Smith Tower is a skyscraper on Pioneer Square in Seattle, Washington. Completed in 1914, the 38-story tower, 484 ft (148 m) is the oldest skyscraper in town, and is one of the tallest skyscrapers outside New York City at the time of its completion. It is the tallest building west of the Mississippi River until the completion of Kansas City Power & amp; Light Building in 1931. It remained the tallest building on the West Coast for nearly half a century until the Space Needle took over in 1962.
Smith Tower was named after its builder, firearm and giant typewriter Lyman Cornelius Smith, and is a designated Seattle landmark.
Video Smith Tower
History
During a trip to Seattle in 1909, Smith planned to build a 14-story building in Seattle. His son, Burns Lyman Smith, convinced him to build a much taller skyscraper to steal a crown from a competing City, Tacoma's National Realty Building as the highest west of the Mississippi River. Construction began in 1911. Although Smith did not live to see it, the building was completed in 1914 to a height of 143 m (469 ft) from the edge of the road to the top of the pyramid, with the highest altitude of 159 m (522 ft). The Smith Tower opened to the public on July 4, 1914. More than 4,000 Seattle climbed to the 35th floor on the opening day. The Chinese room, whose name was retired after the 2016 renovation, comes from carved teak ceilings and black wooden furniture that adorn the room at the opening. The room was furnished by the last Chinese Queen, Cixi. Furnishings include the famous Wishing Chair. The chairs combine carved dragons and phoenixes, which, when combined, signify marriage. According to folklore, any unmarried person who sits in it will marry within a year. The legend came true for the daughter of Smith, who was married in the Chinese Room itself.
Ivar Haglund of the famous Ivar restaurant bought the tower for $ 1.8 million in 1976. The Samis Foundation acquired the tower in 1996. In 2006, the building was bought by Walton Street Capital. The building has been renovated twice, in 1986 and in 1999.
In recent years high-tech companies have become the inhabitants of Smith Tower, which are riding fiber optic cables. The dot-com bubble bursts hurt Smith Tower by raising the level of its vacancy to 26.1 percent, twice the commercial vacancy rate of Seattle, on December 21, 2001. The Walt Disney Internet Group, for example, at that time cut seven floors to four. In 2007, occupancy rates have recovered up to about 90 percent, with new hosts like Microsoft Live Labs.
After the departure was announced from two of the largest building occupants including Disney, who moved to the Fourth and Madison Building, Walton Street Capital filed a failed application to convert the building into a condominium.
In 2011, the CBRE Group reported that they had purchased a $ 42.5 million mortgage in 2006 in the form of a default in the Smith Tower. The loan was taken by the current owner of Walton Street. When the CBRE stepped in, the building was empty 70 percent, its rental income did not cover its operating costs, and its value was valued by the county to be less than half of its 2006 mortgage. Smith Tower is sold to CBRE at a public foreclosure auction on March 23, 2012.
In the spring of 2012 the Smith Tower underwent a brief revitalization in the form of a new company moving to several empty floors including Portent, Inc., internet marketing company, marketing consultant Aukema & amp; Associates, graphic design firm Push Design, and Rialto Communications, a marketing and public relations firm.
Also in 2012, Death Cab for frontman Cutie Benjamin Gibbard paid tribute to Smith Tower in the song "Teardrop Windows."
In January 2015, Seattle-based real estate investment and operating company Unico Properties bought Smith Tower for $ 73.7 million. Later that year, the new owners stopped the visitors' tour and began renovating the public areas, including the Chinese Room, which has been closed since 2014. The new speakeasy-themed restaurant, with food and drink inspired by the Prohibition era built in the Observatory. floor, in the same room as the Chinese Room, which is permanently closed. Portions of Chinese Room decoration and furnishings, such as the Wishing Chair and carved teak ceiling, are used in this new restaurant.
A revised Smith Tower guided visitor tour, with a new exhibit, resumed on August 25, 2016, along with the opening of the Observation floor bar, is open to tour ticket holders at a cost of $ 19.14 - the figure is a reference to the building date. Access to the bar without paying a tour requires an additional fee of about half that price. A new retail store on the ground floor also opened after the renovation.
Maps Smith Tower
Description
Smith Tower is an example of neoclassical architecture. The outer shell is granite on the first and second floors, and terracotta on the rest. The outside was freshly washed once, in 1976, because it was kept clean without being washed regularly.
This building is one of the last on the West Coast to employ lift operators. The Otis Lift Company provides an elevator, which has a brass surface. The door is latticed, so the rider can look into every aisle and pass through the glass wall in front of every office.
After the restoration in the early 1990s, the workers moved the 10,000-US-gallon (38,000 liter) water tank at the top of the tower. The space generated along with the former maintenance apartment became a three-story penthouse, the only residence in the building. It was occupied in 2010 by artist/investor Petra Franklin, husband of David Lahaie, and their two daughters.
The tower includes a shelter visible from the front hall.
The building is crowned by an 8 foot (2.4 m) glass dome illuminated by blue light, except during December when it is turned green.
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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