Pioneer Square is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of Downtown Seattle, Washington, US. It was once the heart of the city: Seattle's founders settled there 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. 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, mostly examples of Richardsonian Romanesque.
This is the main article of a series that covers the history of Seattle, Washington, a city in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States of America.
History of Seattle, Washington 1900–1940: Seattle experienced rapid growth and transformation in the early 20th century, establishing itself as a leader in the Pacific Northwest. The Klondike Gold Rush led to massive immigration, diversifying the city's ethnic mix with arrivals of Japanese, Filipinos, Europeans, and European-Americans. The city expanded geographically through annexations and ambitious regrade projects, most notably the Denny Regrade which leveled more than 120 feet of Denny Hill. Major infrastructure projects shaped the city, including the construction of the Lake Washington Ship Canal and the development of an extensive park system designed by the Olmsted Brothers. The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909 celebrated the city's rise, while the completion of Smith Tower in 1914 gave Seattle the tallest building west of the Mississippi River.
Belltown is the most densely populated neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, United States, located on the city's downtown waterfront on land that was artificially flattened as part of a regrading project. Formerly a low-rent, semi-industrial arts district, in recent decades it has transformed into a neighborhood of trendy restaurants, boutiques, nightclubs, and residential towers as well as warehouses and art galleries. The area is named after William Nathaniel Bell, on whose land claim the neighborhood was built.
Denny Park is a park located in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It occupies the block bounded by John Street and Denny Way on the north and south and Dexter and 9th Avenues N. on the west and east.
The Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, LLC is a San Francisco, California, based hotel and restaurant brand owned by IHG Hotels & Resorts (IHG) since 2015.
South Lake Union is a neighborhood in central Seattle, Washington, so named because it is at the southern tip of Lake Union.
Reginald Heber Thomson was a self-taught American civil engineer. He worked in Washington state, mainly in Seattle, where he became city engineer in 1892 and held the position for two decades. Alan J. Stein wrote that Thomson "probably did more than any other individual to change the face of Seattle" and was responsible for "virtually all of Seattle's infrastructure".
The Kimpton Hotel Vintage Portland, historically known as the Imperial Hotel and also as The Plaza Hotel, is a historic hotel building in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. It was completed in 1894 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 as "Imperial Hotel". Since 2015, the building has been in use as the Kimpton Hotel Vintage Portland, and prior to then it had been known as the Hotel Vintage Plaza since 1991.
The topography of central Seattle was radically altered by a series of regrades in the city's first century of urban settlement, in what might have been the largest such alteration of urban terrain at the time.
The Arctic Club Building is a ten-story hotel in Seattle, Washington located at the Northeast corner of Third Avenue and Cherry Street. Built in 1914 for the Arctic Club, a social group established by wealthy individuals who experienced Alaska's gold rush, it was occupied by them from construction until the club's dissolution in 1971. It is entirely faced with cream white terra cotta with submarine blue and orange-brown accents. The building is recognizable by the terra cotta walrus head sculptures lining the third floor of the building and its iconic polar bear in the Polar Bar, the hotel's bar and cocktail lounge. It is one of the finest examples of multi-colored matte glaze terra cotta work in the city. Recently restored, the building has been adapted for use as a luxury hotel, Arctic Club Seattle. A rooftop garden used by the social club was replaced with a penthouse office suite.
The Blackstone Apartments are located at 222 Summit Ave East in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. The apartment complex was designed and owned by J.S. Long and built by the Long Building Company in 1927. The Long Building Company was known for designing and building many of the Bungalow-style homes, particularly in the First Hill neighborhood of Seattle under the guidance of Stanley Long. The building consists of 26 units with a mixture of 2-, 3-, 4-, and 6-room suites; it has a brick exterior with a great deal of mahogany woodwork in the interiors and built-ins throughout the units, and was originally fitted with Monarch electric stoves and Frigidaires. The complex was "regarded as one of the most modern units of its kind in the city" when it was completed.
The architecture of Seattle, Washington, the largest city in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S., features elements that predate the arrival of the area's first settlers of European ancestry in the mid-19th century, and has reflected and influenced numerous architectural styles over time. As of the early 21st century, a major construction boom continues to redefine the city's downtown area as well as neighborhoods such as Capitol Hill, Ballard and, perhaps most dramatically, South Lake Union.
Denny-Renton Clay and Coal Company, founded in 1892 as Denny Clay Company, was the largest producer of brick pavers in the world by 1905. An industry journal said in 1909 "The clay products of this company have long been a standard for general excellence in Seattle and the entire northwest" and described its products:
"Four great factories are operated by this big Seattle concern, one being devoted exclusively to the manufacture of sewer pipe, with a capacity of two miles of sewer pipe daily; one devoted exclusively to the manufacture of terra cotta; another, the Renton factory, manufactures paving brick of high quality, while the Taylor plant embraces the new sewer-pipe and hollow-ware, as well as the dry-press and fire-brick factories."
The McGuire Apartments was a 25-story apartment building in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The $32 million, 272-unit building opened in 2001, but was closed in 2010 after the discovery of major structural flaws and corrosion that forced evacuation and demolition. The building was demolished in 2011 using heavy machinery and filled with dirt. The site was re-excavated in 2017 for a new residential building that opened in 2019.
Onni South Lake Union, also known as 1120 Denny Way, is a complex of two high-rise residential buildings and a hotel in South Lake Union, Seattle, Washington, United States. The residential buildings—both be 41 stories tall—comprise a total of 827 apartments. They are connected by a 12-story hotel with retail and amenity space. 1120 Denny Way was developed by Onni Group, which is also redeveloping the adjacent Seattle Times Building site. The project began construction in 2017 and was completed in 2022.
Julian Franklin Everett was an American architect known for the buildings he designed in Seattle, Washington. His work includes a synagogue for the Temple de Hirsch congregation (1908) and the Pioneer Square Comfort Station and Pergola in Seattle (1909), now a historic landmark. Some of his works, including the temple and a building for Pathé Exchange, were later demolished, while others are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
The Colonnade Hotel first known as the Stimson Block then later the Standard Hotel, Gateway Hotel and Gatewood Hotel is a historic hotel building in Seattle, Washington located at the Southeast corner of 1st Avenue and Pine Streets in the city's central business district. One of the earliest extant solo projects of architect Charles Bebb, it was built in 1900 by Charles and Fred Stimson, owners of the Stimson lumber mill at Ballard, for use as a hotel. It served that purpose under its various names until the early 1980s and after a brief vacancy was restored into low-income housing by the Plymouth Housing Group. Once owned by the Samis Foundation, it was sold to various LLC owners who would convert it back into a hotel in 2017, currently operating under the name Palihotel. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 7, 2007 and became a City of Seattle Landmark in 2017.
The Silver Okum Building, is a building in Seattle's Pike Place Market, in the U.S. state of Washington. Located at the intersection of Pike Place, Pine Street, and Post Alley, the structure was built during 1909–1910. It was joined internally with the adjacent Triangle Building in 1977. Fred Bassetti completed in the remodel.
