German House | |
---|---|
Former names | Assay Office |
Alternative names | German Club |
General information | |
Location | 613 9th Ave Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
Completed | 1893 |
Designated | July 6, 1983 |
Assay Office | |
Coordinates | 47°36′22″N122°19′25″W / 47.60611°N 122.32361°W |
Built | 1893 |
Architect | John B. Parkinson |
Architectural style | Romanesque Revival, Beaux Arts |
NRHP reference No. | 72001271 [1] |
Added to NRHP | March 16, 1972 |
The German House also known as the Assay Office and Prosch Hall is a building in the First Hill area of Seattle, Washington, which since its construction in 1893 (Often incorrectly cited as 1886) has variously functioned as an office block, an entertainment hall and, until 1932, the city's assay office through which most of the gold brought to Seattle from the Yukon gold rush was processed into bricks. Following World War II the building returned to the possession of its previous German-American owners; it continues today to be a popular venue for German-themed events in Seattle. It was designated a Seattle Landmark in 1983. [2] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Assay Office in 1972.
The structure's history dates back to 1893 when local newspaper publisher and civic leader Thomas W. Prosch commissioned architect John B. Parkinson to design a two story and basement brick building on the lot just north of his home at 611 9th Avenue. The building would contain two store rooms on the ground floor and a public hall above which would be known as Prosch Hall. [3] Prosch was also a collector of photographs by local photographers [4] and wrote books on the Puget Sound region. [5]
In anticipation of the gold that would soon start flowing into Seattle from the Yukon gold fields, the government began a search for a detached building away from the central business district with capacity for the assay office and minting facilities to mold the gold nuggets and flakes into bricks to ship to the mint at San Francisco. In June 1898 Prosch eagerly leased his entire building to the federal government for use as the assay office and mint. Fred A. Wing was appointed to open and run the facility. [6] Members of the Westminster Presbyterian Church who still held an unexpired lease on the upstairs hall took exception to this deal and barricaded themselves inside the building, hurling legal threats at Prosch and the workers trying to access the building. With the government's deal resting on a firm opening date, Prosch was quick to meet the church's demands to get them off the property. The stand-off only lasted a day and remodeling was able to proceed in time for the July 15 opening date. [7] By the following year it was taking in more gold than any other assay office in the United States. [8] Later additions to the original building included a vault room added on the south side of the building in 1900, doubled in size in 1906, that was later built up into the short 2 story annex seen today. [9]
By the late 1920s gold deposits had declined markedly and, in 1932, the building ceased to be used as an assay office. In 1935 after a movement led by mortician E. E. Middlestadt to unify the city's German groups under one roof, the building was taken over by Deutsches Haus (German Club), an organization for Seattleites of German descent, becoming their social center. Local architect Theobald Buchinger, a native of Vienna, Austria, was commissioned to redecorate the interior to suit their needs; the vaults that once held gold would now be used to store German beer. The various German societies would share use of the building with the Steuben Society, the Swiss Society and the Swiss Male Chorus, among others. [10] It was used as a Navy entertainment center during World War II before returning to the possession of its previous German owners. [11] [12] Today, its affairs are administered by the German Heritage Society in Seattle; it plays host to a diverse array of Germanic activities including traditional concerts and balls. Lectures on the building's historic roots have also taken place here. [13]
On July 6, 1983, the city of Seattle's Landmark Preservation Board designated German House as a Seattle Landmark. It had previously been added to the National Register of Historic Places in March 1972. [1] [14]
In November 2011 a German-themed café named "Kafé Berlin" opened on the first floor of the building; however, by 2016 it had closed permanently. [15] [16]
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park is a national historical park operated by the National Park Service that seeks to commemorate the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1890s. Though the gold fields that were the ultimate goal of the stampeders lay in the Yukon Territory, the park comprises staging areas for the trek there and the routes leading in its direction. There are four units, including three in Municipality of Skagway Borough, Alaska and a fourth in the Pioneer Square National Historic District in Seattle, Washington.
The United States Bullion Depository, often known as Fort Knox, is a fortified vault building located next to the United States Army post of Fort Knox, Kentucky. It is operated by the United States Department of the Treasury. The vault is used to store a large portion of the United States' gold reserves as well as other precious items belonging to or in custody of the federal government. It currently holds roughly 147 million troy ounces of gold bullion, a little over half the total gold presently held by the federal government. The United States Mint Police protects the depository.
The Denver Mint is a branch of the United States Mint that struck its first coins on February 1, 1906. The mint is still operating and producing coins for circulation, as well as mint sets and commemorative coins. Coins produced at the Denver Mint bear a D mint mark. The Denver Mint is the single largest producer of coins in the world.
The Philadelphia Mint is a branch of the United States Mint in Philadelphia. It was built in 1792 following the Coinage Act of 1792, in order to establish a national identity and the needs of commerce in the United States, and is the first and oldest national mint facility.
The Admiral Theatre is a movie theater and historic landmark in the North Admiral neighborhood of West Seattle, Washington, United States. It was originally a second-run theater, but has since switched to showing new releases.
The Union Trust Building is a commercial building in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located in the city's Pioneer Square neighborhood, on the corner of Main Street and Occidental Way South, it was one of the first rehabilitated buildings in the neighborhood, which is now officially a historic district. In the 1960s, when Pioneer Square was better known as "Skid Road", architect Ralph Anderson purchased the building from investor Sam Israel for $50,000 and set about remodeling it, a project that set a pattern for the next several decades of development in the neighborhood. Anderson also rehabilitated the adjacent Union Trust Annex.
The Assay Office is a historic building at 210 Main Street in Boise, Idaho. It is significant for its role in the history of mining in Idaho, and was the first major federal government building in the Idaho Territory. During the first half of the 1860s, Idaho's gold production was the third highest in the nation. Due to the difficulty of transporting bulky, heavy ores the long distance to the nearest U.S. Mint in San Francisco, there was great demand for an assaying office in Idaho. Gold and other precious metals are not mined in a pure form. In order to place a value on an ore, the precious metal must be separated from the impurities. This is what an assay office does.
Samuel Hyde House is a building at 3726 East Madison Street in Seattle, United States listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The building, built in 1909–1910 for liquor magnate Samuel Hyde, housed the residence of the Russian consul-general from 1994–April 2018 when the US State Department evicted the consul-general following the White House ordered closure of Russia's Seattle consulate office.
William Boone was an American architect who practiced mainly in Seattle, Washington from 1882 until 1905. He was one of the founders of the Washington State chapter of the American Institute of Architects as well as its first president. For the majority of the 1880s, he practiced with George Meeker as Boone and Meeker, Seattle's leading architectural firm at the time. In his later years he briefly worked with William H. Willcox as Boone and Willcox and later with James Corner as Boone and Corner. Boone was one of Seattle's most prominent pre-fire architects whose career lasted into the early 20th century outlasting many of his peers. Few of his buildings remain standing today, as many were destroyed in the Great Seattle fire including one of his most well known commissions, the Yesler – Leary Building, built for pioneer Henry Yesler whose mansion Boone also designed. After the fire, he founded the Washington State chapter of the American Institute of Architects and designed the first steel frame office building in Seattle, among several other large brick and public buildings that are still standing in the Pioneer Square district.
The Bell Apartments, also known as the Austin A. Bell Building is a historic building located at 2324 1st Avenue in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle Washington. The building was named for Austin Americus Bell, son of one of Seattle's earliest pioneers, but built under the supervision of his wife Eva following Bell's unexpected suicide in 1889 soon after proposing the building. It was designed with a mix of Richardsonian, Gothic and Italianate design elements by notable northwest architect, Elmer Fisher, who designed many of Seattle's commercial buildings following the Great Seattle fire.
The Colman Building is a historic office building on First Avenue in downtown Seattle, Washington. It occupies a half of a block in proximity to Pioneer Square, and is bound by First Avenue, Marion, and Columbia Streets. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a City of Seattle landmark.
The Holyoke Building is a historic building located in downtown Seattle, Washington. It is a substantial five story brick structure with stone trimmings. Construction began at the corner of First Avenue and Spring Streets just before the Great Seattle fire of 1889. Completed in early 1890, it was among the first permanent buildings completed and ready for occupancy in downtown Seattle following the fire. Today the Holyoke Building is one of the very few such buildings still standing in Seattle outside of the Pioneer Square district and is a historic remnant of the northward expansion of Seattle's business district between the time of the great fire and the Yukon Gold Rush in 1897.
The Globe Building, Beebe Building and the Hotel Cecil are a trio of historic office/hotel buildings located in Downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. The buildings occupy the entire west side of the 1000 block of 1st Avenue between Madison and Spring streets. The three buildings were constructed from late 1900 to 1901 for Syracuse-based investors Clifford Beebe and William Nottingham by the Clise Investment Company, headed by businessman James Clise (1855–1938), as a result of the Alaska Gold Rush which fueled the construction of many such buildings in downtown Seattle.
The National Building is a historic warehouse building in downtown Seattle, Washington, located on the east side of Western Avenue between Spring and Madison Streets in what was historically Seattle's commission district. It is now home to the Seattle Weekly. It is a six-story plus basement brick building that covers the entire half-block. The dark red brick facade is simply decorated with piers capped with small Ionic capitals and a small cornice, which is a reproduction of the original cornice. Kingsley & Anderson of Seattle were the architects.
The Barnes Building, originally known as the Odd Fellows' Block, the Masonic Temple from 1909 to 1915, and later Ingram Hall, is a historic fraternal and office building located at 2320-2322 1st Avenue in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. Designed in early 1889 and constructed in late 1890 by Seattle Lodge No. 7 of the International Order of Odd Fellows and designed for use by all of the city's Odd Fellow lodges, it is the earliest known surviving work of Seattle architect William E. Boone and George Meeker and remains in an almost perfect state of preservation. The Barnes building has played an important role in the Belltown Community and Seattle's dance community. It was used by the Odd Fellows for 17 years before their departure to a newer, bigger hall in 1909 and was home to a variety of fraternal & secret societies throughout the early 20th century, with the Free and Accepted Masons being the primary tenant until their own Hall was built in 1915. The ground floor has been a host to a variety of tenants since 1890 ranging from furniture sales to dry goods to farm implement sales and sleeping bag manufacturing, most recently being home to several bars. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places as The Barnes Building on February 24, 1975.
The Colonial Hotel is a historic building in Seattle located at 1119-1123 at the southwest corner of 1st Avenue and Seneca Streets in the city's central business district. The majority of the building recognizable today was constructed in 1901 over a previous building built in 1892-3 that was never completed to its full plans.
The Liggett Building, also referred to as the Fourth & Pike Building, is a historic 10-story office building at 1424 4th Avenue in downtown Seattle, Washington. It was built in 1927 by the Louis K. Liggett Company, leasing the property from the estate of local pioneer George Kinnear, to house the first Seattle location of their national drug store chain. Liggett's would break their 99-year lease on the building only a few years later after having opened a second location only a block away proved financially unwise during the Great Depression. The building received its current name after a 1933 renovation. Designed by Lawton & Moldenhour in the Gothic revival style, it is clad entirely in locally manufactured terracotta. It is an official Seattle City Landmark and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 31, 2011.
Old Main is a historic building on the Western Washington University campus in Bellingham, Washington. Constructed in 1896 to house the new Normal school and opened for classes in 1899, it is the oldest building on the campus. It currently serves as administrative and student services offices.
The Interurban Building, formerly known as the Seattle National Bank Building (1890–1899), the Pacific Block (1899–1930) and the Smith Tower Annex (1930–1977), is a historic office building located at Yesler Way and Occidental Way S in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. Built from 1890 to 1891 for the newly formed Seattle National Bank, it is one of the finest examples of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in the Pacific Northwest and has been cited by local architects as one of the most beautiful buildings in downtown Seattle. It was the breakthrough project of young architect John Parkinson, who would go on to design many notable buildings in the Los Angeles area in the late 19th and early 20th century.
The Old San Francisco Mint is a building that served as the location of the San Francisco branch of the United States Mint from 1874 until 1937. The building is one of the few that survived the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake and resulting fire. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961, and as a California Historical Landmark in 1974.
Thomas Prosch is building a brick vault, 10x12, and generally repairing doors and windows at 617-619 Ninth Avenue. This will cost $1250.