The Smith Tower at 506 2nd Ave is number Number 17 on the list of Seattle’s tallest skyscrapers. It is located in the heart of Pioneer Squareand is the southernmost skyscraper in the downtown area. With 37 floors, the 462 foot tower is the oldest skyscraper in the city and was the tallest office building west of the Mississippi River until the Kansas City Power & Light Building was built in 1931. It remained the tallest building on the West Coast until the Space Needle overtook it in 1962. It has remained an office building since its completion in 1914 and its 100 year anniversary will be celebrated in July of 2014.
The Chinese Room & Observation Deck on the 35
floor at Smith Tower
have offered Seattle’s
excellent views to the public for 100 years. The elevator operators whisk
you in an old-fashioned copper and brass elevator car to the 35th floor where
you’ll step into the past as you explore the
historic Chinese Room. It is the one of
the last buildings on the West Coast to employ elevator
operators. The Otis Elevator Company provided the elevators, which have
brass surfaces. The doors are latticed, so a rider can see into each hallway
and through the glass walls in front of each office. Once you arrive at the 35 floor, you can engross yourself in the newspaper headlines of 1910 when Smith Tower was just a lofty idea, or soak up the good luck of the room by taking a seat in the Wishing Chair. It is said that a single woman who sits in the chair will marry within a year. The legend came true for Smith's daughter, who married in the Chinese Room itself. The chair, the furniture and the hand-carved ceiling were gifts from the Empress of China, Cixi.
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| This is an old photo of the Seattle Skyline shortly after the Smith Tower was built |
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| Seattle Skyline as it looks today. Smith Tower is last skyscraper on right |
Smith Tower
is named after its builder, firearm and typewriter magnate Lyman Cornelius Smith, and is a
designated Seattle
landmark. In
1909, Smith planned to build a 14-story building in Seattle. His son, Burns Lyman Smith, convinced him to build instead a much
taller skyscraper to steal the crown from rival city Tacoma's National Realty Building as the tallest west of the Mississippi.
Construction began in 1910. Although Smith did not live to see it, the building
was completed in 1914 to the height of 469 feet from curbside to the top
of the pyramid, with a pinnacle
height of 489 feet. Its
ribbon cutting was July 3, 1914. Ivar Haglund of Ivar's restaurant fame bought the tower for $1.8 million in 1976. The Samis Foundation acquired the tower in 1996. In 2006, the
building was purchased by Walton Street
Capital. It has been
renovated twice, in 1986 and in 1999.
Smith Tower is an example of neoclassical
architecture. Its outer skin is granite on the first and second floors, and
terracotta on the rest. The exterior has been washed only once, in 1976,
because it remains remarkably clean without regular washing.
After the restoration in the early 1990s, workers removed the
10,000 gallon water tank in the top of the tower. The resulting space along
with a former maintenance man's apartment became a three-story penthouse, the
only residence in the building. It is currently occupied by artist/investor
Petra Franklin, husband David Lahaie, and their two daughters.
The building includes a fallout
shelter that can be seen from the
entrance hall. The tower is crowned by
an 8-foot-wide glass dome illuminated by blue light, except during December
when it is changed to green.
I'm currently watching 'Wargames' (1983), and I'm just in awe at how much the Seattle skyline has changed in thirty-one years.
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