Seattle Historical Sites

Summary for 222 S Main ST S / Parcel ID 5247800910 / Inv #

Historic Name: Corgiat Building/ Main Hotel Common Name: Main Hotel Building Style: Commercial - Chicago School, Italian - Italian Renaissance 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 was built for John Corgiat in 1900. The builder was D. Delaney. The architect was Robert L. Robertson, an independent architect who worked briefly with architect James E. Blackwell (who added floors to the Washington Shoe Building - No. 97- and the western addition to the Mutual Life Building – No. 29) and with J. J. Donnellan. Robertson worked from about 1900 to World War II. The building has been described as designed in a “conventional Renaissance Style,” no doubt because of its symmetry, well-proportioned bays and corbelling, but it also belies the influence of Chicago School warehouse buildings, particularly in the repeated recessed bays and the well defined base and middle and parapet, now partially lost. It was built as a time of economic and industrial growth, as the original commercial heart of Seattle expanded. It is similar to many well-designed buildings of the same period in Pioneer Square. Not surprisingly, the building was originally known as the John Corgiat Building. Original photos show a plaque at the center of the parapet with the name “J. CORGIAT” and the date “1900.” As early as 1898, John Corgiat was listed as the keeper of a saloon., and later as a market gardener and a resident of Duwamish or Georgetown. By 1905, he was a realtor, who lived in Georgetown. Subsequent listings confirm that he continued to be involved in real estate, while living on the outskirts of the city. The Hotel Main continued as a single-room occupancy hotel from 1908 through the Depression. By 1937, the Hotel Main was still the main tenant and John Corgiat still the owner. A clean room could be had there in that year for 25 to 50 cents, with a free bath. The storefront tenants were the Main Cigar Store, Cascade Lunch and a barber shop. The building also represents a distinct example of another typical historical property type, the single room occupancy hotel with commercial space on the ground floor. This building type is prevalent in Pioneer Square at least from after the Fire, can be found in the nearby the Seattle-Chinatown Historic District, and used to be common throughout Seattle.   Appearance This is a three-story building with one major façade on Main Street and an exposed east elevation, which was not meant to be seen from the street. The block on which the building stands is a triangular shape formed by Second Avenue and Second Avenue Extension, the later built as a public works project in 1928-1929. The Second Avenue Extension, however, did not affect this building. The building structure consists of brick exterior walls, with a brick foundation and an interior heavy timber, post and beam structure. The main façade is fifty-eight feet wide, while the exposed east elevation is fifty-nine feet wide. The north and west sides of the building butt up to the former Furuya Building (Masin’s Furniture), which has an L-shaped plan. The south Main Street façade is symmetrically composed. It is clad in buff brick with sandstone trim, particularly at the base of the brick portions of the ground level and at sills and lintels. The ground level consists of a central doorway with wood storefronts with transom lights, placed to each side of it. The central door leads to the upper floors. The upper level façade consists of five recessed bays, framed by brick piers. Recessed rectangles ornament the spandrels. Each bay has two separate double-hung windows, with a common stone sill and lintel. Near the top of the facade, there is a corbelled band at the top of each bay, as well as a band of inverted pyramid-shaped corbels, which run the length of the façade. The buff brick facing has fallen away at the top of what is left of the original parapet, revealing red brick. The eastern wall is red brick and has segmental arched openings.

Detail for 222 S Main ST S / Parcel ID 5247800910 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory Classication: Building District Status: NR, LR Cladding(s): Brick, Stone 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: three Unit Theme(s): Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Commerce Integrity Changes to Original Cladding: Slight Storefront: Slight Changes to Plan: Intact Changes to Windows: Intact Major Bibliographic References Lentz, Florence K. “Corgiat Building, 204-214 South Main Street, Historic Preservation Certification, Part 1.” 28 August, 2003. Potter, Elizabeth Walton. “Pioneer Square Historic District Expansion Amendment.” December 1976.

Photo collection for 222 S Main ST S / Parcel ID 5247800910 / Inv #

Photo taken May 24, 2004