| Historic Name: |
Ingels Block/ Crescent Manufacturing Company |
Common Name: |
Herman Blumenthal Building/ Herman and Blumenthal Building |
| Style: |
Commercial |
Neighborhood: |
Pioneer Square |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1890 |
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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, known at least by 1905 at the Ingels Block, was built around 1890. By 1914, based on a photo caption in Welford Beaton’s The City That Made Itself, the building was known by the name of its tenant at the time, the Crescent Manufacturing Company. By the 1960s, it was known as the Herman and Blumenthal Building and is called “Herman Blumenthal Building” in current King County records. Records state that it was remodeled in 1920, however, the photo in Welford Beaton’s 1914 publication shows that the building’s appearance was very close to what it is today. At the same time, the exterior treatment is not typical of 1890. In any case, the building still retains its general scale and shape and dates from the rebuilding of the “burnt district” right after the Fire of 1889. Despite some possible exterior changes, it retains its fenestration, scale and shape and anchors the northwest corner of Jackson Street and Occidental Way South, now Occidental Mall. As such, it is an important part of the Pioneer Square Historic District. In the late 1930s, it was owned by Scientific Supplies, whose main offices were across the street at 123 South Jackson Street.
King County Records also indicate that it was bought by property owner Sam Israel in 1946 and is therefore one of the earlier buildings he owned. Apparently the Samis Land Company did not continue to own the building, because Samis more recently bought the building from another owner in 1994.
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| Appearance |
| This is a three story building. It is almost rectangular in plan, but has an angled entry elevation between Jackson St and Occidental Avenue S. Its other main street elevations face south on Jackson Street and east on Occidental Mall. The building’s exterior walls are brick with a thin coat of concrete, which appears to have been scored to look like masonry blocks and has been painted off-white. The angled façade has a major entry set in an arched opening, with a semi-circular lunette and double doors. Aside from the major entry, most of the ground floor fenestration consists of long wide windows with metal sash. The ground level is topped by a belt-course consisting of a smooth band and then a generous ornamental molding, now painted black, which runs the length of the street facing elevations.
Above the ground level, the east façade is divided into three bays, set between scored concrete expanses of wall or ornamental pilasters. Each vertical bay consists of two rectangular double-hung windows on the third floor set above two similar windows on the second floor. An incised rectangle is set in the spandrel between second and third floor windows. Also, ornamenting the center of each spandrel is a small vertical and rectangular panel with a horizontal rectangle crossing it (creating sort of a cross shape). Structural rosettes are now strategically placed at the center of each of these ornaments.
The south elevation has the same division and basic detailing at the ground level and upper floors as the east elevation. In particular, the second and third stories consist of a row of three windows flanked by two sets of paired rectangular windows. |
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| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
NR, LR |
| Cladding(s): |
Brick, Concrete |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
| Roof Type(s): |
Flat with Parapet |
Roof Material(s): |
Asphalt/Composition |
| Building Type: |
Commercial/Trade - Warehouse |
Plan: |
Irregular |
| 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: |
Unknown |
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Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
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Changes to Windows: |
Slight |
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| Major Bibliographic References |
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King County Tax Assessor Records, ca. 1932-1972.
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Brians, Ann Elizabeth. Indomitable Pioneer Square. Master of Urban Planning Thesis, University of Washington, Seattle, 1973.
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Beaton, Welford. The City That Made Itself. Seattle: Terminal Publishing Company, 1914.
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Lange, Greg and Tim O’Brian. “Virtual Pioneer Square,” unpublished manuscript, 27 October 1996. City of Seattle, Department of Neighborhoods, Historic Preservation Program files.
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