Smith Tower

The Smith Tower is the oldest skyscraper in the city of Seattle in Washington state. The 159 meter high building was of its completion in 1914 until construction of the Space Needle in 1962 the tallest free -standing structure on the west coast of the United States. It has 42 floors.

History

The building was named after its builder, former firearms and typewriter manufacturer later Lyman Cornelius Smith ( 1834-1910 ). In 1909, he planned to build a fourteen- story building in Seattle. His son, Burns Lyman Smith was able to convince the manufacturers thereof, with a much higher building the National Real Estate Building to excel in nearby Tacoma in its overall height. This was at the time the tallest building west of the Mississippi. At the opening of the Smith Tower on July 3, 1914 Lyman Cornelius Smith was no longer alive. The building was now the fourth highest in the world and the tallest outside of Manhattan. With the opening of the Space Needle in 1962 it was no longer the tallest structure in the city.

Ivar Haglund, musician and owner of the restaurant chain Ivar's, bought the Smith Tower in 1976 for 1.8 million U.S. dollars. The Samis Foundation acquired mainly for office buildings used twenty years later. In 2006 it bought the company Walton Street Capital. Renovations were made in 1986 and 1999.

Building

The Smith Tower is an example of neoclassical architecture. The facade of the bottom two floors comprises of granite, the rest of terracotta. Since its construction, the building was only once, cleaned externally in 1976, as the facade remained remarkably clean without cleaning of buildings over time.

The skyscraper is the only one on the West Coast of the United States whose elevators are still operated by elevator operators. The ornate brass elevators were manufactured by the Otis Elevator Company. Lattice doors allowing passengers to look in all the corridors and through the glass walls in every office. The Chinese Room (, chinese room ') is located on the 35th floor, where the observation deck. The decor of the room and the ceiling decoration are from China. The Chinese Room is one of the attractions of the building.

In the early 1990s, a formerly for the storage of more than 10,000 gallons ( 38,000 liters) of water was removed unused tank, which was located in the uppermost part of the building. The work has gained considerable space. Today, the top three floors are used as a penthouse apartment, the only apartment in the Smith Tower.

Photos

View from Columbia Center

• View from Smith Tower on the Seattle City Center Puget Sound and Columbia Center