Seattle Historical Sites

Summary for 1 Yesler WAY / Parcel ID 7666202594 / Inv #

Historic Name: Bedford Hotel Common Name: 1 Yesler Way Style: Commercial Neighborhood: Pioneer Square Built By: Year Built: 1911   Significance In the opinion of the survey, this property is located in a potential historic districe (National and/or local). The original building, which first housed the Bedford Hotel from 1911 to 1940, was erected in 1911. After World War II, this building continued to serve as a seamen’s and travelers’ hotel. Restored as an office building in 1967, it was known in the 1969-70 National Register nomination as the Pacific Banking Building. Its earlier address was “67-71 Yesler Way,” but it seems that the address “ 1 Yesler Way” is now official according to current King County Records. The draft of Victor Steinbrueck’s Seattle Register Nomination Form for the Pioneer Square Historic District and the Pioneer Square Preservation District Inventory, done by the Seattle Department of Community Development in 1982 – apparently based on Steinbrueck’s assessment - both claim that the building was “restored and rebuilt in 1967.” While the north facing street level has obviously been redesigned and probably in the 1960s, the fenestration of the upper level appears exactly as it does in a King County Property Record card photo of 1936. Also, the photograph shows that the parapet did rise at the corners and south elevation of the building, as it does now, although there were overhangs that ran the length of the lower parts of the parapet. All this suggests that, despite changes in 1967, particularly at the lower level of the north elevation, the building has retained much of its fabric and integrity from 1911 or has been reconstructed so as to retain its essential architectural characteristics.   Appearance This is small, three story, brick clad building, triangular in plan. It has a flat roof and a parapet which rises at the corners of the building and at the narrow south elevation. The main elevation faces north and has five asymmetrically placed arched openings toward the west at the ground level, which date from a 1967 remodel. One of these serves as an entry to a business, currently a restaurant. Above the storefront on the north and on the east and west elevations, rectangular window openings are placed in a more or less consistent fashion from elevation to elevation. They are equally spaced on the east and west elevations and less regularly on the north elevation, with the first two rows of windows to the east spaced more closely.

Detail for 1 Yesler WAY / Parcel ID 7666202594 / 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: Domestic - Hotel Plan: Triangular Structural System: Brick No. of Stories: three Unit Theme(s): Commerce, Manufacturing/Industry, Social Movements & Organizations Integrity Storefront: Extensive Changes to Original Cladding: Moderate Changes to Interior: Moderate Changes to Plan: Slight Major Bibliographic References King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972), Washington State Archives. Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, ed. Shaping Seattle Architecture, A Historical Guide to the Architects. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994. Lange, Greg and Tim O’Brian, “Virtual Pioneer Square,” unpublished manuscript, 27 October 1996.

Photo collection for 1 Yesler WAY / Parcel ID 7666202594 / Inv #

Photo taken Oct 26, 2004 Photo taken Oct 26, 2004