AKA: Cafe Allegro, University District, Seattle, WA
Structure Type: built works - commercial buildings - coffee shops
Designers: [unspecified]
Dates: constructed 1909
2 stories
This storefront commercial building was erected contemporaneously with the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (AYPE), held on the campus of the University of Washington (UW). The space has housed stores, a bank, a mortuary, and, beginning in 1975, the first location of the Cafe Allegro, a landmark University District coffeehouse. Its founder, Dave Olsen, worked closely with Seattle's Starbucks Coffee, first buying its products for use in Allegro, and later joining the company as Head Bean Buyer and Roaster on 08/18/1987. Olsen situated the Allegro near the UW's NE 42nd Street and 15th Avenue NE entrance, (now near the UW Law School), which was a prime gateway to the central campus. He sold the Allegro to longtime employee Chris Peterson two years previously.
Tel: 206.633.3030 (2013).
PCAD id: 18641