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Overview

The Littler clothing store, catering to well-heeled businessmen, professionals and celebrities, began as a menswear store in 1931, located on the southwestern corner of Union Street and 5th Avenue. It occupied this highly visible location in the White-Henry-Stuart Building for 46 years.

Building History

This venerable menswear store operated in Downtown Seattle, WA, between 1931 and 1996. Initially, it transacted business from 1931 until 1977 in the White-Henry-Stuart Building in Downtown Seattle's Metropolitan Tract, a parcel that was once the first campus of the University of Washington (UW). During this time, the UW and its property development agent, UNICO Properties, collected rent from Littler's founder, Anson Augustus Littler (born 07/19/1901 in OH-d. 01/09/1991 in Santa Barbara County, CA), who relocated to Seattle from Dayton, OH, in 1920, where he worked in advertising for a local newspaper. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1920; Census Place: Dayton Ward 8, Montgomery, Ohio; Roll: T625_1421; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 159, accessed 10/23/2025.) When UNICO announced that the White-Henry-Stuart Building would be gradually demollished in the 1970s, Littler moved to a new flagship location in the Rainier Square commercial development, also owned by Unico Properties, in 1977. (See "Littler to Move to New 'Corner,'" Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 10/17/1976, p. E2.)

As noted by Seattle's Museum of History and Industry.org (MOHAI), "Anson A. (“Bob”) Littler moved to Seattle in 1920 and in 1931 opened a men’s clothing store at 417 Union Street in downtown Seattle. Despite opening during the Depression, the store was successful, and by the 1950s the company had added a women’s store, a shop at the Olympic Hotel, and accessory departments. In all, there were three Seattle stores plus one in Pebble Beach, California." (See Museum of History and Industry.org (MOHAI), "Catalog from Littler clothing stores, Seattle, 1951-1952," published 2016, accessed 10/25/2025.) Littler retired from day-to-day management of Littler in 1965, thereafter relying on his son-in-law, Laurence Gillham Fry (born 09/12/1921 in WA-d. 04/18/2004 in WA), to manage his Seattle stores. Additionally, at about the time of his retirement, Littler sold the business. His Seattle Times obituary stated: "When Mr. Littler retired, Littler Inc. merged with Hickey-Freeman, a Rochester, N.Y., clothing manufacturer and retailer, just as that company was acquired by Hart Schaffner & Marx." (See Chuck Taylor, Seattle Times.com, "Anson A. `Bob' Littler, 90, Owner Of Clothing Store Chain," published 01/14/1991, accessed 10/23/2025.)

PCAD id: 15425