| Historic Name: |
Butler Block/ Butler Hotel/ Butler Building |
Common Name: |
Butler Garage/ Butler Building |
| Style: |
Queen Anne - Richardsonian Romanesque |
Neighborhood: |
Pioneer Square |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1890 |
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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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The two floors are the remnants of the Butler Block which once housed the Butler Hotel, one of Seattle’s most elegant hotels. Built in 1889-1890, it was designed by Parkinson and Evers and at first called the Phinney and Jones Building. The July 3, 1889 Post-Intelligencer article entitled “ Live Times for Builders, A Five Story Block at Second and James Streets” announced its design and imminent construction: “Architects Parkinson and Evers are completing plans for a big brick building to be built by Mr. Guy C. Phinney and Mr. Daniel C. Jones on the northwest corner of Second and James Streets. The plans show that it will be a handsome structure and an ornament to the city…The exterior of the building will be beautiful, being composed of pressed brick with granite, terra cotta, galvanized iron trimmings and fashioned after modern architectural designs.” Guy Phinney was a Seattle businessman, involved in banking, insurance and real estate. He was the primary developer of the property. His partner in the venture, who held a minority interest, was Daniel Jones, described by Parkinson in later memoirs, as “ a typical frontiersman,” who apparently carried a gun in both hip pockets and whose every other word was a curse.
Phinney seems to have been personally involved in the construction. He ordered steel from San Francisco and set up a “10 x 12 office,” sort of a construction shack, on second Avenue near Cherry Street.
John Parkinson of Parkinson and Evers was an important architect in Seattle, right after the Fire of 1889. He was born in England in 1861, where he was trained in the building trades and design. He immigrated to Napa, California in 1885 and then to Seattle in 1889, right after the Fire. The partnership of Parkinson and Evers was begun in 1889 and dissolved by June of 1890. Parkinson continued to work in Seattle for a few more years, designing buildings for the Seattle School District, such as the B. F. Day School (still standing) and the Cascade School, demolished in the 1950s. In the Pioneer Square-Skid Road National Historic District, Parkinson’s other work is the Interurban Building, originally the Seattle First National Bank Building, one of the most striking Romanesque Revival buildings in the district. With the economic panic of 1893, many architects and well as business people had financial difficulties. Parkinson moved back to California, to the Los Angeles area and founded the very successful Parkinson and Associates, responsible for many Los Angeles landmarks, including buildings on the University of Southern California, the Los Angeles City Hall and the Art Deco Bullock’s on Wilshire Boulevard.
The building was converted to the elegant Butler Hotel in 1894. President Grant is supposed to have stayed here on a visit to Seattle and in 1927, during Prohibition, “respectable” patrons of the upscale “Rose Room” were caught during a police raid sipping drinks, while the orchestra played “How Dry I Am.” Since then, age and circumstance have not been kind to the Butler Building. Nevertheless, the remaining architectural elements of the bottom two stories do contribute to the historic district.
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| Appearance |
| The Butler Building, also known as the Butler Block, is currently a two story rusticated stone and brick structure, surmounted by nine stories of new parking structure. The primary street elevation faces west on second avenue, while the south elevation faces Yesler Way. The second avenue elevation - the first story of the original design - is divided into five bays surmounted by a stone belt-course which rakes out. The central bay, less wide than the other four is marked by a striking Romanesque Revival arched portal, with large rusticated stone voussoirs. The belt-course over the portal is raised up slightly and below it in bold relief are the words: “BUTLER BLOCK.” Other distinctive elements are the rusticated stone base of the main portal surmounted by large blocks of rusticated stone. Inset on each jamb of the portal are short pink marble columns, surmounted by capitals carved in a stylized Romanesque Revival floral pattern. This pattern continues as a frieze along the portal jamb and onto the façade of the building, although it is confined to the central bay. Each west facing bay is flanked by stone piers, also of rusticated stone block, topped by a stone molding, bearing an egg-and-dart motif. Storefront windows between piers are modern metal insertions.
The south facing Yesler Way elevation of the original building is divided into unequal bays and its composition is less clearly delineated. The south exterior wall is clad mainly in brick with rusticated stone trim. The east corner of the elevation has stone piers similar to those of the main façade and an inserted metal storefront. To the west of this, is a low wide arched portal with voussoirs of rusticated stone and a wide rectangular opening associated with the garage entry.
The building has undergone major changes since its initial construction. By the 1930s, the building had lost its top three floors. The bottom two floors survived until around 2001, when the Samis Company while shoring up the two major exterior facades, gutted the inside of the building and replaced the storefronts with modern storefront units. The many floors of modern parking were then added thanks to a new interior structure. Nevertheless, some striking exterior elements of the bottom two stories of the original façade do survive. While the gutting and remodel detract from the significance of the building, the exterior facades are still contributing to the historical character of the Pioneer Square-Skid Road National Historic District. |
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| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
NR, LR |
| Cladding(s): |
Brick, Stone - Ashlar/cut |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
| Roof Type(s): |
Flat with Parapet |
Roof Material(s): |
Unknown |
| Building Type: |
Domestic - Hotel |
Plan: |
Rectangular |
| Structural System: |
Mixed |
No. of Stories: |
two |
| Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Commerce, Politics/Government/Law |
| Integrity |
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Storefront: |
Extensive |
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Changes to Plan: |
Extensive |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
Slight |
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| Major Bibliographic References |
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Ochsner, Jeffrey and Dennis Andersen. Distant Corner: Seattle Architects and The Legacy of H. H. Richardson. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 2004.
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Andrews, Mildred et al. Pioneer Square: Seattle's Oldest Neighborhood. Manuscript. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, forthcoming 2005.
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Parkinson Archives. Database on-line. Available from http:// www. Parkives.com/
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