| Historic Name: |
Warehouse for the J. M. Colman Company/ F. B. Connelly Lake Union Building |
Common Name: |
Connelly Building/ Seattle Lithographics Building |
| Style: |
Commercial, Other - Utilitarian |
Neighborhood: |
South Lake Union |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1930 |
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| Significance |
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In the opinion of the survey, this property is located in a potential historic districe (National and/or local). |
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This property is no longer extant. Based on field examination conducted in January - February 2014, it has been demolished. Specific demolition date has not been established.
Now often known as the Connelly Building, and in recent King County property reports as the Seattle Lithographics Building, this is a well designed warehouse building, which has kept its most important architectural features. It was designed as a “warehouse for the J. M. Colman Company” in 1930 by architect William Aitken, later one of the architects involved in the creation of Yesler Terrace, the housing project, between 1940 and 1943. The drawings also note that this was an “industrial building.” The general contractor for the building was Fitton and Livergreen. The building was remodeled in 1939 for the use of the Rautman Plumbing and Heating Company (who also had commissioned the 1929 Art Deco façade of 115 South Jackson Street in Pioneer Square). Aitken also designed interior changes to the building in 1940 for the F. B. Connelly Company, after which the building has been more recently named. In a set of drawings from 1942, the building was described as the “F.B. Connelly Lake Union Building.” The most important association is perhaps with the J. M. Colman Company, which also commissioned the building to the south, now known as the C. B. Van Vorst Building, completed in 1915 and now a City of Seattle landmark. At the time of the construction of the 1015 Republican St building, Lawrence Colman, along with his brother George, were in charge of the J. M. Colman Company. The Colman brothers, well-known as business leaders in Seattle, were both involved in real estate as individual investors and as the heirs to the J. M. Colman Company, founded by their more illustrious father, James M. Colman. The father, born in Scotland, had immigrated to California and then to Seattle in 1861. Trained as an engineer and machinist, he became a well-known and influential Seattle businessman: He was the owner and manager of sawmills in Port Madison on Bainbridge Island and in Port Orchard, and all over the Puget Sound, as well as the owner of the Newcastle coal mine near Renton. He was also associated with railroad magnate Henry Villard, because of his support of a proposed Eastside railroad to Walla Walla. He is best known for commissioning several terminal buildings and ferry docks at the site of the present Colman Dock, including the famous 1912 building and clock tower by Daniel Huntington. The Colman Building, at the edge of Pioneer Square, (outside of it), is also a well-known Seattle landmark building. While James Colman died in 1906, his sons continued his legacy: George was active in the founding of Laurelhurst, while Lawrence Colman is described as “owning a mile of storefronts” in Seattle. He was also the second largest stockholder in Joshua Green’s People’s National Bank, now U. S. Bank. The Colman family was responsible for the construction of the Colman Pool in Lincoln Park in the 1930s and made similar contributions to the West Seattle neighborhood. In downtown Seattle, the Colman family supported the YMCA, of which Lawrence Colman was a co-founder. The “Connelly Building,” described in 1930 as “warehouse for the J. M. Colman Company” was completed only five years before Lawrence Colman’s death in 1935.
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| Appearance |
| This two story building, constructed in concrete, adjoins the C. B. Van Vorst warehouse building, which is south of it. The building has a rectangular footprint and a mainly flat roof with a parapet. It has three street facing elevations to the east, north and west. In general, these elevations are distinguished by storefront with single rows of clerestory lights, longer in the vertical dimension, or punched windows with industrial sash at the first level and at the second levels, large square windows with multi-pane industrial sash. The main commercial elevation faces north. Divided into six bays, it consists of one storefront per bay, with pairs of openings with industrial sash at the second level. An entry to the commercial space occurs at the fourth bay, counting from the east. The openings of the east elevation consist entirely of the standard large, square openings, with industrial sash at the second level (except where four have been filled in), and slightly longer openings at the first level. Characteristically, most window openings have shallow concrete sills. The “back,” west elevation is similar to the east elevation, although the lower openings are longer in the vertical direction, following the change of grade. In general, there are fewer openings at the center of the elevation, where roll-up garage doors at the first level are set below windows at the second level. |
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| Status: |
No - Altered |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
INV |
| Cladding(s): |
Concrete |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
| Roof Type(s): |
Flat with Parapet |
Roof Material(s): |
Asphalt/Composition |
| Building Type: |
Commercial/Trade - Warehouse |
Plan: |
Rectangular |
| Structural System: |
Concrete - Poured |
No. of Stories: |
two |
| Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Commerce, Manufacturing/Industry |
| Integrity |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
Slight |
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Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
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Storefront: |
Slight |
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Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
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| Major Bibliographic References |
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City of Seattle DCLU Microfilm Records.
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Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, ed. Shaping Seattle Architecture, A Historical Guide to the Architects. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.
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“Colman Family Back on the Dock,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 16 May 1982.
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BOLA Architecture + Planning. “The C. B. Van Vorst Building,” Seattle Landmark Nomination, September 2000.
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