Seattle Tower

Last updated
Seattle Tower
Seattle Tower from Russell Investments Center.jpg
Seattle, WA - Downtown - OpenStreetMap.png
Red pog.svg
Location within downtown Seattle
Former namesNorthern Life Tower
General information
Typeoffice
Location1218 Third Avenue, Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Coordinates 47°36′28″N122°20′08″W / 47.6077°N 122.3355°W / 47.6077; -122.3355
GroundbreakingFebruary 17, 1928 [1]
OpenedMarch 1929 [1]
Height
Antenna spire106.6 m (350 ft)
Roof105.7 m (347 ft)
Technical details
Floor count27
Design and construction
Architect(s) Albertson, Wilson & Richardson
References
[2]
Northern Life Tower
USA Washington location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location in Washington
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location in United States
Coordinates 47°36′29″N122°20′3″W / 47.60806°N 122.33417°W / 47.60806; -122.33417
Built1928
Architect Abraham H. Albertson
Architectural style Art Deco, Modernistic
NRHP reference No. 75001857 [3]
Added to NRHPMay 30, 1975

The Seattle Tower, originally known as the Northern Life Tower, is a 27-story skyscraper in downtown Seattle, Washington. The building is located on 1218 Third Avenue and is known as Seattle's first art-deco tower. [4] Its distinctive, ziggurat exterior is clad in 33 shades of brick designed to effect a gradient which lightens from the bottom to the top of the building. This is said to have been inspired by local rock formations. [4]

According to the US National Park Service website:

The Northern Life Insurance Company was founded in Seattle by D. B. and T. M. Morgan, with assets of $170,232 and a 12 by 12 foot office in the Colman Building. As the firm prospered, it was moved to larger offices where it remained until, after the death of T. M. Morgan in 1919. D. B. Morgan then decided to construct his own building "finer than anything on the Pacific Coast." The plan to construct the building at a cost of $1.5 million was announced in April 1927. Originally a 24-story building, the Northern Life Tower was increased to 27 stories and when completed was one floor higher above sea level than the Smith Tower, which had previously been referred to as "the tallest building west of the Mississippi." Completed in 1928, the Northern Life Tower--a true skyscraper--represents a dramatic shift in the appearance of Seattle's skyline. Earlier 20th-century buildings had derived their style from classical precedents. But by the 1920s, architects began to favor designs that attempted to emulate the speed, efficiency and power found within technology, perceived by many as humanity's hope for the future. The Northern Life Tower was the first building in Seattle to illustrate this style, now known as Art Deco or Art Moderne. Derived from Eliel Saarinen's famous, second-place proposal for the Chicago Tribune contest, the Northern Life Tower building beautifully illustrates the increasing popularity of a simple, smooth, almost machine-like exterior. This faith in progress also appeared in the lighting that once fully illuminated the building: more than 200 floodlights faded into one another in a "phantasmagoric display" meant to imitate the aurora borealis, a play on the Northern Life Insurance Company's name and an illustration of the belief that science could imitate nature's most incredible wonders. Today the lights are gone, and taller, newer skyscrapers dwarf the building, but it remains one of the Northwest's most elegant Art-Deco buildings. [5]

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 [6] and is also a designated city landmark. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Price Tower</span> Building in Bartlesville, Oklahoma

The Price Tower is a nineteen-story, 221-foot-high tower at 510 South Dewey Avenue in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, United States. Built in 1956, it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It is the only realized skyscraper by Wright, and is one of only two vertically oriented Wright structures extant; the other is the S.C. Johnson Wax Research Tower in Racine, Wisconsin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston Avenue Methodist Church</span> Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma

The Boston Avenue United Methodist Church, located in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, and completed in 1929, is considered to be one of the finest examples of ecclesiastical Art Deco architecture in the United States, and has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built by a congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1999. It has 15 floors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan Life North Building</span> Office skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

The Metropolitan Life North Building, now known as Eleven Madison, is a 30-story Art Deco skyscraper adjacent to Madison Square Park at 11–25 Madison Avenue in the Flatiron District neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The building is bordered by East 24th Street, Madison Avenue, East 25th Street and Park Avenue South, and was formerly connected by a sky bridge and tunnel to the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower just south of it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower</span> Office skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower is a skyscraper occupying a full block in the Flatiron District of Manhattan in New York City. The building is composed of two sections: a 700-foot-tall (210 m) tower at the northwest corner of the block, at Madison Avenue and 24th Street, and a shorter east wing occupying the remainder of the block bounded by Madison Avenue, Park Avenue South, 23rd Street, and 24th Street. The South Building, along with the North Building directly across 24th Street, comprises the Metropolitan Home Office Complex, which originally served as the headquarters of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chanin Building</span> Office skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

The Chanin Building, also known as 122 East 42nd Street, is a 56-story office skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is on the southwest corner of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue, near Grand Central Terminal to the north and adjacent to 110 East 42nd Street to the west. The building is named for Irwin S. Chanin, its developer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carew Tower</span> 49-story Art Deco building in Cincinnati, US

Carew Tower is a 49-story, 574-foot (175 m) Art Deco building completed in 1931 in the heart of downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, overlooking the Ohio River waterfront. The structure is the second-tallest building in the city, and it was added to the register of National Historic Landmarks on April 19, 1994. The tower is named after Joseph T. Carew, proprietor of the Mabley & Carew department store chain, which had previously operated in a building on the site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plaza Hotel (El Paso, Texas)</span> United States historic place

The Plaza Hotel, formerly the Hilton Hotel, is a landmark skyscraper located at 106 Mills Avenue in El Paso, Texas, USA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mercantile National Bank Building</span> Skyscraper in Dallas, Texas

The Mercantile National Bank Building is a 31-story, 159.4 m (523 ft) skyscraper at 1800 Main Street in the Main Street district of downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the former home of the Mercantile National Bank, which later became MCorp Bank. The design of the skyscraper features Moderne styling from the Art Deco era and was designed by Walter W. Ahlschlager. The building has a series of setbacks that is crowned by an ornamental four-sided clock along with a decorative weather spire. The Merc was the main element of a four-building complex that eventually spanned a full city block.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maccabees Building</span> Historic building in Detroit

The Maccabees Building is a historic building located at 5057 Woodward Avenue in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, and is currently owned by Wayne State University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pioneer Building (Seattle)</span> Historic building in Seattle, Washington, USA

The Pioneer Building is a Richardsonian Romanesque stone, red brick, terra cotta, and cast iron building located on the northeast corner of First Avenue and James Street, in Seattle's Pioneer Square District. Completed in 1892, the Pioneer Building was designed by architect Elmer Fisher, who designed several of the historic district's new buildings following the Great Seattle Fire of 1889.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">330 West 42nd Street</span> Office skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

330 West 42nd Street, also known as the McGraw-Hill Building and formerly the GHI Building, is a 485-foot-tall (148 m), 33-story skyscraper in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Raymond Hood and J. André Fouilhoux in a mixture of the International Style, Art Deco, and Art Moderne styles, the building was constructed from 1930 to 1931 and originally served as the headquarters of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York Life Building</span> Office skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

The New York Life Building is the headquarters of the New York Life Insurance Company at 51 Madison Avenue in the Rose Hill and NoMad neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. The building, designed by Cass Gilbert, abuts Madison Square Park and occupies an entire city block bounded by Madison Avenue, Park Avenue South, and 26th and 27th Streets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barclay–Vesey Building</span> Office skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

The Barclay–Vesey Building is an office and residential building at 140 West Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The 32-story building was designed in the Art Deco style by Ralph Walker of Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker, and was Walker's first major commission as well as one of the first Art Deco skyscrapers. It occupies the entire block bounded by West Street to the west, Barclay Street to the north, Vesey Street to the south, and Washington Street to the east, abutting the World Trade Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building</span> United States historic place

The United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building is a historic office building at 160 Federal Street in the Financial District of Boston, Massachusetts. The steel-frame skyscraper has 24 stories and a penthouse, and was built in 1929–1930 to a design by George W. Fuller and Parker, Thomas & Rice for the United Shoe Machinery Corporation. It is one of Boston's finest Art Deco buildings, including an elaborately decorated lobby. It was built for the United Shoe Machinery Corporation, which at the time controlled 98% of the nation's shoe machinery business.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Office Building (Seattle)</span> Historic building in Seattle, Washington, United States

The Federal Office Building, Seattle, Washington is a historic federal office building located at Seattle in King County, Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Founders Tower (Oklahoma City)</span> Residential in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Founders Tower is a Googie-style residential skyscraper located northwest of downtown Oklahoma City in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The tower is one of the most well-known landmarks in the city skyline. It has a height of 275 feet (84 m) and 20 stories, with a restaurant called 360 featuring 360-degree panoramic views of Oklahoma City on its top floor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Tower (Seattle)</span> Hospital in Seattle, Washington, U.S.

The Pacific Tower, formerly the Pacific Medical Center, is a 16-story building at 1200 12th Avenue South on Beacon Hill in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was completed in 1932 and opened the following year as a U.S. Public Health Service facility. The lower floors of the facility still function as a medical center today. Amazon.com occupied much of the building as its headquarters from 1999 until 2010. Much of the space was left vacant after Amazon relocated to South Lake Union. In 2013, the State of Washington agreed to a 30-year lease of 13 floors. Seattle Central College subleases six floors for its healthcare training program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eliel Saarinen's Tribune Tower design</span> Unbuilt design for a modernist skyscraper

Eliel Saarinen's Tribune Tower design, also called the Saarinen tower, was an unbuilt design for a skyscraper by Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen. It was submitted in 1922 for the architectural competition organized by the Chicago Tribune for their new headquarters. The winning entry, the neo-Gothic Tribune Tower, was constructed in 1925. Saarinen's entry came in second place but had a significant influence on the design of numerous future buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art Deco architecture of New York City</span>

Art Deco architecture flourished in New York City during the 1920s and 1930s. The style broke with many traditional architectural conventions and was characterized by verticality, ornamentation, and building materials such as plastics, metals, and terra cotta. Art Deco is found in government edifices, commercial projects, and residential buildings in all five boroughs. The architecture of the period was influenced by worldwide decorative arts trends, the rise of mechanization, and New York City's 1916 Zoning Resolution, which favored the setback feature in many buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abraham H. Albertson</span> American 20th century architect

Abraham Horace Albertson was an American architect who was one of Seattle, Washington's most prominent architects of the first half of the 20th century. He was born in New Jersey and educated at Columbia University in New York. Early in his career, he moved to Seattle in the employ of a well-known New York architectural firm with that was developing a large area in downtown. He worked on many projects in Seattle from around 1910 through the 20s and early 30s. Some of his designs are Seattle landmarks and/or listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

References

  1. "Seattle Tower". SkyscraperPage .
  2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  3. 1 2 "Emporis.com page". Archived from the original on February 24, 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. National Park Service. Northern Life Tower--Seattle, Washington: A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary
  5. "National Register of Historic Places Website entry, Building - #75001857".
  6. Landmarks Alphabetical Listing for S Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine , Individual Landmarks, Department of Neighborhoods, City of Seattle. Accessed 28 December 2007.