| Historic Name: |
Sure Fit Auto Cover |
Common Name: |
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| Style: |
Modern - Populuxe/Googie, Roadside |
Neighborhood: |
Central Area |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1956 |
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| Significance |
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This small retail commercial building was constructed in
1956 and is typical of small commercial retail buildings constructed along
major transportation corridors at mid-century. It was originally an auto
upholstery shop and currently serves as an office for an architecture firm
Rainier Avenue
South extends south from Jackson Street into the Rainier Valley.
As early as 1891, an electric railway connected downtown Seattle
with the Rainier Valley, via Washington and Jackson
Streets. The line was extended to Renton
by 1896. The Rainier Valley became more accessible through the Jackson
Street Regrade and the Dearborn Cut (1907-1909), which improved connections
from the waterfront to the Rainier
Valley, facilitating the
transportation of people and goods to and from downtown and the valley. By the
1920s and 1930s the area continued as a significant transportation corridor
with the additions of automotive sales and service-related businesses and
commercial businesses associated with automobile transportation development
patterns, a trend that continued into the mid-century. Current development
patterns, such as a new Sound Transit link serving the Rainier
Valley and Columbia City
areas, ensure Rainier Avenue’s
continued significance as a transportation corridor.
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| Appearance |
| This modest one-story concrete block commercial building is
characterized by its low horizontal massing and spreading gable roof with wide eaves and the glass
plate and aluminum frame storefront extending across the entire primary façade.
It is located on a prominent corner at a highly traveled street intersection.
The original neon signage indicating the original tenant as “Sure Fit” auto
cover upholstery shop, which added to its character as roadside architecture, has been removed. The building is otherwise relatively intact.
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