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Building History

The Seattle Hardware Company opened for business in the Pioneer Square central business district in 1883. The Seattle Fire of 06/06/1889 gutted this first location, forcing the company to rent a barn from the Seattle Street Railway Company at the corner of Pike Street and 2nd Avenue during the year 1889-1890. In 1890, it leased space in the Colman Building at the corner of 1st Avenue and Marion Street. It remained in the Colman building between 1890 and 1905, when this new building on 1st Avenue South was completed late in the year. See University of Washington Libraries Special Collections Division, “Office interior showing Seattle Hardware Company employees working at desks, Seattle, ca. 1923,” accessed 09/04/2020.)

The Seattle Hardware Company Building was being finished in 10/1905 when an article in The Iron Age stated: “The Seattle Hardware Company has about completed its new and magnificent building, 140 x 230 feet, seven stories in hight [sic], with a large basement. It is lighted from all sides, and is well equipped with elevators. This building will enable the company to well conduct its large and growing business.” (See “Condition of Trade: Seattle,” The Iron Age, 10/05/1905, p. 911. Thank you to Rob Ketcherside who pointed out this article and other facts about the Seattle Hardware Building in an email to the author on 10/29/2019.)

Building Notes

Information on the Seattle Hardware Company can be found in the Photographs of the Seattle Hardware Company, a collection held in the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections Division, Collection #PH0698. (See Archives West.org, "Photographs of the Seattle Hardware Company, approximately 1907-1960," accessed 10/07/2020.)

PCAD id: 4997