Washington Bike Law recently (in November 2024) moved from our long-time location along the Second Avenue Bike Lane near Pioneer Square in the Hoge Building to the Central Building two blocks away. We went from a 1911 building to one built in 1907.
Our old office had a nice view of Mount Rainier— at least occasionally— and we could always see the Smith Tower, a similar vintage but better-known building built by typewriter and gun magnate Lyman Cornelius Smith, who had a competition with the Hoge Building’s builder, banker James D. Hoge.
Both of these fellas hankered to build Seattle’s tallest building. Supposedly Smith and Hoge ran into each other while promenading around the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. They chatted about Seattle’s real estate scene, and both promised to not build taller than Seattle’s first skyscraper, the 15-story Alaska Building built in 1904… with neither meaning it.
Hoge proceeded to erect an 18-story steel frame in 30 days. But while Hoge was claiming a speed record, Smith was focusing on height. The Hoge Building did become the tallest building in Seattle when it was completed in 1911, but the 42-story Smith Tower flew by it in 1914, and remained the tallest building west of the Mississippi until 1931.
More recently the Hoge building has lost some of its luster, and hard-working thieves cut off and likely recycled its exterior copper railings as well as a cringe-worthy plaque that proclaimed its location as the site of the “first cabin home of white man in the city of Seattle.”
The white folks in the Denny Party first landed at Alki Point in West Seattle in 1851. After a difficult year there they moved to what is now downtown Seattle. Carson Boren built a cabin on the site that would later become the Hoge Building. Boren’s cabin burned, along with many of Seattle’s buildings, in the Great Seattle Fire of 1889.
Hoge’s uncle purchased the site after the fire and erected a three-story brick building. That building also had the first plaque commemorating Carson Boren, who is shown below with his family standing next to it in 1905.
A year later, a group of Seattle investors flush with cash from the Klondike Gold Rush laid lofty plans for the Central Building, hyping a 20 story Beaux Arts style building with 750 offices and a five-story domed clock tower. They even talked of erecting an identical building in the next block and connecting them with subways.
Below is the Central Building as planned, followed by a couple of photos of the what was actually built:
Though the Central Building never rose above nine stories (and nine is a stretch), its snazzy multi-story marble lobby harkens back to its original grander plans.
The Seattle Chamber of Commerce originally occupied the entire eighth floor of the Central Building and operated a public observatory on the southwest corner of the rooftop (the ninth floor), circled below in a photo taken from the Hoge Building in 1911.
The Central Building was originally built with an “earthquake-proof” steel frame, but was recently retrofitted with additional bracing and shock absorbers.
The Central Building also added high-tech conference rooms and other shared amenities, including a private lounge area.
We are settling into our new location and are enjoying the light we get in these dark days.
Our natural light and slight water view is due to the empty lot to our west, the planned site of “The Net” a “bold feat of imagination” with a multi-level sky park (a/k/a view-blocking building) that our broker assured us will remain an empty lot at least until our lease expires in 2030 (shown as planned below).
We shall see… or not. For now, we are appreciating the light.
