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Overview

Galbraith, Bacon and Company, a wholesale dealer in feed, flour, lime, plaster and cement, operated its warehouse in the new Pier #3 in 1901. A new waterfront redevelopment plan was put forth in 1897 by City Engineer Reginald H. Thomson (1856-1949) and his English-born deputy George Fletcher Cotterill (1865-1958)to redevelop the waterfront with larger and more uniform warehouses. Docks 3, 4 and 5 were part of this new initiative to make the standardize the waterfront's aesthetic and expand its capacity. Unlike earlier neighboring warehouses to the south built just after 1889 that were perpindicular to the Northern Pacific Railroad tracks on Railroad Avenue, the new Piers 3, 4, and 5 were placed to create an obtuse angle on each dock's southern facade.

Building History

Between 1942 and 1944, Seattle's piers were re-numbered. Pier #3 became known as Pier #54. The Puget Sound Ports Traffic Control Committee, chaired by Seattle Port Commission General Manager W.C. Bickford, proposed renumbering the existing piers with numbers ranging from 24 to 91 in 1942. According to an article in the Seattle Times in 04/1944, "The redesignation of docks on the waterfront was proposed...to expedite the movement of cargo through Seattle.This will allow for extensions to the Duwamish Waterway and to West Seattle, where terminals will be numbered under 24 and to the Lake Washington Ship Canal, Lake Union and Lake Washington, where piers will be numbered above 91." The plan was scheduled to become mandatory by 05/01/1944. A month before deadline, the Alaska Steamship Company objected to the plan, as it controlled Piers 1 and 2, and felt that its years of publicity highlighting its easy to remember pier locations would be detrimental to business. (See R.H. Calkins, "Marine News: Alaska Company Hits Pier Change," Seattle Times, 04/09/1944, p. 14.)

Building Notes

Pier #3, like #4 and #5, were long, retangular buildings with post-and-beam structures and clapboard siding. Their long dimensions extended east-west into Elliott Bay. Each building had a gable roof whose vertical rise was interrupted by rows of clerestory windows lining their entire north and south lengths. The south and north facades had sliding barn doors for the loading and unloading of merchandise into the warehouse. Spur tracks along Pier #3's north and south sides enable rail cars to be unloaded directly into the warehouse.

PCAD id: 20659