The Pioneer Building is a

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...

stone, red brick,

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

, and

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

building located on the northeast corner of First Avenue and James Street, in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Pioneer Square Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...

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 The Great Seattle Fire was a fire that destroyed the entire central business district of Seattle, Washington on June 6, 1889. The conflagration lasted for less than a day, burning through the afternoon and into the night, and during the same sum ...

of 1889.

Location

From Seattle's earliest days until the early 1880s, the corner of First and James was the site of Henry and Sarah Yesler's home and orchard, with his steam-powered

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

located across the way. His home served as the center of social life and hospitality in early Seattle. As the city's business district began to grow rapidly in the early 1880s, Yesler moved to his new mansion, designed by architect William E. Boone, three blocks away at 4th and James in 1884. Rather than demolishing his old house and fully redeveloping his property, he moved the house to the back of the lot and filled his First Avenue frontage with displaced buildings purchased and relocated from across the street. He began planning an office block at First and James in late 1888 with the completed elevation drawings by architects Fisher & Clark put on public display that December. Local media proclaimed it would be one of the finest buildings in the country, and the largest north of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. While the lumber was being cut and contracts for the steel work and terra cotta were still being secured, excavation for the southern half of the building began in mid-February, 1889 with the temporary relocation of several existing structures on the site, followed by their demolition, including the original Yesler home, the following month. Yesler's plan was to construct the southern half of the building first, then finish the northern portion the following building season after payments for recently sold property would be secured. Grading was completed and construction began in May but was soon halted due to a shortage of rough stone that was plaguing the city; only 144 tons of the 800 tons of stone that were ordered for the building could be delivered. Several months after the Great Seattle Fire leveled 32 blocks of downtown and new grades and street widths had been firmly established, Yesler proceeded with the construction of the Pioneer Building.

Design

The Pioneer Building is a symmetrical block, measuring . The exterior walls are constructed of Bellingham Bay gray

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

at the basement and first floor, with red brick on the upper five floors (with the exception of two stone pilasters which extended to the full height of the tower over the main entrance). Spandrel panels and other ornamental elements are

from

Gladding, McBean Gladding, McBean is a ceramics company located in Lincoln, California. It is one of the oldest companies in California, a pioneer in ceramics technology, and a company which has "contributed immeasurably" to the state's industrialization. During ...

in California. There are three projecting bays of

, the curved bays at the corner and on the James Street façade, and the angled bay above the main entrance. The building reflects a mix of Victorian and Romanesque Revival influences. The facades, with vertical pilasters and horizontal belt courses creating a grid, reflect Victorian compositional strategies. Details such as the round arches over groups of windows and the arched main entrance and corner entrance are Romanesque Revival elements. The exterior walls are load-bearing, as is the firewall that extends through the building from the street to the alley. The interior structure is

columns and steel beams supporting timber joists. As was typical practice in the period, the office floors were designed and built with permanent partitions forming 185 office rooms—a tenant would simply rent one or more office rooms. Light is provided to the interior through two atria—one in the center of the south portion of the building, the other in the north portion of the building. Constructed at a cost of $270,000, the Pioneer Building was considered one of Seattle's finest post-fire business blocks. It has always been highly visible, forming a portion of one side of Seattle's Pioneer Place Park. The Pioneer Building originally had a seventh floor tower room (with a pyramidal roof) located directly above the front entrance making the building . It was removed as a result of damage caused by the 1949 earthquake.

History

The newly constructed building quickly became an important business location for downtown Seattle. During the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897, there were 48 different mining companies that had offices in it. During

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

, the Pioneer Building was the clandestine location of "Seattle's First

Speakeasy A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an illicit establishment that sells alcoholic beverages, or a retro style bar that replicates aspects of historical speakeasies. Speakeasy bars came into prominence in the United States d ...

." The downtown area began to grow northward, prompting businesses to move in the same direction. By the 1950s and '60s, the entire Pioneer Square district had fallen upon hard times. Many of the buildings, which were barely 60 years old, sat empty and decaying, and were slated to be torn down and replaced with parking garages. The

Seattle Hotel Hotel Seattle, also known as Seattle Hotel and the Collins Block, was located in Pioneer Square in a triangular block bound by James Street to the north, Yesler Way to the south, and 2nd Avenue to the east, just steps away from the Pioneer Buildi ...

was the first to be razed, which prompted the citizens to initiate a campaign to preserve the district. The rest of the buildings were spared the wrecking ball, and Pioneer Square–Skid Road Historic District were listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. In 1971, the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

proposed a purchase of the Pioneer Building to house the Seattle unit of the

Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park 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 stamped ...

. The deal fell through as it was instead purchased by private entrepreneurs and eventually underwent renovations. In 1977, the Pioneer Building was listed as a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

alongside two other elements of the city's post-fire rebuilding: a

pergola A pergola is most commonly an outdoor garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained. The ...

that was built as a

cable car Cable car most commonly refers to the following cable transportation systems: * Aerial lift, such as aerial tramways and gondola lifts, in which the vehicle is suspended in the air from a cable ** Aerial tramway ** Chairlift ** Gondola lift *** Bi ...

waiting area in 1909 (

Pioneer Square pergola The Pioneer Square Pergola is a cast iron and glass pergola in Pioneer Square, Seattle, Pioneer Square, a park in Downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. It was built in 1909 to shelter passengers waiting for Cable railway, cable cars on the ...

), and the 1940 replica of a stolen

Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

totem pole Totem poles ( hai, gyáaʼaang) are monumental carvings found in western Canada and the northwestern United States. They are a type of Northwest Coast art, consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually m ...

gifted to the city in 1899 ( Pioneer Square totem pole). Today, the Pioneer Building houses, among other things,

Doc Maynard David Swinson "Doc" Maynard (March 22, 1808March 13, 1873) was an American pioneer, doctor, and businessman. He was one of Seattle's primary founders. He was an effective civic booster and, compared to other white settlers, a relative advocate ...

's Nightclub and Lounge, where one can buy tickets for the popular

Seattle Underground Tour The Seattle Underground is a network of underground passageways and basements in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. They were located at ground level when the city was built in the mid-19th century but fell ...

. At the end of the tour, there is a gift shop, located fittingly in the building's ground-floor level. Several businesses and offices are also located inside, including The Olmsted Law Group PLLC, DePonce Immigration and Citizenship Law, Cost of Wisconsin miniature golf-course designers' Western Regional Office, and Henry's Bail Bonds.

Current use

In December 2015, the Pioneer Building was purchased by workspace provider

Novel Coworking Expansive, formerly Novel Coworking, is an American co-working and office rental company. Its main clientele are small businesses, such as entrepreneurs and satellite office teams, needing flexible office space. Background Expansive was found ...

, which has renovated the building's interior to create private offices and co-working space for small businesses.Lerman, Rachel (December 23, 2015),
Seattle’s latest co-working space will be historic Pioneer Building
" ''The Seattle Times'' File:Seattle - Pioneer Square totem pole 04.jpg, The Pioneer Building is seen here beyond the

that shares its listing in the

NRHP The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. File:Seattle - First Avenue looking north from James Street 1916.jpg, First Avenue looking north from James Street in 1916 with the

and totem pole bordered by the Pioneer Building (far right) and Mutual Life Building (far left). File:Seattle - Pioneer Square Park from Post Alley 01B.jpg, Pioneer Building, 2007. Also shown are the Lowman Building, Lowman and Hanford Building, and

Smith Tower Smith Tower is a skyscraper in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. Completed in 1914, the 38-story, tower is the oldest skyscraper in the city and was among the tallest skyscrapers outside New York City at th ...

File:Seattle - Pioneer Building 01.jpg, Although the original tower is gone, the rest of the building's elaborate ornamentation remains intact. File:Seattle - Pioneer Building 04.jpg, On the south (Yesler Way) side of the building

References

External links