Seattle Historical Sites

Summary for 313 2nd AVE / Parcel ID 5247800690 / Inv #

Historic Name: Hambach Warehouse/ Northwest Hotel Supply Common Name: Masin's Furniture Style: Art Deco, Commercial - Chicago School Neighborhood: Pioneer Square Built By: Year Built: 1905   Significance In the opinion of the survey, this property is located in a potential historic districe (National and/or local). The building was designed as warehouse by Josenhans and Allan in 1905 for Albert Hambach. Hambach was a successful wholesale dealer in steam and plumbing supplies and had owned property or commissioned buildings in the former “burnt district” since 1898. In fact, he is listed in local directories in 1898 at an address on Western Avenue. As a result of his growing inventory, Hambach commissioned this warehouse building on Second Avenue in 1904. In 1907, the Westland Building, sometimes called the Hambaca Building, was also built for Hambach and by 1913, the Hambach Building, located next to the Seller Building and directly across the street from the Westland Building, was also complete. The Hambach Warehouse Building not only represents the success of an early Seattle businessman, but also dates from a time (late 1890s to 1910s) of explosive economic growth in the district (and in Seattle in general), characterized by increased industrialization, hillside regrading, the filling of the nearby tideflats, and massive railroad improvements. The building is also the work of an important local Seattle architecture firm. While less seems to be known about Norris Best Allan, Josenhans’ career is better documented. Timotheus Josenhans was born in Wurttemberg, Germany. He worked briefly for William LeBaron Jenney and then as a railroad construction engineer in Chicago. He arrived in Oregon in 1880 and worked as draftsman in Portland for Joseph Sherwin and Warren Williams. By 1888, he had moved to Seattle and was a draftsman in the office of Hermann Steinmann, the architect of the Terry and Kittinger Building, now known as the Delmar Building in Pioneer Square. Between 1888 and 1889, he designed powerhouses for Seattle’s electric railways. He formed a partnership with James Stephen which lasted from 1894 and 1897. Josenhans and Allan are also responsible for Parrington Hall on the University of Washington Campus (1903-04). The partnership endured until 1912. Sanborn Company Insurance maps for 1916 indicate the Hambach Warehouse Building was used for purposes other than warehousing. It served as a moving picture show hall, a harness shop, a restaurant and a carpentry shop. Photos indicate that it also housed the New Second Avenue Market on the ground floor, and a suitcase and traveling factory bag factory upstairs. In 1928-1929, a major public works project, the extension of Second Avenue, cut a diagonal swath through the block where the building was located. This had a major effect on the buildings and urban spaces of what became the Pioneer Square-Skid Road National Historic District. Several buildings in the path of this great force were demolished, while others lost facades and storefronts and needed new ones. As a result of the Second Avenue Extension, the east façade of the former Hambach Warehouse was cut away. It was redesigned by Lawton and Moldenhour and rebuilt with Art Deco flourishes. The building is one of the best representatives of the physical changes that this ambitious public works project was to have on the district.. By the mid-1950s, the building was the home of Northwest Hotel Supply, hence one of its names. Aside from the changes to the Second Avenue Extension façade, which should be considered historically significant to the historic district, few changes have been made to the facades, except for a slight, but sensitive, modification to the storefronts. A 1989 renovation made the storefronts uniform with plate glass and stuccoed bulkheads, but is in keeping with the original design (The building was also certified at that time and the changes approved).}   Appearance Built in 1905, the Hambach Warehouse, also known as the Northwest Hotel Supply Building, occupies a section of a triangular configuration created by Second Avenue and the southern extension of Second Avenue. The Second Avenue Extension project, completed in 1929, had a far-reaching effect on many of the buildings in its path and on the overall urban design of a portion of what became the Pioneer Square-Skid Road National Historic District. The Hambach Warehouse occupies the middle of the block. It has two elevations, a primary one facing west, dating from the initial design of the building and the east elevation, modified as a result of the southern extension project. The Hambach Warehouse, trapezoidal in plan, has brick bearing walls and heavy timber post and beam framing on the interior. It stands four stories in height and has a basement level. It shares a common wall with the 1900 Furuya Building to the south and the Apex Building to the north. The primary west façade features pressed brick in four bays with a corbelled cornice, one-over-one double-hung wood sash grouped in fours, original triple-light transoms at the ground floor and storefronts. The east elevation has buff-colored brick spandrels and piers, decorative brick and terra cotta ornament at the roofline and terra cotta enframements around four storefront bays.. The ground floor has original metal transoms with crested detail set over storefront display windows. Upper floors have original pivoted wood sash.

Detail for 313 2nd AVE / Parcel ID 5247800690 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory Classication: Building District Status: NR, LR Cladding(s): Brick, Metal, Terra cotta Foundation(s): Concrete - Poured Roof Type(s): Flat with Parapet Roof Material(s): Asphalt/Composition Building Type: Commercial/Trade - Warehouse Plan: Irregular Structural System: Masonry - Unreinforced No. of Stories: four Unit Theme(s): Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Commerce Integrity Changes to Windows: Slight Storefront: Slight Changes to Plan: Intact Changes to Original Cladding: Slight Major Bibliographic References Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Historical Guide to the Architects. Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, ed. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994. “Hambach Warehouse – NW Supply- 212 Second Avenue, Historic Preservation Certification, Part 1,” 28 August 2003. Krafft, Katheryn Hills. “Northwest Hotel Supply, 212 Second Avenue, Historic Preservation Certification, Part 1,” 24 July 1989.

Photo collection for 313 2nd AVE / Parcel ID 5247800690 / Inv #

Photo taken Jun 09, 2004 Photo taken Jun 09, 2004