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Overview

This simple Richardsonian Romanesque building has an unusual trapezoidal shape, that responded to its odd-shaped lot, located at the intersection of Yesler Way and the diagonal 2nd Avenue South. Its most notable tenant was G.O. Guy's Drug Store #3 that began operations here in 1893. This would remain the headquarters of a pharmaceutical chain that would grow to 12 stores eventually. This building also gained notoriety as being the site of a gun battle between Seattle's police chief and one its main vice kings in 1901.

Building History

This was the third drug store operated in George Omar Guy (1846-1927) in Seattle, WA. Guy had been born in NY, and educated at the University of Michigan and the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, graduating from the latter c. 1874. He relocated to Chicago, IL, where he opened a drug store in 1874, managing it there until moving to Seattle in 1888. He began his pharmaceutical business in Seattle that year, a store on the corner of Occidental Avenue and Main Street. This first location did not last long, as the Seattle Fire of 06/06/1889 leveled his establishment, forcing him to open a temporary business in a tent. Soon after the fire, he rented rooms at 4th Avenue and Main Street and opened his second pharmacy, operating here for about four years. In 1893, he relocated to this new building and remained here until 1942. His sons Albert (1892-1983) and George (1881-1968) continued in the family business, expanding it into a chain. Expansion was greatest in the 1920s, and, at its peak, G.O. Guy consisted of 12 stores in the Seattle area. His family sold the pharmacy in 1987 to the Pay 'n Save chain, and the brand name "G.O. Guy Drug Stores" was retired therafter. (See Phil Daugherty, HistoryLink.org Essay 10753, "G. O. Guy Drugs," published 03/10/2014, accessed 12/05/2017.)

Building Notes

On 06/25/1901, the imbalanced Seattle Police Chief William Meredith (1869-1901) shot the box house theatre owner and gambling kingpin John Considine (1868-1943) in G.O. Guy's Drug Store #3. Meredith, at one time, worked as a policeman before entering the employ of Considine. When the Depression of 1893 caused a dip in Considine's Seattle operations, Meredith went back to policing, and Considine moved to Spokane to operate a theatre there. The two developed a feud during the late 1890s that culminated in a gun battle that played out in G.O. Guy's Drug Store #3 on 06/25/1901. Meredith, armed with two pistols and a shotgun saw Considine standing out Guy's establishment, speaking with a policeman they both knew. Meredith opened fire with his shotgun and missed Considine, who ran into the store. The police chief fired the shotgun again, wounding Considine and bystander at the soda fountain. At this point, Considine, who was a large man, grabbed Meredith and wrestled him to the ground. Considine summoned his brother and bodyguard, Tom, for help, who promptly clocked Meredith with a weapon. At this time, Meredith lay injured and John Considine brandished a revolver he was carrying and discharged three slugs into the chief who apparently was reaching for a weapon on the floor. The three shots killed Meredith and Considine surrendered himself to the police who were now arrayed around him. He was tried for the death, but acquitted on self-defense grounds.

In 2017, the G.O. Guy Drug Store #3 occupied a 6,960-square-foot (0.16-acre) lot. The building contained 21,498 square feet in total, with 4,450 on the third floor, 13,320 on floors one and two combined, and 3,728 in the basement. The King County Assessor indicated that the building dated from 1900, but it was built by 1893.

Alteration

The building underwent unfortunate replacement of windows at some point, in an effort to "modernize" its appearance.