Seattle Historical Sites

Summary for 314 Occidental WAY / Parcel ID 5247800695 / Inv #

Historic Name: Sportscaster and Company Building(more recent)/ Cracker and Candy Factory Common Name: Burke Building, (part of) State-Burke Building Style: Commercial, Italian - Italian Renaissance Neighborhood: Pioneer Square Built By: Year Built: 1900   Significance In the opinion of the survey, this property is located in a potential historic districe (National and/or local). This building was designed by Max Umbrecht and completed in 1900. It is a striking Renaissance Revival building. It has retained its most important architectural features and materials and appears to be virtually intact, aside from changes to the ground level of the Jackson Street elevation, which does not operate as the building’s main façade. The architect, Max Umbrecht, became a well-known Seattle architect, and has a sometimes eclectic, but identifiable style. He practiced architecture in Syracuse, New York (The home of Gaggin and Gaggin, the architects of the later Smith Tower) and in New York City, before coming to Seattle. He came to Seattle, in fact, on the request of the Smith family in 1900; so, like the Smith Building on First Avenue South and Jackson Street (also from 1900), this is one of Umbrecht’s earliest works in Seattle. In general, his work seems more influenced by Renaissance examples than by the work of H. H. Richardson, the Romanesque Revival or the Chicago School, the most prevalent influences on the work of his Seattle contemporaries in the 1900s. He also designed the W.D. Hafins House (now the Roman Catholic Archbishop’s Residence) on First Hill in partnership with A. Spaulding and the original building for the New Richmond Laundry in the Cascade Neighborhood (1917). The building was erected on the location of Charles Plummer’s house and outbuildings, which were used as a sentry post during the 1856 Battle of Seattle. A 1908 Baist Map indicates that it was the location of "Cracker and Candy Factory." In the 1960s, the building was occupied by Sportscaster and Company, a clothing manufacturer and was commonly referred to by that name.   Appearance This is a four story building with a heavy timber interior structure and brick exterior walls with some sandstone veneer cladding. It has two facades, a major one facing west on Occidental Mall, formerly Occidental Way South, and the other on Jackson Street. Both elevations are divided into six bays. In general, cladding is buff sandstone at the ground level and buff brick on the upper levels. The Occidental elevation is divided into six bays by major sandstone piers with simple rectangular faced capitals, each with a thin extruded band at the top. The base of the piers is a slightly projecting plinth with a slight curve at its top, allowing the transition to the pier shaft. The Occidental elevation mainly has storefronts between the piers: each of these has a wood frame with transom lights and a double door set to the north side of the entire opening. A stone belt-course separates the ground floor from the upper floors. At the second level, four two-story central bays are created by flat piers each supporting an arched opening. The top semi-circular window opening has a central double-hung window. The flat piers have simple capitals. Recessed rectangles emphasize the shape of the pier shafts. End bays to each side of the four central bays consist of two separate trabeated openings at the third level topped by two separate arched openings at the fourth level. Circular medallions – a series of brick bands applied to the face of the wall – punctuate the wall slightly above and between the arches. A second sandstone belt-course tops the two story bays. At the top floor, each bay consists of a central window opening which is wider and flanked by two thinner rectangular openings. Windows are double-hung. Topping all of this is a generous projecting cornice with comparatively delicate and repeated ornamental brackets. Below this, is a band which is curved in profile and has repeated, paired vertical notches. The Jackson Street elevation is identical to the primary façade on Occidental Mall. At the ground level, it is less regular and changes have been made. The ground floor, clad in sandstone, contains wood frame storefront or glazed entries in a configuration similar to the Occidental elevation, but the second, third and fourth bays from the west do not. The first bay to the east has an entry to the upper levels of the building. The building was remodeled in the 1960s. Exterior changes occurred mainly on the first level of the Jackson Street elevation.

Detail for 314 Occidental WAY / Parcel ID 5247800695 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory Classication: Building District Status: NR, LR Cladding(s): Brick, Stone - Ashlar/cut, Wood Foundation(s): Concrete - Poured Roof Type(s): Flat with Parapet Roof Material(s): Asphalt/Composition, Unknown Building Type: Commercial/Trade - Warehouse Plan: Rectangular Structural System: Masonry - Unreinforced No. of Stories: four Unit Theme(s): Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Commerce, Manufacturing/Industry Integrity Storefront: Slight Changes to Plan: Intact Changes to Windows: Intact Changes to Original Cladding: Slight Major Bibliographic References Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Historical Guide to the Architects. Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, ed. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994. Lange, Greg and Tim O’Brian, “Virtual Pioneer Square,” unpublished manuscript, 27 October 1996. Seattle Daily Bulletin, 14 June 1900, p 6.

Photo collection for 314 Occidental WAY / Parcel ID 5247800695 / Inv #

Photo taken Nov 27, 2004 Photo taken May 24, 2004