most historically significant neighborhoods in Seattle. The Pioneer Square neighborhood is located on the edge of Elliot Bay, on the southwest edge of downtown. The first neighborhood in the city that would become Seattle, Pioneer Square was largely abandoned by the 1980s and many avoided the neighborhood. Today, Pioneer Square is a landmark destination and the entire neighborhood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The series of buildings that define the neighborhood’s loose boundaries display late 19th-century architecture, that today serve as storefronts, shops, restaurants, museums, cafes, and apartments.</p>

The landmarks building within Seattle's Pioneer Square, this Richardsonian Romanesque stone building was completed in 1892- three years after the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 destroyed thirty-two square blocks of the nascent city. The building features terra cotta and red brick and was the tallest building in the state until 1904. The building has reflected the larger history of the city during the past century. During the mining boom in the Klondike, for example, over thirty mining companies held offices in the building. During the era of Prohibition, the city's largest and most infamous "speakeasy" kept Seattle residents supplied with illicit spirits. The building was completely vacant in the late 1970s as most of the businesses moved to newer buildings north of Pioneer Square. When the Pioneer Building was threatened with demolition (a fate shared by many nearby buildings) Seattle residents worked to place the building on the National Register of Historic Places. This effort began in the 1970s and spearheaded the drive to restore the neighborhood.  

Pioneer Building and Pioneer Square Neighborhood 

<p>In 1889, a massive fire destroyed 31 blocks of&nbsp;the nascent port&nbsp;city of Seattle. When Seattle’s leaders began rebuilding, they took a new approach to construction, using&nbsp;stone and brick rather than wood frame construction. While this reduced the likelihood of another fire,&nbsp;city leaders still had a major problem: their downtown buildings stood&nbsp;at ground level which made it difficult to drain waste water to the bay. Rising waters from Elliott Bay often produced flooding, causing complications with the plumbing and other structural issues.&nbsp;</p><p>The situation became increasingly untenable as the city grew. New&nbsp;buildings and homes built at a higher elevation drained their sewage to the bay as well, but when the bay level rose, all of that sewage drained into the streets.&nbsp;Rather than rebuild completely, the&nbsp;city decided to elevate the streets so that they might also elevate the waste water pipes. This created a new dilemma for owners of newly-constructed downtown buildings-their street-level entrances would soon be below grade.&nbsp;</p>
<p>City leaders proposed that the first floors of downtown buildings would be part of an underground network.&nbsp;Tunnels were created around the existing sidewalks, and the first floor of buildings were converted into basements. For a time, Seattle residents used the underground passageways as covered sidewalks, and the original ground level floors still functioned as workable spaces. However, fear of disease and crime&nbsp;eventually forced people out of these underground spaces. Many of the tunnels and basements became storage space or were left abandoned.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Over the years, the passageways took on an a new&nbsp;purpose. Those attracted to the growing illicit&nbsp;counterculture of Seattle were drawn to the underground space, and illegal flophouses, speakeasies, gambling halls, brothel and opium dens occupied the unused halls. As this space gained popularity and notoriety, it eventually became too crowded and well known to function as an effective have from the police and morals committees. As the police raided the Underground,&nbsp;the space once again became deserted.&nbsp;<br></p>
<p>In 1965, local resident&nbsp;Bill Speidel established his now famous&nbsp;Underground Tour as a way to raise funds to preserve these historic spaces. A non-profit organization that earns revenue through donations, tours, and merchandise,&nbsp;the group has worked to restore many areas of Seattle's Underground while also working to spread replace myths with&nbsp;factual urban history. Today the tour continues to operate in the Underground tunnels. While some renovations have been completed, Speidel’s continues to maintain the same aesthetics and environment their&nbsp;founder discovered when he first went underground in the 1960s.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Visitors are only able to access the space through the Underground Tour, which leads them through a maze of the deserted and storied areas. Knowledgeable local tour guides provide engaging, humorous, and mostly factual stories about the Underground’s history. A second tour, specifically for adults, also provides a more in-depth examination of the adult themed&nbsp;behaviors enacted in this space.&nbsp;</p>

One of the most popular tourist attractions in the city, Seattle Underground offers guided tours though a series of tunnels below the streets and buildings of the historic Pioneer Square Neighborhood. The tunnels are the result of raising the height of the city streets in response to the need to provide better drainage for waste water. Rather than physically lifting buildings as occurred in some cities, officials in Seattle decided to raise their city by simply raising the street by about ten feet while building owners made the second story of each building the first floor. This created a scenario where the former first floor of many downtown buildings were underground. Once the massive construction project was complete, the underground passageways went through a variety of transformations. Over time, these tunnels and basement were host to everything from criminal organizations to the city's counterculture. Once home to brothels, opium dens, gambling centers, and speakeasies, the Underground Tunnels are open to the public through Bill Spiegel’s Underground Tour. 

Seattle Underground

<p>The 1911 Hoge Building represents the wealth of America's early 20th-century financial elite (not far removed from America's "Gilded Age"), the significance of gold booms, the emergence of Seattle as a prominent trade port, &nbsp;and it is a prime example of architectural advances made possible by then Chicago School and others through the use of steel frame construction. &nbsp;Evidence of Seattle's rapid transition from Western frontier town to a major city is noted by the fact that the building sat in the same spot where It was only fifty-nine years earlier Carson Boren, Seattle's first (white) resident, assembled his house from split cedar logs. The Hoge Building took over that area, Boren, then 88-years-old, was still living in the area when the building was finished.<br><br><br></p><h3>Background: Seattle's History</h3><p></p><div><br></div><div>The Klondike gold boom made its presence in Seattle on July 17, 1897 when the SS Portland arrived in Seattle, which started an economic boom in Seattle that changed the town forever -- the Hoge building in 1911 occurred during that boom. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Along with its proximity to lumber, Seattle's access to the Yukon and Alaska made brought droves of people of the city and ultimately helped turn the western boom town into a city. The 19th Century Railroad, a large corporation itself, wanted to seize the opportunity to arrive in Seattle, which only helped Seattle further.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Gold discoveries in Alaska magnified Seattle's place as a jumping point to gold mining regions of northwestern North America; Seattle interests controlled 90% of shipping interests related to trade with Alaska. By the time of the Hoge Building construction, gold had lost some of its allure in Alaska, but the preexisting trade network of allowed for a flourishing salmon trade industry. &nbsp;As well, the railroad's arrival into town and the shipping industry made Seattle a prime location for which trade with Asia commenced, including Alaska salmon.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The expansion of Asian subsequently helped rail transshipment businesses grow, carrying products from Asia to Chicago and the Eastern United States. The increased rail traffic also made it easier for the lumber industry to expand, as it could easily be shipped anywhere in the country. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>In short, by the time John Hoge went into business in Seattle, as a real estate broker and entrepreneur, Seattle was a prosperous city.&nbsp;</div><h3><br>John Hoge and the Hoge Building<br><br></h3><div>John Hoge who personally financed the construction of the Hoge Building, Seattle's Skyscraper (the Alaska Building was the first). Designed with seismic activity in mind, &nbsp;architects incorporated into their design new ideas emerging from studies done after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Most amazing, the entire steel frame -- 18 stories -- was completed in 30 days, and the entire building took less than a year to finish, The Hoge Building arrived at a time when three major skyscrapers emerged in Seattle, again demonstrating the city's economic prowess and optimism (thus, heavy investing). . &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Hoge and his friend simultaneously built skyscrapers and competed over the buildings' size and stature. The two friendly rivals had agreed that 14 floors would be sufficient for their needs, but Smith Tower's original plan included a design for an 18-story building. Meanwhile, The Hoge Building also had 18 stories, but its extra height for each story allowed it become Seattle's tallest building for a short time. Not long after that, Smith, added a 24-story tower to his building, a feature the Hoge building could not structurally support.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>--------------<br><br>The Hoge Building represents a time in Seattle when captains of Industry capitalized on Seattle's potential (and reality) as a thriving trade port. The broader picture of U.S. history (and the World) can be seen in the Hoge story -- gold discovery, the opening of Japan and Asia, increased lumber, a nation stretching from coast-to-coast, and wealthy men building skyscrapers at a time when the technology was allowing cities to literally grow upwards.&nbsp;<br></div>

During Seattle's rapid growth as a western Boom Town, the rapid construction of the Hoge Building -- 18 stories -- took less than a year to complete, and allowed it to be the tallest building in Seattle during the pre-WWI era. The building represents Seattle's transition from frontier town to metropolis, largely resulting from railroad arrival because of Seattle's  access to Asia and Alaska. 

Hoge Building

<div>At the time of Seattle's economic and population boom, a period often associated with the Klondike Gold Rush, the Rector Hotel and the Grand Opera House became one of the leading social centers of the city. The downtown region grew substantially with multiple steel-frame high-rise buildings facilitated by investment from families that had profited&nbsp;during the from timber, shipping, and other extraction industries.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The growth came at an environmental price as hills were leveled to make room and gather materials for construction. Although Seattle had its share of older-style hotels, few had modern amenities. Shortly after the 1889 Great Fire, a total of 63 hotels were in operation in Seattle by the turn of the 20th century. A second hotel boom occurred between 1906 and 1910, largely tied to the arrival of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific (AYP) railway. The 1909 Seattle Exposition of 1909 brought 3.7 million visitors to the city and by 1910, Polk’s Directory included over 475 hotel listings.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The Rector Hotel was built for Alson Lennon Brown, son of real estate and timber pioneer Amos Brown, in 1911. The building was designed by Seattle architect John Graham and operated from 1913 - 1918. Significant in the development of the Rector Hotel were the functional components incorporated into the design of the building that served the abutting Grand Opera House. The most noticeable feature is the prominent entrance from the stair landing in the Rector Hotel’s lobby that opened directly to the balcony of the theater. However, in 1917, the Opera house suffered mightily from a major fire. The destruction was so great that plans were made to transform the structure into a parking garage.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>After the fire to the Opera House, the hotel was sold and reopened as Hotel St. Charles. The building served as a hotel for most of its history. From 2004 to the present, the building has served as an apartment complex.&nbsp;</div>

The Rector Hotel was designed by John Graham Sr., a Seattle architect employed by Alson Brown, the son of a timber baron who hoped to diversify his families investments. The hotel's location next to the Grand Opera House proved fortuitous and the two buildings were adjoined at the balcony level. The hotel was one of many built during Seattle's initial economic and population boom (1902-1920) and demonstrates the rapid commercial expansion of the city during the Klondike Gold Rush.  

Rector Hotel (Hotel St. Charles)

<p>The eight-story Arctic Club was designed by Augustus Warren Gould and George W. Lawton and built in 1916 on the former site of the home of the chief justice of Washington state, Joseph R. Lewis (whose ancestor was George Washington). Before construction was even finished, the owner, James Moses, managed to lease the property to the Arctic Club, and he subsequently directed the architectural theme to evoke the North Pole. Moses and the two architects christened the Beaux-Arts style structure the Arctic Building. Gould himself described it as "a radical departure from the conventional, inasmuch as no definite style of architecture or any particular period has been adhered to."</p><p>White terra cotta embellishments were added all over the building’s multi-colored facade, from the elaborate roof cornice to walrus heads on the third story – and even a polar bear above the entrance - which was removed at a later date. The entrance to the Arctic Club was located directly beneath the polar bear with its imitation Caen stone finish, and this led to the main club floor which featured ornamental plaster-worked columns and beams. The main feature that still exists today is the "Dome Room" - or the main dining room - that is encased with a stained glass dome and comes in at 3600 square feet.</p><p>The city of Seattle began to lease office space in the Arctic Building around 1921, and the Arctic Club, a fraternal society for the wealthiest members of the Seattle community, occupied much of the building's space. Much of the Arctic Club's money came from the Alaska Gold Rush, which was being increasingly used to develop the city. The society's origins went back to late 1907 when two tycoons who earned money from the Gold Rush formed the Alaska Club, and they soon merged with Arctic explorers who had their own group that reminisced over their experiences in the Arctic. After the merge the group was simply called the Arctic Club.</p><p>Its members occupied a beautiful space inside the building, which included a large lobby, library, card rooms, billiard rooms, a private barber, tea rooms for members’ wives, and a bowling alley. The roof was used as a garden for the members to relax in. Every year, the Arctic Club entertainment committee would host a grand ball called "Smokers" to raise money, as well as hold golf and bowling tournaments. Other tenants did occupy the Arctic Building, including Congressman Marion Zioncheck. He made headlines in 1936 when he jumped to his death from his office window and landed on Third Avenue.</p><p>The Arctic Club disbanded in 1971, and the ground floor was subsequently used as retail space, with upper stories leased as offices for the Seattle Department of Community Development. When the city of Seattle purchased the Arctic Building in the late 1980s, they opted to reconfigure the entrance and paint over many of the interior surfaces. During the time they owned the building, the city did raise funds to restore the famous walrus heads, and Seattle natives still call the building "the one with the walrus tusks."</p><p>In 2008, ownership of the building transferred to the global hotelier, Hilton, and it is operated today as the Arctic Club DoubleTree Hotel. The original entrance has been restored, sans the polar bear, and certain moldings and decorations have also been saved. The iconic Dome Room was renovated and is a popular venue for weddings and other special events.The Arctic Building is a Seattle masterpiece that has been named a City of Seattle landmark, is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is a National Trust Historic Hotel.</p>

The Arctic Building, now The Arctic Club Seattle Hotel, is a Beaux-Arts style masterpiece in the city of Seattle that was built in 1916 by two prominent Washington architects. Known as the building with the walrus tusks, it once served as the headquarters of the Arctic Club - an all-male business and social club for the city's elite. This architectural gem, with distinctive decorative features reminiscent of its namesake, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 1978 and is a City of Seattle Landmark. 

The Arctic Building (Arctic Club Seattle) 

<div>The Rainier Club is the&nbsp;headquarters for Seattle's largest and oldest private club. Six leading men in Washington territory established the club in 1888. The following year,&nbsp;Washington achieved statehood. Named after British Admiral Peter Rainier, the club has been host to Presidents and visiting dignitaries. <br><br>The cost of acquiring two lots at the southeast corner of Fourth Avenue and Marion Street was $25,000 and the construction costs amounted to $75,000 -- a significant sum in the first decade of the 20th century. The building opened in 1904. The Club's finances mirrored the challenges of the&nbsp;Great Depression, but the leadership of manager Eddie Carlson helped the club survive. Garlson&nbsp;later went on to lead Westin Hotels, managed Seattle's&nbsp;1962 World’s Fair, and served as an executive for&nbsp;United Airlines.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Members of the Rainier Club include the&nbsp;financial elite of Seattle. The club has hosted many famous guests,&nbsp;including Mark Twain, John Philip Sousa, Buffalo Bill Cody, President Taft, General MacArthur, Babe Ruth. The club hosted many diplomatic and trade meetings and was the site of several early 20th century&nbsp;conferences between Japanese trade delegations and leaders of the&nbsp;United States. The Ranier Club admitted only white members&nbsp;until 1966, when Japanese-American Saburo Nishimuro joined the club. There were no African American members for another dozen years and the club was closed to women until the 1980s. .&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The club has served as a Pacific Coast guest house for&nbsp;Presidents and their staff. For example, Gifford Pinchot, who served in the Teddy Roosevelt administration, stayed at the Rainier Club during a trip that led to the formation of the United States Forest Service and later the creation of the Mount Rainier National Park. A decade later, Teddy Roosevelt arrived at Ranier Club before visiting the newly-created federal park. In 1993, President Bill Clinton hosted the first two U.S.-based Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings with Japan and China at the club.&nbsp;</div>

This historic building has been home to the Rainier Club since 1904 and has hosted social events that include numerous presidents, captains of industry, diplomats, and world leaders among its guests and members. Established in 1888, the Rainier Club first held its meetings in the mansion of one of its members and a room at the Seattle Theater. The club is named in honor of Peter Rainier, an 18th century British naval officer.

The Rainier Club

<div>The First Methodist Episcopal Church building arrived during Seattle's initial period (1902-1920) of commercial expansion, which</div><div>occurred due to local economic prosperity after the Klondike Gold Rush and in tandem with explosive population growth and suburban residential development, much of it accomplished with the regrading of Denny Hill. Although numerous commercial buildings arose during that period, &nbsp;First Methodist Episcopal Church is the only existing downtown church building dating from this era.</div><div><br></div><div>The church congregation dates back to 1853 during Seattle's settlement era, just as Seattle began a rapid transformation from settlement-town to a bustling metropolis. Notably, the 1896 Klondike Gold Rush led to a significant population boom in Seattle, which also provided for new wealth and an abundance of new construction including several projects that would drastically reshape the city's topography. As a result, the city removed hills, built tunnels and canals, moved and built streets, and entire valleys and tidelands were filled or changed. In other words, a massive environmental overhaul occurred to facilitate the movement of goods and people and the expansion of commercial and industrial development. The church built amongst that newly changed landscape and building boom.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>As population increased, so did churches, but The Methodist-Episcopal Church had been the city's first, organized decades before the gold-rush boom. Ths first church was dedicated on May 12, 1855, and for ten years it was Seattle's only church. The congregation sized increased steadily and, during the population boom, saw a doubling of size from 1905 - 1910, spurring the need for a new building. &nbsp;Construction on the downtown building began in late 1907; the cornerstone was laid on February 2, 1908, and construction lasted until April 17, 1910, for a total cost $180,000. Later donations helped pay for the costs and aided in the purchase of a $15,000 pipe organ that was installed the following November.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Intriguingly, the church's history caused issues for the church's progress. In March 1985, the City of Seattle Landmarks</div><div>Preservation Board (LPB) voted to approve the designation of the church as a Seattle Landmark, noting that "the exterior of the 1907 building and the interior of the auditorium" as features of the Landmark that had to be preserved. On May 9, 1996, after several suits, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that, due to restrictions it had placed on alterations to the interior and exterior of the building, the Landmark designation was unconstitutional because it violated the rights of the church to the free practice of religion.</div><div><br></div><div>In May 2002, the church congregation retained consultants to assist with planning for the redevelopment of the church property, including the demolition of the historic sanctuary building. Historic</div><div>preservation advocates, including Historic Seattle and the National for Historic Preservation along with City and County elected officials and governmental representatives, became actively involved to find an alternative approach. They hoped to preserve the historic church building while allowing the congregation to sell the property and relocate to a new facility. After much negotiation, the church members vacated the premises in March 2008 and transferred to a modern church, which allowed the city to designated it as a formal landmark. In other words, the church had to move so the city could save the history of the church and its building.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Today, it sits adjacent, and connected, to the nearly completed "The Mark," a 660-foot and 44-floor skyscraper that will be Seattle's fifth-tallest building. Although the construction resulted in the demolition of the church's education wing the remainder of the former church structure was preserved and has since been re-purposed into the Daniels Recital Hall.<br><br>[<i>Editor note: Much of the prose included in this entry are taken directly from the National Park Service's lengthy&nbsp;history. Although parts of the text remain unchanged, the bulk of the material was edited and modified for simplification. A link to the original text is provided. ]</i></div>

Now connected to a new, towering skyscraper, the church opened in 1908. The church, itself, was the first organized church congregation in the settlement era, established in 1853. The building arrived during Seattle's economic, population, and construction boom after the Klondike Gold Rush.  First Methodist Episcopal Church is the only extant downtown church building dating from this era.

King Street to Pioneer Square and Downtown Seattle Walking Tour

Grand Central Arcade

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information