Seattle Historical Sites

Summary for 101 Prefontaine PL / Parcel ID 8566600000 / Inv #

Historic Name: Tashiro Building and Exchange Building Common Name: Tashiro-Kaplan Building Style: Commercial Neighborhood: Pioneer Square Built By: Year Built: 1907   Significance In the opinion of the survey, this property is located in a potential historic districe (National and/or local). Kaplan Building The Kaplan Building was designed as a wholesale house for Charles Stimson by architect C. R. Aldrich and completed around 1907 (King County Tax Assessor’s records give the date as 1908, while a Stickney Murphy Romine study gives an approximate date between 1906 and 1907). Stimson bought the land in 1904 from Our Lady of Good Hope Catholic Church, which would have been located on the western portion of the site, (with Lou Graham’s premises located diagonally across the street from the church). The building constructed for Stimson was initially known as the Exchange Building. It dates from the district’s second period of significance, 1900-1910, a time of explosive economic and physical growth for Seattle’s original commercial center. Its wide, but simple trabeated openings in combination with the Classical entrance on Washington Street, make it typical of the kind of utilitarian and warehouse buildings in the district in this period. In 1914, after eight months of remodeling, the Exchange Building became known as Market Square, but was also known as the South End Public Market. At the time, it was described as “Seattle’s newest market.” Each of the fifteen foot bays along Prefontaine Place was constructed to step down, following the slope of the sidewalk. This allowed for a series of individual stalls open to the street, as well as interior stalls and shops. Like many market buildings of the time, a wide variety of goods and services were provided in the “Market Square.” Not only were produce, poultry, fish, dairy, tea, coffee and pastries sold there, but there were also tailors, delicatessens, barbers, shoe repair shops, cafes and law offices. By the 1940s, the popularity of public markets was on the wane. The Exchange Building/ Market Square was used for general warehousing and light industrial purposes, but its tenants also included restaurants and grills. It also housed transfer companies and printing establishments, including the Japanese daily, Asahi News. In 1945, Jacob Kaplan acquired the building, which by then was known as the Market Center Building. There, he established a paper products operation. Eventually, the building took on the Kaplan name. The building was rehabilitated in 1976 and in 2004 along with the Tashiro Building and is usually described jointly with that neighboring building. Tashiro Building The Tashiro Building was erected on a site purchased by ex-Governor McGraw of Washington State. The previous owner was the Great Northern Railway, which, at one point, wanted to develop the site into a park, because the railroad tunnel ran beneath it and they did not think the ground could take the weight of a building. After McGraw’s purchase, the Tashiro Building was completed in 1908. It dates from the district’s second period of significance, 1900-1910, a time of explosive economic and physical growth for Seattle’s original commercial center. It has a somewhat unusual plan and shape, which is made even more so by the change of grade along Third Avenue, but in many ways is typical of utilitarian and warehouse buildings of this period. From 1919 well into the 1980s, the building housed the Tashiro Hardware Company. Later known for its Japanese tools, the store became an important focus of the neighborhood. In the early 1980s, the entire Tashiro-Kaplan Block was optioned for purchase to Jan Mohammed. In 1984-85, Mohammed, an ex-Kenyan governmental minister, who had relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia, sponsored studies for the renovation and restoration of the properties. Small remodeling changes were made to the Tashiro Building and its name changed to the Jans Tashiro Building. Metro purchased both buildings sometime around late 1985, when it announced the imminent construction of the new traffic tunnel below 3rd Avenue. The Kaplan Building was finally renovated in 2004. It now features fifty artists’ live/work spaces, in addition to spaces for arts organizations and related businesses. The complex was developed by Artspace Projects Incorporated, a non-profit artists’ housing developer.   Appearance The original Kaplan Building, then known as the Exchange Building, was a three story building with basement and sub-basement levels. A recent renovation has added three upper floors. The building is trapezoidal in plan and built in reinforced concrete. It has street frontage along South Washington Street, 200 feet, with 120 feet along Third Avenue South and 130 feet along Prefontaine Place South. The north wall (not seen from the street) is 125 feet. The building exterior features generous trabeated openings and an original two-story pedimented Classical entrance bay along Washington Street. The similar, but smaller entrance on Prefontaine Place South was added at a later date. The former parapet cornice now acts as a belt-course and three additional floors have been added to the building. As part of the recent renovation, the Kaplan Building was structurally strengthened and an additional three stories added. The Tashiro Building is a smaller, two-story building with a basement level, set above ground along Third Avenue. It is built in reinforced concrete and is trapezoidal in plan. It has major frontage, 134 feet, along Prefontaine Place South, 17 feet on Yesler Way and 71 feet on Third Avenue South. It features trabeated openings, with storefront openings at the ground level and single trabeated window openings at the second level, especially along Prefontaine Place South. The building was rehabilitated in 1976 along with the Kaplan Building.

Detail for 101 Prefontaine PL / Parcel ID 8566600000 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory Classication: Building District Status: NR, LR Cladding(s): Concrete Foundation(s): Concrete - Poured Roof Type(s): Flat with Parapet Roof Material(s): Asphalt/Composition, Unknown Building Type: Commercial/Trade - Warehouse Plan: Rectangular Structural System: Concrete - Poured No. of Stories: six Unit Theme(s): Commerce Integrity Changes to Plan: Intact Changes to Original Cladding: Moderate Changes to Windows: Slight : Major Bibliographic References Andrews, Mildred et al. Pioneer Square: Seattle's Oldest Neighborhood. Manuscript. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, forthcoming 2005. King County Tax Assessor Records, ca. 1932-1972. Potter, Elizabeth Walton, “Pioneer Square Historic District Expansion Amendment,” December 1976. Stickney Murphy Romine, “Kaplan/Tashiro Block Feasibility Study, Final Report – Draft,” 1994.

Photo collection for 101 Prefontaine PL / Parcel ID 8566600000 / Inv #

Photo taken Nov 03, 2004 Photo taken Jun 18, 2004