Seattle Historical Sites

Plat: Robinson's Addition, Block: 17, Lots: 1-2-3

This reinforced concrete and heavy timber building was built as a factory in 1907. It still operated as a factory until at least the mid to late 1930s. Original drawings do not seem to be available. The building was converted to an artists’ cooperative, based on designs by architect Patricia Brennan from 1989. Despite a few changes, it has retained its integrity and primary architectural features. Windows are original, (or very good replacements in kind). The Detroit Inventory Company owned the building in 1930. By around 1936, the Puget Sound Paper Box Company occupied it.  A photo from that time shows that changes to the building, at least since the 1930s, have been relatively few. It also shows that the west elevation had a painted sign across its face with the words: “Puget Sound Paper Box Company.” Similar information was also painted on the south elevation, with bigger lettering for “PAPER BOXES,” and fainter lettering for “Billy Buster SHOES.”

The Puget Sound Paper Box Company remained in the building to at least the mid-1960s. Sidney Gerber bought the building in 1950 and by 1970, Robert F. Scully was the owner. Although listed as vacant by 1974, the building continued to house a series of paper/cardboard or printing related businesses though the late 1980s. By 1980, the Northwestern Paper Box Company was listed in local directories at this address and by the late 1980s, Samco Printing Equipment.

This building is located off of the west side of Airport Way South, on the southeast corner of 7^th Avenue South and S Snoqualmie Street. The five-story building has exterior walls of reinforced concrete, while its original interior structure is of heavy timber construction. The building plan is rectangular, approximately 150 feet by 40 feet, with the shorter, north elevation facing Snoqualmie St. The building mainly has a flat roof and parapet, although there is also a penthouse level. By around 1936, there was also a water tower, which is no longer on the roof.

The west elevation, which faces 7^th Avenue South, as well as the east elevation, which faces a parking lot off of Airport Way South, have the same basic design. Each of the floors consists of ten bays. With some exceptions, each bay has a single window opening, filled with a continuous row of three double-hung windows. Within each bay, recessed spandrels separate the window openings. Typically, each of the double hung windows is distinguished by a central vertical muntin at both the top and bottom. In general, most of the bays and fenestration are similar. Major exceptions on the 7^th Avenue elevation include the relatively new entry to the building. This includes a projecting and angled bay, set over angled steps, as well as several modified bays, located nearby and usually at the ground level. A more centrally located penthouse, visible above, is either new or remodeled, although historically there has always been a roof level structure, located closer to the south elevation. The north elevation along Snoqualmie Street is divided into five floors of three standard bays. The south elevation has very few openings, except for vertical row of single and narrow double hung windows on the west side of the elevation. A substantial stack, also shown in historical photos, is visible on the east side of the south elevation, as well as on the south end of the longer west elevation.