| Historic Name: |
Norton Building/ Northcoast Electric Company |
Common Name: |
1904 Norton Building |
| Style: |
Commercial - Chicago School |
Neighborhood: |
Pioneer Square |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1904 |
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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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The building was built for H. F. Norton and completed in 1904. It was designed by Saunders and Lawton. The Saunders and Lawton partnership was formed in 1898, when Charles Saunders joined up with his former draftsman, George Lawton. The Norton Building is a smaller, but typical version of the warehouse buildings produced in the same neighborhood - buildings with a strong “base,” “middle” and perhaps a less strong “top”, but still following the Chicago School model, with simple repeated bays. It is a definite departure from the works associated with Saunders from the 1890s, when he was in partnership with Houghton or working independently. This building is probably one of the simplest buildings, designed by Saunders and Lawton from this period. The building also dates from a period of economic and industrial growth in the district and in Seattle, which caused the original commercial heart to expand: there was a proliferation of simple, well-designed warehouse buildings, often employing recessed bays and simple brick detailing to offset these bays. Other works by Saunders and Lawton in the Pioneer Square Skid Road Historic District include the Westland Building, the Mottman Building and F.X. McRory’s, formerly the McKesson & Robbins Building.
Charles Saunders’s career in Seattle and in the “burnt district” goes back to 1889. He had originally come to Seattle in 1889 right after the Great Fire, probably because of an association with William Elder Bailey. William Bailey, the son of a leading Pennsylvania iron and steel manufacturer, was involved in ventures in real estate, railroads and newspapers in Seattle right after the Fire of 1889 and commissioned several buildings from Saunders and Houghton, until his finances went sour and he left Seattle (around 1892-93). Although it is known that Saunders grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, little is known about his initial training as an architect. He practiced architecture for a time, from 1886 to 1889, in Pasadena, California, along with his wife, Mary, before moving to Seattle in June 1889. By September of 1889, he had formed a partnership with Edwin Houghton, whom he may have also met in California. The Saunders and Houghton Partnership produced several notable buildings, including the Bailey Building, the Terry Denny Building and the now demolished Olympic Block in the new heart of Seattle, right after the Great Fire. After the dissolution of the Saunders and Houghton partnership in 1890, Saunders practiced independently until the formation of the Saunders and Lawton partnership in 1898, which lasted until 1915. Saunders and Lawton were also responsible for the Forestry Building, made of raw logs, at the Alaska-Yukon Exposition in Seattle in 1908-09 and were supervising architects on the construction of Eames and Young’s Alaska Building, also in the Pioneer Square Historic District.
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| Appearance |
| The 1904 Norton Building is four stories in height, with exterior brick walls. Its footprint is 30 feet by 120 feet and it has a basement, built in concrete, with a concrete foundation. The building is located on 3rd Avenue South mid-block between South Washington and South Main Streets. To the north is the former Hotel Union and to the south the Richmond Paper Company/ Lofts. Its main façade is on 3rd Avenue South. It has one major single bay and the façade has a veneer of gray brick. The ground floor is divided into three sections, with a low storefront, but two levels of transom lights, one level which looks as though it is made of blocks (possibly Luxfer) and another level in more recent clear glass. Above the storefront level, is a cast-stone belt-course.
The upper three stories are one recessed bay. Each level has a wide rectangular opening, filled by a horizontal row of wood frame double-hung windows. Around the bay is a thin frame made up of header bricks. A metal rectangular plaque, with two small triangles to each side, is set toward the top of the wall. The rectangle bears the word :”NORTON.” At the top of the parapet is a corbel band in brick with cast-stone coping. s |
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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: |
Rectangular |
| Structural System: |
Masonry - Unreinforced |
No. of Stories: |
four |
| Unit Theme(s): |
Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Commerce |
| Integrity |
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Storefront: |
Moderate |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
Intact |
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Changes to Plan: |
Intact |
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Changes to Windows: |
Intact |
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| Major Bibliographic References |
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Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Historical Guide to the Architects. Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, ed. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.
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Ochsner, Jeffrey and Dennis Andersen. Distant Corner: Seattle Architects and The Legacy of H. H. Richardson. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 2004.
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Potter, Elizabeth Walton. “Pioneer Square Historic District Expansion Amendment.” December 1976.
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