Seattle Hotel

The Seattle Hotel was the third of three hotels located in Pioneer Square in a triangular block bound by James Street to the north, Yesler Way to the south, and 2nd Avenue to the east, and just steps away from the Pioneer Building. It was built in 1890 from the ashes of the Great Seattle Fire and served as a hotel until early in the 20th Century. By the time neighboring Smith Tower was completed in 1914, the Seattle Hotel had become an office building.Precursor: The Occidental Hotel, I and II (1861–1889)Before the Seattle Hotel rose in 1890, there was the Occidental Hotel. The first Occidental, which opened in 1861, was a wooden building. Twenty years later, on September 26, 1881, it held a memorial service for President James Garfield, who had died five days earlier from injuries sustained when he was shot in July.In 1883, the wooden structure was torn down and John Collins built a bigger, grander one in the same location. It lasted just four years, before burning down in the Great Seattle Fire on June 6, 1889. The second Occidental Hotel, like the Seattle Hotel, was also triangular-shaped.DescriptionThe Seattle Hotel was a triangular-shaped building, with its narrow face located at the junction of James and Yesler. It stood five stories high and for much of its existence bore the inscription "1890" above the fifth-story window, signifying the year it was completed.