Seattle Historical Sites

This two-story Art Deco style industrial building was completed in 1930 (DPD permit #290572) and was designed by Seattle architect E. Glen Morgan. The building is highly intact and is an example of industrial architecture of the early 20^th Century with interesting Art Deco detailing.

Located in the former Seattle tidelands area, the warehouse building is associated with the final phase of the historic era of development of the area (Post World War I up to 1930) as a transportation-related industrial and commercial warehouse district. The tidelands were filled through a series of successive grading and fill projects between 1895 and 1929, creating developable land that made the expansion of railroad and port facilities possible and fostering the development of the area for commercial use that supported significant economic progress of the city in the early 20^th century.

The first occupant of the building was the Marwood Electric Supply Co. of Seattle, a branch of the Marwood Company of San Francisco which offered wholesale electrical supplies. The company appears to have specialized in transmission equipment and has been the primary occupant from 1930 up until at least 1978. The Industrial Rebuild Co., which also specializes in transmission equipment and which may have evolved from the Marwood Co., has been in the building since at least 1985 and is the current occupant.

Little is known about architect Emory Glen Morgan. He appears to have begun practicing independently in the cabinetmakers trade as early as 1921, offered building contracting services in 1922 and joined the John Graham Sr. architectural firm as a “superintendent” by 1925. In 1930, he was in business partnership with two other men, serving as the vice president of the Universal Plan Service Inc. He had re-joined John Graham’s firm by 1937 as an architect with Graham & Painter. In 1941 he had his own architectural practice. He was no longer living in Seattle by 1948.

The two-story flat-roofed, stucco-clad building appears much as it did in a 1937 tax photo. The windows and doors all appear to be original on both the primary west façade and alley façade on the east, with the exception of a newer garage door and a double entry door, both on the alley façade. The primary façade is characterized by a five-bay composition. Each bay contains one large multi-light industrial steel sash window at the second story. At the first story, two bays contain single entry doors flanked by sidelights, with large multi- light transoms above. Other windows are very large multi-light sashes and/or a divided sash with plate glass and a multi-light transom above. The Art Deco detailing is integrated into the exterior articulation of the structural bays. The two outer bays are topped with ziggurat-like decorations in relief at the parapet, while the pilasters that define the central bay extend just above the parapet in a decorative flourish to form small, narrow geometric stepped pyramids.

Sources:

“Washington State Major League Baseball Stadium Project, Vol. 3: Specialized Technical Information,” Seattle, WA: Washington State Major League Baseball Stadium Public Facilities District. August, 1996.