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Building History

Seattle developer James A. Moore (1861-1929) and New York physician Dr. Rufus Pratt Lincoln (1841-1900), a renowned specialist in laryngoglogy, pooled their money to erect the Lincoln Hotel in 1899 and open it in 1900. The Blackwell Hotel Company operated the Lincoln Hotel in 1905 on the northwest corner of 4th Avenue and Madison Street.

The Seattle 1st National Bank Building, completed in 1969, later occupied the site where the Lincoln Hotel stood until 1920.

Building Notes

The city's first luxury apartment hotel, it was a towering presence on the skyline, having seven stories on its east facade and nine on its west. At this vantage point and with its height, most rooms had commanding views of Elliott Bay and the Olympics on the west, Mt. Rainier (south), and Cascades (east). The Lincoln Hotel was an early, luxury, high-rise hotel in Seattle, WA, complete with an extraordinary roof terrace. The roof garden had grass, flowers, shrubs and pergola, providing a pseudo-bucolic setting in the middle of downtown. The architect John Graham, Sr., (1873-1955) lived in the Lincoln Hotel in 1905.

Alteration

HistoryLink.org historian Alan Stein has observed of the Lincoln: "Although the Lincoln was considered one of the finest hotels in the city and the site of many social functions, room rentals suffered due to the hotel's distant location from the city's commercial district. Because of this, the Lincoln passed through a number of different owners over the years, until it was purchased by the Madison Realty Company on November 1, 1919, which invested $75,000 on remodeling the then 20-year-old building." (See Alan Stein, "Fire destroys Seattle's Lincoln Hotel, killing four, on April 7, 1920,"Accessed 09/15/2014.) Originally, the Lincoln lacked any exterior fire escapes. Three were added at a later date. At the behest of the Seattle Fire Department, the Madison Realty Company made alterations that improved fire safety in 1919, although they did not make the building fireproof.

Demoltion

A serious fire, killing four, gutted the Lincoln on 04/07/1920. At this time, approximately 300 people were staying at the hotel, when a fire broke out in the basement following an explosion. Destruction of the Lincoln stimulated calls for another modern, luxury hotel to be built Downtown; in 06/1922, investors incorporated the Community Hotel Corporation for the purpose of building the Olympic Hotel (completed in 1924), designed by the New York firm of George B. Post and Sons with local architects Bebb and Gould.

PCAD id: 11875