Seattle Historical Sites

  The building, which today is described as being located at 2535 Airport Way S, has a previous address listed as “826 Lander St,” (at a time when more precise cardinal directions were not used). Original architectural drawings do not seem to be available. Based on information provided in the King County Tax Assessor’s Record Card, the building dates from 1946 and the original owner was Robert M. Barnhart. The building initially housed “Equipment Engineers,” which advertised itself on the main façade of the building as specializing in “preventive maintenance,” and as providing “Truck Trailer - one-stop service”. There was also apparently a “café” located on the east side of the main façade’s central doorway and within the central “sales” wing. The west wing along Lander Street apparently functioned as a service wing, while the east wing along Airport Way was used for “heavy repair.”

Although the building elements are fairly simple, the building stands out because of its overall shape, its angled façade, as well as the use of industrial steel sash. The building has also retained a good degree of integrity.

By 1974, the building still contained several truck trailer businesses. Local directories indicate that it housed the Truck Trailer Equipment Company and Truck Trailer Sales. By 1980, the building’s occupants included American Trailer Repair, GNA Transportation Trucking, as well as Airport Diesel Truck, the Phoenix Oil Co. and Seattle Pipe Fabricators.

The building is located along South Lander Street and along Airport Way South, major thoroughfares, which are perpendicular to each other and cross each other. The plan is not regular. In plan, the building consists of three thin attached wings, set at different angles. The central wing or “bar” is set at about a 45 degree angle, between the two outer “bars,” respectively facing South Lander Street and Airport Way South. Behind the Lander Street elevation, the corresponding wing is more or less rectangular, about 103 feet in length by 40 feet in width. Behind the Airport Way South elevation, the wing is also about 40 feet in width and about 113’ along Airport Way S. The central angled wing, set between these two wings, is about 141 feet in length along the street and 32 feet in width.  Aside from these three elevations, the rest of the building is not visible or generally accessible from the street.

The building stands out because of its relation to Lander St and Airport Way S and, in particular, because of the angled central elevation or main facade. All three elevations present themselves as one story in height and have concrete exterior walls, painted white. The building has a generally flat roof and parapet. Window openings tend to be rectangular in shape and longer in the horizontal direction. They have thin concrete sills. Glazing on the Lander Street and Airport Way South elevations is typical industrial multi-pane steel sash, while the glazing of the main façade has fewer panes. There are also basement windows at various locations of the three elevations.

On the main façade, there is a central doorway, surrounded by glass block. To each side of the doorway, there are four window openings, each with two vertical rows of three panes each. There is also usually one operable pane per window. To the east of this symmetrical arrangement, (that is toward Airport Way South), there is another typical window. To the west, there is a narrower window opening with only one vertical row of three panes. To the west and completing this side of the façade, there is an area that has been cut away and which reveals a regular sized exterior door. Based on a photo taken from around the time the building was completed, most of the elements of the façade today appear in the 1940s photo.  In the 1940s photo, however, the glazing of the transom appears to have been plate glass rather than glass block and the western door is not entirely visible, assuming that it existed.

The east elevation facing Airport Way S presents four longer window openings, as well as a shorter one, located at the south end of the elevation, (closest to Lander Street). All openings are filled with multi-pane steel sash. There are no other major architectural features. There is, however, a large sign, suspended on an open metal frame that sits on the roof that spells out “ DIESEL.” Based on the historical photo, the “DIESEL” sign is obviously a later addition.

On the Lander Street elevation, there are three large openings filled with multi-pane steel sash, followed by a service door opening at the west end of the elevation. The actual service door is a replacement.