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Building Notes

Unbuilt. Celebrated Saint Paul and New York architect Cass Gilbert (1859-1934), designed this Beaux-Arts Romanesque depot with a cupola whose design may have been derived from various sources. At the time this was being designed, Gilbert was in the process of moving his practice from Saint Paul, MN, to New York, NY. The building resembled the contemporary design of Tilton and Boring's Ellis Island (1900), with its Romanesque arches and emphatic, contrasting quoins and voussoirs. Aspects of the Seattle project also recalled Peabody and Stearns's Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal (1889) in Jersey City, NJ, close to Ellis Island. It, too, had Romanesque detailing, as well as tall chateauesque roofs and a thin, central cupola. The Seattle design was very different from the three other depots that Gilbert designed for the Northern Pacific c. 1900; he worked on realized depots in Bismarck, ND (a Spanish Colonial design dating to 1899), Little Falls, MN (Tudor Revival, 1899-1900), and Yakima, WA (Eclectic, 1900). Gilbert developed an inventive approach, one that often hybridized harmoniously elements derived from diverse European or American sources.

PCAD id: 18907