Downtown Seattle skyline from Kerry Park - October 2019

Seattle, Washington, United States, the most populous city in the Pacific Northwest region of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, has 118 completed high-rise buildings over , of which 52 are over tall. An additional 65 high-rise buildings are under construction or undergoing planning and design review, . The tallest building in Seattle is the 76- story Columbia Center, which rises and was completed in 1985. It is currently the 41st-tallest building in the United States, and the tallest building in the state of Washington. The 20 tallest buildings in Washington are all located in Seattle. In terms of the number of skyscrapers over , Seattle's skyline is ranked first in the Northwestern United States, third on the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

(after Los Angeles and San Francisco) and seventh in North America.

History

After the Great Seattle Fire of June 6, 1889, Seattle began reconstruction of the city's central business district under a new building code requiring the use of fireproof materials, such as stone and brick. By the end of 1890, 465 buildings had been built, completing the initial phase of reconstruction, and city boosters looked to build modern high-rise buildings after the infusion of new money from the Klondike gold rush later that decade. The Pioneer Building, whose observation tower surpassed , was completed in 1892 and is regarded as the city's first modern high-rise building. The

Alaska Building The Alaska Building, which now houses the Courtyard by Marriott Seattle Downtown/Pioneer Square, is a 15-floor building in Seattle, Washington completed in 1904 to designs by St. Louis architects Eames and Young. At the time of its completion, it ...

, completed in 1904 and rising above 2nd Avenue in

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 ...

, is considered to be Seattle's first skyscraper and first steel-framed high-rise building. It held the title of tallest habitable building in the city until the completion of the , 18-story

Hoge Building The Hoge Building is a 17-story building constructed in 1911 by, and named for James D. Hoge, a banker and real estate investor, on the northwest corner of Second Avenue and Cherry Street in Seattle, Washington. The building was constructed prima ...

in 1911. Both buildings had been surpassed in height by the clocktower of King Street Station, opened in 1906, which stands tall. Seattle's continued growth at the turn of the century, bolstered by the hosting of the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition in 1909 and the opening of the

Metropolitan Tract The Metropolitan Tract is an area of land in downtown Seattle owned by the University of Washington.Yesler Way in the modern-day downtown. On July 4, 1914, firearm and typewriter magnate Lyman Cornelius Smith opened the Smith Tower, the city's new tallest building. For several years, the 38-story tower would hold the title of tallest west of the Mississippi River, and dominate the Seattle skyline. By the end of the 1920s building boom, several new Art Deco high-rises above were completed in Seattle, including the Medical Dental Building (1925),

Seattle Tower 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. Its distinctive, ziggurat ext ...

(1930), Roosevelt Hotel (1929), Washington Athletic Club (1930), Textile Tower Building (1930), Harborview Medical Center (1931), and Pacific Tower (1933). New high-rise construction in Seattle was halted during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and World War II, and slowed during the

post-war economic boom In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period c ...

in the 1950s, as suburbanization took hold in the region. The first new building in downtown to be built after the war was the

Norton Building The Norton Building is a post-World War II office building in the International Style, located in Seattle, Washington, United States. Built on a sloping lot with the foundation of a large granite base, the building rises 17 stories above the city ...

in 1959, a 19-story office building in the

International Style International style may refer to: * International Style (architecture), the early 20th century modern movement in architecture *International style (art), the International Gothic style in medieval art *International Style (dancing), a term used in ...

with a glass curtain wall and simple exterior features, a departure from the previous Neo-Gothic and Art Deco styles used in high-rises. By 1959, office space occupying downtown buildings had overtaken retail uses, with over . Seattle was selected to host the World's Fair in 1962, revitalizing the downtown area and bringing the construction of the fairgrounds' centerpiece, the Space Needle. The observation tower became the symbol of the fair and a landmark for Seattle, and was the first new structure to surpass the Smith Tower in height. Seafirst Building, 1969

The 50-story

Seafirst Building Safeco Plaza (formerly known as 1001 Fourth Avenue Plaza, the Seafirst Building, and the Seattle-First National Bank Building) is a 50-story skyscraper in Downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. Designed by the Naramore, Bain, Brady, and ...

(now Safeco Plaza) became the city's tallest when it opened in 1969, standing , and signaled the start of a major construction boom in Downtown Seattle. The boom would last well into the 1980s, despite an economic downturn caused by the

Boeing bust 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. Seattle is a major port city that has a history of boom and bust. Seattle has on several ...

and

1970s energy crisis The 1970s energy crisis occurred when the Western world, particularly the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, faced substantial petroleum shortages as well as elevated prices. The two worst crises of this period wer ...

, and introduce elements of Modernist and

Postmodern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

architecture to high-rise construction in the city. During this period, 15 skyscrapers taller than in height were constructed in Seattle, including 901 Fifth Avenue (1973), the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building (1974),

1600 Seventh Avenue 1600 Seventh is a 32-story, skyscraper in Seattle, Washington, United States. Designed by John Graham & Company, it was completed in 1976; as of 2022, it is the 22nd-tallest building in the city. Originally built as the headquarters of Pacific ...

(1976),

Rainier Tower Rainier Tower is a 41-story, skyscraper in the Metropolitan Tract of Seattle, Washington, at 1301 Fifth Avenue. It was designed by Minoru Yamasaki, who designed the World Trade Center in New York City as well as the IBM Building, which is on ...

(1977), 1111 Third Avenue (1980), the

Westin Building The Westin Building Exchange is a major telecommunications hub facility located downtown Seattle, Washington. The building was constructed in 1981 as the Westin Building, housing the corporate offices of Westin Hotels, which was then based in Sea ...

(1981), 800 Fifth Avenue (1981), Union Square (1981 and 1989), and the

First Interstate Center First Interstate Center is a signature commercial office building located in the Transwestern Plaza, a complex consisting of four office towers with a total of 20 floors in the downtown core of Billings, Montana, United States. It is the tallest ...

(1983). In total, more than of office space was added by new construction in the 1980s. In 1984, the 76-story, Columbia Center was completed, becoming the tallest building in Seattle and on the West Coast of the United States. During the 1980s, the suburb of Bellevue emerged as an urban center, boasting a skyline of its own that would continue to grow well into the 21st century. Seattle skyline, circa 1986 (28153817145)

Seattle skyline, circa 1986 (28153817145)

The boom of the 1980s was capped by the Columbia Center and other downtown towers such as 1000 Second Avenue (1987),

1201 Third Avenue 1201 Third Avenue (formerly Washington Mutual Tower) is a , 55-story skyscraper in Downtown Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the third-tallest building in the city, the eighth-tallest on the West Coast of the United States, and t ...

(1988), the

U.S. Bank Centre U.S. Bank Center, formerly U.S. Bank Centre, is a 44-story skyscraper in Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington. The building opened as Pacific First Centre and was constructed from 1987 to 1989. At , it is currently the eighth-tallest buildin ...

(1989) and the Gateway Tower (1990), with new downtown office space in the decade surpassing what had been built over the previous 100 years in Seattle. The new wave of development sparked fears of " Manhattanization" in downtown that would push out lower-income residents and reduce quality of life. A downtown land use plan adopted in 1984 and shelved until 1986 required the addition of public benefits for major construction projects. Opposition to the new downtown plan, which would allow "generous" new construction unhindered by a height limit, led to the creation of the "Citizen's Alternative Plan", which would limit buildings to and restrict development to an annual limit of of space per year. The plan was approved by voters as a ballot initiative on May 16, 1989, replacing the land use plan and introduced the city's modern design review process for new development. Development of new high-rises slowed down across U.S. cities during the

early 1990s recession The early 1990s recession describes the period of economic downturn affecting much of the Western world in the early 1990s. The impacts of the recession contributed in part to the 1992 U.S. presidential election victory of Bill Clinton over incu ...

as demand caught up to an over-built market, with Seattle's 1980s office buildings suffering from a lack of tenants that forced ownership changes or the threat of bankruptcy and foreclosure. By 1992, vacancy rates for office space in Downtown Seattle reached 14.7 percent, while vacancy rates in outlying suburbs remained much lower. The dot-com bubble of the late 1990s, including a local economy boosted by Boeing and Microsoft, led a cut of the vacancy rate to 6 percent by 1997; between 1997 and 1999, new office buildings created an average of of additional office space per year. After the burst of the dot-com bubble and the early 2000s recession, downtown office vacancies shot up from 1 percent to 13 percent by the end of 2001. Two major downtown projects, the

IDX Tower The Fourth and Madison Building (formerly the IDX Tower) is a 40-story skyscraper in downtown Seattle, Washington. The building is located at 925 Fourth Avenue, at the intersection with Madison Street. Upon its completion in 2002, the late-Modern ...

(2003) and WaMu Center (2006), were completed during the early 2000s and were the first office buildings to be built since the Key Tower in 1990. By the mid-2000s, office vacancies in Downtown Seattle improved to below 10 percent, but office developers were hesitant to break ground on new projects. A new downtown zoning plan adopted in 2006 effectively repealed the 1989 Citizens' Alternative Plan and its modified height limit, favoring unlimited heights in downtown and residential towers on the periphery of downtown. The new zoning plan set off a wave of high-rise residential development in the late 2000s, including the completion of

Fifteen Twenty-One Second Avenue Fifteen Twenty-One Second Avenue is a residential skyscraper in Seattle, Washington. Designed by Weber Thompson, the 38-story tower contains 143 individual condominium (living space), condominium homes. The building is located near the historic ...

(2008), Escala (2009), and Olive 8 (2009), coming at the peak of the United States housing bubble and the demand for downtown luxury

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...

s before the Great Recession. During the Great Recession, downtown office vacancies rose to a record 21 percent by the beginning of 2010, but dropped to 10 percent by 2013; the downturn was partially blamed on the collapse of Washington Mutual, which employed 3,500 in its downtown offices. The surge in demand for office space revived several proposed downtown high-rise office projects, including

The Mark The Mark may refer to: Buildings *The Mark (Bucharest), future class-A office building in Bucharest, Romania *The Mark (New York), a hotel in New York *The Mark (San Diego), a building in San Diego, California *The Mark (Seattle), an office-hotel s ...

and

Madison Centre Madison Centre (formerly known as M5 Commerce Centre and 505 Madison) is a skyscraper in Downtown Seattle, Washington. It was completed in October 2017 and has 37 floors of office space totaling of gross leasable area. It is the thirteenth- ...

, both exceeding in height and planned to open in 2017. Other planned office and mixed-use buildings in Downtown Seattle include 2&U, the stalled

Civic Square A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

project, and the Rainier Square Tower, proposed to be the city's second-tallest building at . Since 2010, developers have also proposed high-rise residential buildings in Downtown Seattle, including a supertall 101-story tower named 4/C, which would become the city's tallest building at , and the 888 Tower. Recent high-rise development in Seattle has been concentrated in the Denny Triangle and

South Lake Union South Lake Union (sometimes SLU) is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, so named because it is at the southern tip of Lake Union. The official boundaries of the City of Seattle Urban Center are Denny Way on the south, beyond which is Denny ...

areas to the north of Downtown Seattle, both rezoned to support development in the 2000s after decades of supporting industrial and low-rise commercial establishments. Office development came first to the Denny Triangle area in the mid-2000s, with the construction of the

United States Courthouse Following is a list of United States federal courthouses, which will comprise all courthouses currently or formerly in use for the housing of United States federal courts. Each entry indicates the name of the building along with an image, if ava ...

(2004) and 1918 Eighth Avenue (2009). In 2012, Amazon.com announced their intention to relocate their South Lake Union headquarters to a complex of high-rises in Denny Triangle; the first towers, the Doppler and Day 1, opened in 2016, and at least three more towers are in development. The Denny Triangle also hosts the region's largest hotel, the 45-story Hyatt Regency Seattle near the

Washington State Convention Center The Seattle Convention Center (SCC), formerly the Washington State Convention Center (WSCC), is a convention center in Seattle, Washington, United States. It consists of several exhibition halls and meeting rooms in buildings along Pike Stree ...

, which was completed in 2018. Residential developments in the Denny Triangle area above include

Aspira The ASPIRA Association is an American nonprofit organization whose mission is to "empower the Latino community through advocacy and the education and leadership development of its youth". ASPIRA's national office is in Washington, D.C., and it ...

(2010), Premiere on Pine, Cirrus,

Kinects Kinects is a residential skyscraper in the Denny Triangle neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The , 40-story tower has 357 apartments and a restaurant at its base. It was completed in July 2017, after two years of construction. The building i ...

, Stratus,

McKenzie Apartments The McKenzie Apartments is a residential high-rise building in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. The 40-story skyscraper, located in the Denny Triangle, Seattle, Denny Triangle neighborhood, was completed in 2018 and has 450 apartments. H ...

, and

AMLI Arc AMLI Arc, also known as Tilt 49, is a mixed-use building complex in Seattle, Washington, United States. It consists of two buildings, both facing Boren Avenue between Stewart and Howell streets: a 41-story, residential skyscraper with 368 apartm ...

. The

Denny Way Denny Way is an east–west arterial street in downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. It forms the northern end of the Belltown street grid as well as the boundaries of Belltown, Lower Queen Anne, South Lake Union, Denny Triangle, and ...

corridor in South Lake Union, upzoned in 2013 by the city council, is proposed to support at least seven high-rise residential buildings above in height, including Kiara and 1120 Denny Way. Other parts of downtown Seattle have also been host to recent high-rise residential development, including the twin

Insignia Towers The Insignia Towers are a pair of 41-story residential skyscrapers on a common podium in the Denny Regrade neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. Canadian developer Embassy Development bought the redevelopment site in 2007 and gained initial pl ...

in Belltown,

Tower 12 Tower 12 is an apartment building in Seattle, Washington. The 34-story, skyscraper has 314 apartments as well as of ground-level retail space. It is located at the northwest corner of 2nd Avenue and Virginia Street near Pike Place Market and Vi ...

Helios In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; grc, , , Sun; Homeric Greek: ) is the deity, god and personification of the Sun (Solar deity). His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyper ...

, and West Edge Tower near Pike Place Market.

Tallest completed buildings

This list ranks Seattle skyscrapers that stand at least tall, based on standard height measurement. This includes spires and architectural details but does not include antenna masts. The "Year" column indicates the year in which a building was completed. Freestanding observation towers, while not habitable buildings, are included for comparison purposes; however, they are not ranked.

Tallest under construction, approved and proposed

Under construction

This lists skyscrapers that are under construction in Seattle that are expected to rise over , but are not yet completed structures.

Approved

This lists skyscrapers that are approved for construction by the

Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections 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 region of ...

that are expected to rise over , but have not started excavation. * Table entries without text indicate that information regarding one or more of building heights, floor counts, and dates of completion has not yet been released.

Proposed

This lists skyscrapers that are proposed for construction in Seattle that are expected to rise over , but are not yet completed structures. * Table entries without text indicate that information regarding one or more of building heights, floor counts, and dates of completion has not yet been released.

Timeline of tallest buildings

This lists buildings that once held the title of tallest building in Seattle. The Space Needle is not a building, and is thus not included in this list; the tower was the tallest structure in the city from 1961 to 1969.

Notes

:C. The Space Needle is not a habitable building, but is included in this list for comparative purposes. Per a ruling by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, freestanding observation towers are not considered to be buildings, as they are not fully habitable structures. :D. The height of the Pioneer Building was reduced to after the

1949 Olympia earthquake The 1949 Olympia earthquake occurred on April 13 at with a moment magnitude of 6.7 and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of VIII (''Severe''). The shock was located in the area between Olympia and Tacoma, and was felt throughout the state, as well ...

References

;General references * (including individual entries) * (including individual entries) * (including individual entries) ;Citations

External links

Diagram of Seattle skyscrapers
on SkyscraperPage
Buildings in Seattle - Emporis.com
{{featured list Seattle * Tallest In Seattle

Buildings A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and funct ...