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Building History

Just before and after the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909, a large number of hotels were built in Seattle. In part, this reflected increased tourist interest but also underscored the large housing needs the city faced from 1900-1920, when its population soared from 80,671 to 315,312 inhabitants, moving it from the 48th most populous US city to the 20th.

Earl Hungerford owned this large hotel in 1948, and employed T.H. Byron as his manager. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1948, p. 641.)

Building Notes

According to an advertisement extolling Seattle's construction rate in 1927, the Hotel Hungerford cost $500,000 to erect. See "Seattle 'the City that is ever Building!'" Seattle DailyTimes, 07/09/1928, p. 34. The Hotel Hungerford was built one block south of the most important large-scale hotel built in Seattle during the 1920s, the Olympic Hotel #2, completed in 1924. The Olympic was seen as a first-class amenity that possessed the meeting facilities and number of rooms that the growing young city lacked, and great pride was expressed in local newspapers in its construction. It was the first hotel capable of hosting conventions and conferences of expanding professional organizations. This building dated four years later and was located strategically nearby to the Olympic in Seattle's new and energetic downtown.

In 1948, Earl Hungerford and his wife Maude lived at 1102 4th Avenue, in his own hotel. A Hotel Hungerford Fountain and Sundries store operated at 1100 4th Avenue, operated by R.D. Blake. Helen Dorothy managed the Hotel Hungerford Beauty Shop at 1102 4th Avenue at this time. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1948, p. 641.)

PCAD id: 8033