| Historic Name: |
Capitol Brewing and Malting Company/ Capitol Brewing Company |
Common Name: |
Jackson Building |
| Style: |
Commercial, Italian - Italian Renaissance |
Neighborhood: |
Pioneer Square |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1900 |
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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 building originally housed the Capitol Brewing and Malting Company and was built in 1900. It was designed by Carl Alfred Breitung. The Capitol Brewing and Malting Company later became the Olympic Brewery and subsequently, the elegant interior became the home of the Tumwater Tavern. Although built as a utilitarian building, it is an elegant Renaissance Revival building. Like its neighbors, it dates from a time of economic and industrial growth for the original heart of Seattle, in part due to the Klondike Gold Rush. Although many of its neighbors are also distinguished buildings, the Jackson Building stands out for the quality and originality of its design and the relative richness of its construction materials.
This building is the earliest known extant work in Seattle by Carl Alfred Breitung, who arrived in Seattle in 1900. Breitung is often mentioned in association with the short-lived, but productive partnership with Theobald Buchinger, which lasted from 1905 to 1907. That firm produced the Academy of the Holy Names (1906-07) and the House of the Good Shepherd (1906-07), both well-known Seattle landmarks. In general, Breitung’s work shows both a knowledge of Classical architecture as reflected in the Jackson Building, as well as exposure to Central and Northern European examples. The Triangle Hotel, a Seattle landmark as well a National Register landmark is another famous work in the Pioneer Square-Skid Road National Historic District, produced after the dissolution of the Breitung & Buchinger partnership. Another well-known building is the Odd Fellows Temple of 1908-10, in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Breitung was born near Munich in 1868 and according to most accounts, studied architecture in both Munich and Rome. He began his career in the United States in the late 1880s, first on the East Coast and then in Kansas City, Missouri. After the dissolution of the Breitung & Buchinger Partnership in 1907, he worked independently in Seattle until the early 1920s, when he appears to have relocated to San Antonio, Texas.
The Jackson Building is also famous in the history of the Pioneer Square Historic District, because it was the first building restored in the district in 1963. Architect Ralph Anderson was responsible for this early renovation, which occurred several years before the establishment of the Pioneer Square-Skid Road National Historic District/ Pioneer Square Preservation District. The building is also important in the early cultural life in the district in the late 1960s and thereafter. Alan Van Salsbury, who had a prestigious interior design firm at the time, was a tenant of the building. Sculptor John Geise had a studio in the basement, while Ralph Anderson had an office on the top floor. Bill Speidel, the creator of the Underground Tours, was also one of the original tenants. Richard White, responsible for the first renovation of the Globe Building, (apparently mainly of the "Globe Hotel" portion), had a gallery space here, where he sold antiques and oriental carpets.
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| Appearance |
| Currently called the Jackson Building, this is a three story building, located on the northeast corner of First Avenue South and Jackson Street. Its main street facing elevations are on First Avenue South and Jackson Street. The ground levels of both facades are entirely clad in stone – sandstone – and the upper levels mainly in buff brick.
Jackson Street facade
The two facades are composed very differently from each other. The longer façade on Jackson Street is symmetrically composed. It has, at the top two levels, a major central, two-story pedimented bay, terminated by two pilasters at each side, all in brick. The pilasters have Ionic composite floral capitals. Within the bay, at both levels, is a row of two window openings topped by segmental arches. Also at the top two levels, to each side of the pedimented bay are three bays, each with a horizontal row of similar single window openings, topped by segmental arches. These openings are not as wide as those of the central bay.
The stone clad ground level on Jackson Street is distinguished by the central doorway, with a slightly trapezoidal stone frame, surmounted by a semi-circular arched opening also with an ornamental stone frame. The doorway frame ornamentation includes egg-and-dart banding around both openings and a bracket ornament at the top of the arched frame. Openings to each side of the central doorway vary and do not necessarily align with the fenestration above, but are symmetrically placed within the wall expanses to each side of the central bay, a little odd for such an elegantly composed and detailed façade. The first bay just to the west of the central bay is a double set of single rectangular window openings, separated by stone columns with Ionic capitals. An identical set of windows is also set at the center of the wall expanse, more or less aligning with the end of the second bay from the west. The western end of the Jackson Street façade continues the First Avenue storefront for the first half bay. To the east of the central bay is a single trabeated opening, followed by a wood storefront that runs from the middle of the first bay and then to the east and to the end of the façade.
First Avenue South Façade
The First Avenue S. façade is divided into two bays. The street level, clad in stone, is divided into two by solid looking stone pillars with plain capitals ornamented with egg-and-dart bands. There are two storefronts sections with transom lights between the columns. The southernmost column is set at the corner First Avenue S./ Jackson Street corner and has a smooth shaft and is polygonal in plan. Above the ground floor, the belt-course is a projecting one and also is decorated with egg-and-dart motifs. There is also a lion’s head at the north end. The top two floors are in buff brick and each have two well- spaced rectangular openings with flat arches. There are horizontal bands of brick above the third level and above a metal cornice.”
The interior of the building is the most striking interior of any building in the district and includes decorated cross-vaulting supported on tall, slender columns. |
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| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
NR, LR |
| Cladding(s): |
Brick, Stone, Stone - Cast |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
| Roof Type(s): |
Flat with Parapet |
Roof Material(s): |
Asphalt/Composition |
| Building Type: |
Commercial/Trade - Warehouse |
Plan: |
Rectangular |
| Structural System: |
Masonry - Unreinforced |
No. of Stories: |
three |
| Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Commerce, Manufacturing/Industry |
| Integrity |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
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Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
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Storefront: |
Slight |
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Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
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| Major Bibliographic References |
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Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Historical Guide to the Architects. Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, ed. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.
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King County Tax Assessor Records, ca. 1932-1972.
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Link, Karin, “The Rise of the Urban Center,” in Andrews et al. Pioneer Square: Seattle’s Oldest Neighborhood. Manuscript. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, forthcoming 2005.
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