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Building History

Seattle builder/developer Gardner J. Gwinn (1888-1959) built and owned this hotel, Seattle's second largest when it opened on 02/27/1929. Gwinn leased the operation to the Maltby and Thurston Hotel Company, which also operated the Monte Cristo Hotel in Everett, WA, the Lewis and Clark Hotel In Centralia, WA, the Marcus Whitman in Walla Walla, WA, the President in Mount Vernon, WA, the Columbia Hotel in Wenatchee, WA, and the Waldorf Hotel in Seattle. Architect Earl A. Roberts (1886-1939) designed the Hotel Benjamin Franklin for a site on the southeast corner of 5th Avenue and Virginia Street, standing 14 stories tall and containing 359 rooms. Roberts developed a reputation for designing Tudor Gothic high-rise apartment blocks in Seattle, including the Cavalier (1926, demolished), Duchess (1927) and Commodore (1925) Apartments in the University District. (One source, Sid Copeland, The Story of Western International Hotels, [Seattle: Frayn Publishing Company, 1976], p. 89, indicated that the Hotel Benjamin Franklin had 286 rooms.)

In 1953, Albert E. Schilling served as the Hotel Benjamin Franklin's Manager. It contained 350 rooms with baths, each costing $5.00 and up. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1953, p. 643.)

Building Notes

The hotel had a diverse floor plans and sizes to attract tourists and long-term residents. According to a Seattle Daily Times article of 1929: "Rooms, single, double, en suite and apartments bachelor and family, are available in a wide range of sizes and decorative plans, to appeal to many tastes. All rooms are bath or shower equipped. Many features, such as bed lamps and reading lamps hitherto provided only in the more elaborate suites, are standard to all rooms of The Benjamin Franklin." According to the article, special accommodations were made to the new kind of guest, the single woman. "Two entire floors of the hotel are reserved entirely to women, and will be under the direction of a capable hostess...." The hotel's first manager, Troy E. Himmelman (1888-1969) observed "...that some step was necessary in recognition of the growing tendency of women to travel alone, and with as much as of the male's freedom as possible." (See "Huge New Hotel Will Be Opened Tomorrow Night," Seattle Daily Times, 11/26/1929, p. 17.)

In about 1950, the hotel advertised having 350 rooms “all with bath” and was located “in the heart of the Theatrical and Retail Shopping Center.” Lynn P. Himmelman served as the manager at that time. (See postcard, Benjamin Franklin Hotel, c. 1950, author's collection.)

Alteration

By 1969, the South Tower of the Washington Plaza Hotel (later known as the "Westin") was being built, necessitating the demolition of the Orpheum Theatre at the intersection of Westlake Avenue and Stewart Street. At this time, the new Westin complex was linked to the Benjamin Franklin to form a continuous meeting place that stretched the length of 5th Avenue between Virginia Street and Stewart Street. When the second, larger North Tower was planned about 1980, the Hotel Benjamin Franklin was deemed expendable.

Demolition

The Hotel Benjamin Franklin was torn down in 07/1980 to make way for the north cylindrical tower of the Westin Hotel.

PCAD id: 18151