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Building History

The City of Seattle Office of Economic Development provided the preservation organization, Historic Seattle, with a $2.04 million Section 108 Loan to purchase the Cadillac Hotel. In 2006, it was one of eight structures built right after the 1889 Seattle Fire that still stood largely intact, although severely damaged-- in Pioneer Square.

Building Notes

Seattle's Cadillac Hotel was also known as the Derig Hotel. In its heyday, this hotel had 56 rooms, serving mostly male transients and workers at nearby industrial concerns in Downtown Seattle. The Cadillac is included in the Pioneer Square Preservation District, created in 1970, to supplement the the National Register of Historic Places. It became Washington's smallest park in the National Park System, known as the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, 06/30/1976; during the 1960s and 1970s, officials in the National Park Service worked with local landowners and politicians to develop the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park; the vast majority of the park was located in AK, although "Planners also proposed a unit in Seattle and the purchase of a single commercial building in the Pioneer Square area. Appraisers estimated that the cost of the park proposal would be approximately $2.4 million; $1.3 million for land purchases, $0.5 million for building improvements, and $0.6 million for administrative and other costs." (See Donald A. Purse to Chief, Office of Planning and Design, San Francisco Field Office, December 6, 1971, in Correspondence File, Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park Administrative History Collection, National Park Service, Washington, DC.)

Before the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake, the Fenix Underground Night Club operated in the basement of the Cadillac Hotel.

In 2016, the Cadillac Hotel had 6,500 square feet on the 1st floor and basement, and 13,000 square feet on floors two and three.

Alteration

The Cadillac Hotel underwent serious damage during the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake, requiring large-scale repair. Several engineering companies became involved with efforts to shore up and renovate the building's load-bearing masonry fabric. In 03/2001, the firm of Rutherford and Chekene was involved in the rehabilitation efforts. Todd Perbix of the engineering firm, Perbix Bykonen, produced a shoring plan that Rutherford and Chekene adapted and utilized in mid-2001. Terry Lundeen, of the Seattle engineering firm, Coughlin Porter Lundeen, also advised Historic Seattle, which became interested in preserving it soon after the earthquake. Lundeen worked from 2003 through the building's completion in 09/2005. Lundeen worked closely with architect Ron Murphy, of the Seattle-based Stickney Murphy Romine (SMR) on the renovation effort. After more than four years of work, Historic Seattle celebrated its completion with a grand opening on 09/22/2005. The National Park Service occupied space in the building by late 2005. (See Historic Seattle, "Cadillac Hotel Historic Seattle," brochure, [Seattle: Historic Seattle, 2005].)

At the end of this rehabilitation, it became the new home of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Museum and also accommodates the regional headquarters of the National Park Service. This rehabilitation effort garnered a National Trust for Historic Preservation Award in 11/2006.