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Overview

This brewery complex occupied the north half of a half-block site bordered by Mercer Street on the north, Republican Street on the south, Howard Avenue North on the east and Pontius Avenue North on the west. In 1912, the complex contained 10 buildings as noted in the Baist Real Estate Atlas of that year. (See Baist Map Company, Baist's Real Estate Atlas of Surveys of Seattle, Wash, 1912, map 7.)

Building History

Alvin Hemrich (1870-1935). a German immigrant who had previously worked in breweries in Victoria, BC, and Seattle, WA, bought the North Pacific Brewery (originally known as the Slorah Brewery) in 1897. He renamed it the "Alvin Hemrich Brewing Company" until his elder brother Andrew (1856-1910) bought into the business six months later. Alvin Hemrich operated this brewery in Seattle's industrial Cascade neighborhood through the first three years of Prohibition. He switched to manufacturing a carbonated apple drink, Applestaff, and a non-alcoholic beer brand-named Lifestaff.

Hemrich sold this plant and another he operated in Aberdeen, WA, (the Aberdeen Brewing Company) in 1923. Following Prohibition's repeal, he re-entered the brewing business, working up until his death from a blood clot in 1935. (See the fine Brewerygems.com web site, "Biography of Alvin M. Hemrich," (1870-1935),Accessed 03/09/2011.)

Alteration

Theobald Buchinger added to the buildings of the Hemrich Brothers Brewery at 515 Howard Avenue North in 1911. These alterations cost $30,000.

Demolition

The Slorah / North Pacific / Hemrich Brewery at 515 Howard Avenue North (later renamed Yale Avenue North) was demolished. An office building at 500 Yale Avenue North stood on its site in 2023.

PCAD id: 14777