Seattle Historical Sites

Summary for 313 1st AVE / Parcel ID 5247800170 / Inv #

Historic Name: Crown Hotel Common Name: Crown Hotel Style: Commercial - Chicago School 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). This building forms an ensemble with its neighbor, the Squire (Squires) Building. It was built in 1900 as was the Squire (Squires) Building. Like the Smith and Squire Buildings, it was part of a logical extension of the early “heart of Seattle,” as a result of the Alaska Gold Rush. The original “heart of Seattle” was located closer to what is now Pioneer Place. Its upper floors, like many buildings from this later wave of building, housed the Crown Hotel from 1912 to 1928, hence its current name. Although simpler in detailing, it uses metal, sometimes with geometric designs, as trim, to great effect. It appears to have been designed in reference to the neighboring Squire(s) Building by Charles Bebb or may well have been designed by Bebb, although records do not prove this.   Appearance Rectangular in plan and mainly clad in gray brick, the Crown Hotel Building is a four story building with parapet. There is also a basement level, which is not visible from the exterior. The only street facing elevation is on First Avenue South. Its general façade design - the width and height of the elevation, the proportion of its floor levels and bays and the detailing - is similar to the neighboring Squire/ Squires Building to the south. It too has a high clerestoried storefront level surmounted with a projecting metal band set at the sill level of the second floor windows. Two tall, delicate cast iron pillars reinforce the central storefront entry at the ground level. At the second and third levels, there is a row of three square windows, separated by ornamental pilasters, as in the case of the Squire Building. The fourth level consists of a horizontal row of four thinner rectangular window openings, with thin, raised bands of brick emphasizing the unity of the bay. Again, as in the case of the Squire Building, a metal projecting band, with a rectangular cross-section, occurs at the sill level of the fourth floor windows. There is a deep flat, metal panel, set at the parapet level, with a simple, long rectangular raised shape outlined within it. The Crown Hotel Building, although much simpler in detailing and devoid of the characteristic geometric flourishes seen in the neighboring building, appears as though it was designed in reference to the Squire Building and possibly by the same hand.

Detail for 313 1st AVE / Parcel ID 5247800170 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory Classication: Building District Status: NR, LR Cladding(s): Brick, Metal Foundation(s): Concrete - Poured Roof Type(s): Flat with Parapet Roof Material(s): Asphalt/Composition Building Type: Domestic - Hotel Plan: Rectangular Structural System: Masonry - Unreinforced No. of Stories: four Unit Theme(s): Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Commerce Integrity Storefront: Moderate Changes to Plan: Intact Changes to Original Cladding: Slight Changes to Windows: Intact Major Bibliographic References Woodbridge, Sally and Roger Montgomery. A Guide to Architecture in Washington State. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1980. Lange, Greg and Tim O’Brian, “Virtual Pioneer Square,” unpublished manuscript, 27 October 1996. “The Smith Building, Historic Preservation Certification Application, Part 1,” 1984. OAHP, State of Washington, Olympia, Washington, Microfiche File.

Photo collection for 313 1st AVE / Parcel ID 5247800170 / Inv #

Photo taken Oct 26, 2004