Originally accessed:
04/04/2007
Organization:
City of Seattle, Department of Neighborhoods
Notes:
"The building was designed by architect F. A. Sexton and completed in 1910. It replaced several two and three story frame lodgings with restaurants. This building is typical of the kind of warehouse buildings that were constructed at a time of explosive growth for Seattle's original commercial center. It was built for warehouse and wholesale use with steam heat, electric freight hoists and a sprinkler system. This may have been one of the last parcels on the block to be developed, since, for a long time, the Northern Pacific Railroad tracks also crossed the site. The building, formerly known as the Mueller Wholesale Block, was commissioned by John Mueller, former Mayor of Georgetown and vice-president of the Seattle Brewing and Malting Company. F. A. Sexton was the architect of the distinctive Annie Russell House, of numerous apartment buildings in the First Hill and Capitol Hill neighborhoods and of the Georgetown City Hall, now all in Seattle. Subsequently the building was known as the Norfin Building and then housed the local DSHS, the Department of Social and Health Services. The building was included in the 1976 Amendment to the National Register Historic District Nomination and in the 1986 Boundary Increase for the National Historic District."