Seattle Historical Sites

Summary for 80 S Jackson ST S / Parcel ID 2285430000 / Inv #

Historic Name: Smith Building Common Name: 80 S. Jackson Street Condominium Style: Commercial, Italian - Italian Renaissance Neighborhood: Pioneer Square Built By: Year Built: 1900   Significance In the opinion of the survey, this property is located in a potential historic districe (National and/or local). The Smith Building, designed for L. C. Smith, later responsible for the Smith Tower (1914), was completed in 1900 and designed by architect Max Umbrecht. The Smith Building and buildings in its vicinity, particularly those on the same block, including the Squire (Squires) and the Crown Buildings, were part of the extension of the original “heart of Seattle,” originally located closer to the Public Square, now Pioneer Place. The Alaska Gold Rush and the railroads were in large part responsible for this growth. While hotels often took up the upper floors of several buildings, and were sometimes used for “despicable purposes,” more warehouses and stores were also needed. This building was constructed as a warehouse and like many Pioneer Square buildings, had a storefront at its ground level. A photo of the period (ca.1900) shows a variety of signage indicating that the Smith Building housed companies that manufactured sails and riggers as well as net and twine. The architect, Max Umbrecht, became a well-known Seattle architect, and has a sometimes eclectic, but identifiable style. He practiced architecture in Syracuse, New York (The home of Gaggin and Gaggin, the architects of the later Smith Tower) and in New York City, before coming to Seattle. He came to Seattle, in fact, on the request of the Smith family in 1900; so this is one of Umbrecht’s earliest works in Seattle. In Seattle, he also designed the W.D. Hafins House (now the Roman Catholic Archbishop’s Residence) on First Hill in partnership with A. Spaulding and the original building of the New Richmond Laundry in the Cascade Neighborhood (1917).   Appearance Rectangular in plan and mainly clad in light gray brick with stone trim, this is a four story building with basement. It has a parapet and cornice. The street elevations are on First Avenue South and Jackson Street. Above the storefront level, the facades are symmetrically composed. Both these elevations are distinguished by a recurring tripartite two-story bay, surmounted by an independent ornamental stone element, which includes a central arch containing a stylized shell motif. The shell motif may be a reference to the nautically related businesses originally housed in the building. From a distance, the tripartite vertical bay combined with the ornamental element suggests an ornate Palladian window shape. At the fourth level, a trio of linked arched openings surmounts this typical ornamental bay. Simpler bays, usually set near the corners of the elevations, consist of pairs of rectangular openings at the second and third levels and without the arched ornamental motif. They are topped at the fourth level by pairs of semi-circular arched openings. The First Avenue façade has a metal storefront level and is divided into three bays above: an ornamental bay with the crowning shell motif, flanked by two simpler bays. On Jackson Street, the trabeated openings at the ground level, doorway and window openings, are more random. At the upper level, however, the elevation is symmetrically composed and has five bays: the three central ones are of the more ornamental variety, and the flanking bays at each end of the elevation are of the simpler type. Corbelled brick ornament emphasizes the top of the wall just below the lower projecting cornice. There is also an upper cornice a few feet above the lower one. A modern penthouse level is visible from some angles on the Jackson Street elevation. In 1984, the Smith Building along with the neighboring Squire Building, designed by Charles Bebb, were certified and rehabilitated as one property, a condominium and given the official address: 80 South Jackson Street. (See Field Entry 45 for the Squire (Squires) Building).

Detail for 80 S Jackson ST S / Parcel ID 2285430000 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory Classication: Building District Status: NR, LR Cladding(s): Brick Foundation(s): Concrete - Poured Roof Type(s): Flat with Parapet Roof Material(s): Asphalt/Composition Building Type: Commercial/Trade - Warehouse Plan: Rectangular Structural System: Masonry - Unreinforced No. of Stories: four Unit Theme(s): Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Commerce, Manufacturing/Industry, Transportation Integrity Changes to Plan: Intact Storefront: Slight Changes to Original Cladding: Slight Major Bibliographic References Woodbridge, Sally and Roger Montgomery. A Guide to Architecture in Washington State. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1980. Ochsner, Jeffrey and Dennis Andersen. Distant Corner: Seattle Architects and The Legacy of H. H. Richardson. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 2004. Crowley, Walt. National Trust Guide: Seattle. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1998. "The Smith Building, Historic Preservation Certification, Part 1," OAHP, State of Washington, Olympia, Washington, Microfiche File.

Photo collection for 80 S Jackson ST S / Parcel ID 2285430000 / Inv #

Photo taken Oct 26, 2004