Overview

This wood-frame apartment hotel stood in two different locations for about 27 years. It was moved from a site at 3rd Avenue and Union Street to a new location at 3rd Avenue and Pike Street. It lasted in this spot, with some renovations, until the late 1920s, when it was torn down to make way for a new office tower.

Building History

This apartment hotel had a complex history between 1901 and 1928. According to an article in the Seattle Times of 12/02/1928, the Plummer Apartments was originally located on 3rd Avenue at Union Street, but was relocated to make way for a new main US Post Office. It was moved in 1901 to a site on the southwest corner of 3rd Avenue and Pine Street. It was known as the Hotel Federal by 1904, and John H. McLean was its proprietor. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1904, p. 545.)

A Sanborn Fire Insurance map of 1905 colored the building as yellow for a wood-frame structure. At this time, the first floor was used for retail purposes and the second and third floors were for rented rooms. It had first-floor, retail entrances on Pike Street at 215, 217 and 219, and on 3rd Avenue at 1525, 1527, 1529, 1531, 1533 and 1535 on the corner.

By 1908, its new location was altered by the initiation of the Denny Regrade #1. Originally a two-story building, a third floor was inserted underneath the existing two. When it reopened on 04/01/1911, the reconstructed building continued to be called the "Federal Hotel." It operated at this location for 17 years, after 1925 as the Hotel Melrose. (This was the second Hotel Melrose in Seattle, the first being at 421 Pike Street.)

Demolition

The Hotel Melrose #2 was demolished beginning on 12/02/1928 to clear space for the United Shopping Tower, later known as the "Olympic Tower."

PCAD id: 20003