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Overview

The Hotel Vendôme was one of several residential hotels, located near to one another on 1st Avenue c. 1900. These included the Vendôme at 1315 1st Avenue, the Bronson at 905 1st Avenue, and the Rainier-Grand at 909-915 1st Avenue, the Grand Pacific at 1117 1st Avenue, and the Weed Hotel at 1st Avenue and Union Street. Save for the Rainier-Grand, these were run-of-the-mill hotels, catering to a variety of people, including hucksters and charlatans. While the King County Assessor's records indicated that the Vendôme Hotel opened in 1900, classified ads for it began appearing in the Seattle Times by 02/1898. (See classified ad, Seattle Times, 02/19/1898; p. 6.) It is likely that a surge in the number of miners traveling to the Klondike through Seattle in 1898 spurred construction of hotels to accommodate them.

Building History

The City of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods database indicated that the building appeared in Sanborn Fire Insurance maps as early as 1893. It was labeled on Sanborn maps the "“Hotel Vendome/ Post Edwards Building" from 1893 until 1912, at least. According to the Jeffrey Karl Ochsner and Dennis A. Andersen in their 2003 book, Distant Corner, the venerable Seattle architect William E. Boone (1830-1921) received the Post-Edwards Building commission in 04/1890. (See Distant Corner, [Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2003], p. 363, footnote #93.)

It has served multiple purposes since 1893, including residential hotels, stores, offices, and small theatres. The hotel in this building has operated under multiple names including in 1898 as the Hotel Vendôme, and in 1926, as the "New Vendôme Hotel." In 1900

In its earliest days, several spiritual healers and psychics, staying at 1315 1st Avenue, advertised their services in classified ads in the Seattle Times. In 1900, C.W. Logan, advertised his or her services as a "...magnetic healer, [who] treats with remarkable success all cases of rheumatism and neuralgia; also diseases of women. 1315 First avenue, room 76." (See classified ad, Seattle Times; Date: 10-29-1900; Page: 11.) In 1902, W.T. Parker placed this ad: "Spiritual science teacher and healer. Developing class every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, 8 p.m., Room 50, The Vendôme, 1315 First avenue. W.T. Parker, Phone Green 311." (See classified ad, Seattle Times; 01/01/1902; p. 18.) Later in 1902, a Madame Melbourne took out this ad: "Mme Melbourne, clairvoyant and palmist; readings 50c and $1.00; satisfaction guaranteed. Vendome, 1315 First avenue." (See Seattle Times; 06/11/1902; p. 14.) In total, eight clairvoyants advertised their services in the Seattle Times in classifieds printed on 06/11/1902; (p. 14), seven of whom identified themselves as women. (It is not clear who the eighth was.)

One healer, a follower of Mrs. Orson Squire Fowler, placed this ad in a June 1902 issue of theTimes: "Mrs. O.S. Fowler's system of electric treatments taught and practiced, cures all nervous and chronic diseases; magnetic and osteopathic treatments given. 1315 First Avenue." (See classified ad, Seattle Times; 06-16-1902; p. 11.) A few days earlier, an advertisement for Mrs. Fowler herself appeared in the newspaper, highlighting an upcoming series of lectures in Everett, WA: ""Everett Wash. Mrs. O.S. Fowler of New York, widow of the famous phrenologist, Prof. O.S. Fowler, who lectured at Seattle Theatre last month, will deliver her course of free lectures at Everett, Washington, beginning June 16th, one lecture being to ladies only, one to men and three to all. Mrs. Fowler is well known from Maine to California, where she has met with and lectured to the elite of the land; her coming is ever looked forward to with pleasure and her visit to Everett promises to be an intellectual feast to the good citizens of that, our sister city. Mrs. Fowler has secured parlors at the Grand Central hotel, remaining until July 3, where she will be pleased to receive you and make your acquaintance. Here classes on the use of electricity for the cure of diseases will begin June 24th." (See classified ad, Seattle Times, 06/08/1902, p. 21.) Orson Squire Fowler became famous not only for his phrenology, but also his advocacy of octagonal houses in the mid-19th century.

Like most hotels of the early century, the New Vendôme's ground floor included space for four retail shops. In 1926, these four storefronts included (numbers 1311-1319 from south to north) the Gem Shop, Del Monte Cafe, Reliable Tailors, and Call Trunk and Leather Goods Company.

By mid-century, the three-story Sultan Hotel occupied a prime location in Seattle's vice district, a neighborhood of bars, brothels and porn merchants; by the 1970s, the adult Sultan Cinema operated on the first floor. In 1985, the proprietor of the X-rated Apple Theater in Capitol Hill applied for a building permit to alter the Sultan's floor plan, expanding it into a neighboring tavern space for use as a "panoram," a business with live nude dancers and booths equipped with mechanically operated shades that raised when money was deposited. Originally known as the Amusement Center Arcade, it was renamed shortly after opening as "The Lusty Lady." (The same owners also purchased a Lusty Lady Theatre in San Francisco, CA, just after the Seattle location opened. The San Francisco operation gained notoriety when the dancers bought it in 2003, making it one of the only performer-owned peep shows in the U.S.) Several downtown landowners and real estate developers, including former Mayor Paul Schell, attempted to close the Lusty Lady; most recently, in 2004-2005, Schell and a group of investors behind the Four Seasons Hotel Tower tried to buy the property to demolish it. The Tolias Family, which has long owned the structure resisted the move, but sold 1315 1st Avenue's air rights for $850,000 in 2005. On 04/11/2010, the owners of the Lusty Lady Theatre announced their intention to close by 07/2010, ending a colorful 30+ year run.

In 2015, the Hotel Vendôme property was known as the "Seven Seas Building."

Buillding Notes

In 2010, 1315 1st Avenue, once called the "Amusement Center," occupied a 4,440-square-foot (0.10 acre) lot, and contained 24,880 gross square feet, 4,400 net. The building had a value of $820,800 in 2010. The Lusty Lady's Seattle Theatre was celebrated and notorious for the risque messages displayed on its marquee. When the Hammering Man sculpture by Jonathan Borofsky was first installed in 1992, the sign read, "Hammer Away, Big Guy."

Alterations

In 1923, the building underwent a significant remodeling, supervised by Seattle engineer-architect Henry Bittman (1882-1953). It became known as the "New Hotel Vendome" shortly after this renovation.

The front facade of the Sultan Hotel had three bays oriignally, two on either side of a taller central portion. In the 1970s, a partking garage was built to the north of the building, the owners of which negotiated with the Sultan Hotel's owners to obtain its northern bay. As a result, this portion of the building was shorn off.