Seattle Historical Sites

Summary for 611 Post AVE / Parcel ID 8670450000 / Inv #

Historic Name: Elgin Hotel/ Traveler's Hotel Common Name: Traveler's/ Post Mews Style: Commercial Neighborhood: Pioneer Square Built By: Year Built: 1913   Significance In the opinion of the survey, this property is located in a potential historic districe (National and/or local). Albert Wickersham, also the architect of the masterful Maynard Building of 1892, was the architect of this building, first known as the Elgin Hotel and later as the Travelers Hotel. It was completed in 1913. The building is located in the near vicinity of former tidal flats, an area which began to be reclaimed in the mid-1890s and where a significant industrial and commercial area was created, beginning in the 1900s. This building was part of the development of the area, after the economic and industrial upturn caused first by the Klondike Gold Rush, but then again with the increased industrialization of the area, as World War I approached. The building is located across the street from the Pioneer Square Hotel, formerly the Yesler Hotel of 1914, also designed by Wickersham. It is not far from a number of warehouse and industrial buildings erected during the same period, such as the Heffernan Engine Works Building of 1918. The design of the elevation, is extremely simple and unlike the Pioneer Square Hotel does not particularly recall elements of some of the older Victorian buildings in the area. Albert Wickersham arrived in Seattle in 1889 as a representative of A. B. Jennings, a New York architect. He was the Supervising Architect on the initial phases of the Denny Hotel in Seattle, later demolished thanks to the Denny Regrade. He had an independent practice by 1893. Despite the work on the Maynard Building, he appears to have received few commissions outside of the Maynard Building, the Denny Hotel and Seattle Hardware that allowed him to show off his full design capabilities. This building, very different from the Maynard Building and the Seattle Hardware Building, has well proportioned elevations which use simple repeated elements to good effect. Now known as the Travelers Hotel/Post Mews, it was remodeled in the late 1970s by Ilze Jones and Grant Jones of Jones & Jones, Architects, Landscape Architects. They describe it as being the first mixed-use condominium in Seattle. Based on historic photos, the essential architectural elements of the building’s exterior are unchanged   Appearance This is a three story building, rectangular in plan, with exterior walls in red brick and an original interior structure of wood post and beam construction. It has a footprint of 96 feet by 101 feet and a full basement in concrete, as well as a concrete foundation. Its two street facing elevations are on Yesler Way and Post Avenue. The upper two floors of the primary Yesler Way façade consist of five bays, each with two separate trabeated window openings per floor. The ground level of the Yesler Way elevation is storefront. The southwest corner of Post Avenue elevation continues the storefront of the Yesler facade. The 110 foot Post Avenue elevation also has five pairs of separate trabeated openings on its upper floors and wall expanse with no openings, which corresponds to the storefront at the southwest corner of the ground level. The parapet is capped by a classically detailed projecting metal cornice. Currently these two elevations are covered by a lot of ivy, so that specific details of the elevations are not easy to see.

Detail for 611 Post AVE / Parcel ID 8670450000 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory Classication: Building District Status: NR, LR Cladding(s): Brick Foundation(s): Concrete - Poured Roof Type(s): Flat with Parapet Roof Material(s): Unknown Building Type: Domestic - Hotel Plan: Rectangular Structural System: Masonry - Unreinforced No. of Stories: three Unit Theme(s): Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Manufacturing/Industry, Science & Engineering, Social Movements & Organizations Integrity Changes to Plan: Intact Changes to Windows: Slight Changes to Interior: Moderate Changes to Original Cladding: Intact Major Bibliographic References Ochsner, Jeffrey and Dennis Andersen. Distant Corner: Seattle Architects and The Legacy of H. H. Richardson. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 2004. Baist Map of 1908 and 1912 Andrews, Mildred et al. Pioneer Square: Seattle's Oldest Neighborhood. Manuscript. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, forthcoming 2005.

Photo collection for 611 Post AVE / Parcel ID 8670450000 / Inv #

Photo taken Nov 27, 2004