OpenStreetMap (new tab)

Google Map (new tab)

Google Streetview (new tab)

Building History

Pioneer sawmill owner and real estate owner, Henry Yesler (1810-1892), originally owned this small rusticated stone building shaped to fit its irregular corner location.

The G.O. Guy Pharmacy originally occupied a northeast side storefront on the building's first floor. On 06/25/1901, the Guy Pharmacy was the site of a shoot-out between vice kingpin/theatre impresario John Considine (1868-1943) and his one-time associate, turned rival, Chief of Police William Meredith (d. 1901). This altercation, started by Meredith, left him dead and Considine wounded in the neck. Guy survived the gunfire (which also wounded a bystander) and went on to open other pharmacies to form a small chain in Seattle.

Building Notes

Like a number of buildings in Pioneer Square, done just after the Fire of 1889, the H.K. Owens Building was done in the Richardsonian Romanesque Style. Jeffrey K. Ochsner and Dennis Anderson have attributed this building to the architect, Elmer H. Fisher, not de Neuf. (See Jeffrey K. Ochsner and Dennis Anderson, Distant Corner: Seattle Architects and The Legacy of H. H. Richardson, [Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2004].)

The Metropole Building underwent renovation in 2008; this work was undertaken by Krekow Jennings, Building Contractors.

PCAD id: 12728