Northern Bank and Trust Building - Seattle, WA
N 47° 36.626 W 122° 20.197
10T E 549857 N 5273216
This historic flatiron is located on the corner of 4th Avenue and Pike Street in downtown Seattle, WA
Waymark Code: WMGDVQ
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 02/19/2013
Views: 5
The Seaboard Building, formerly known as the Northern Bank and Trust Building, is located on the corner of 4th Avenue and Pine Street in downtown Seattle. Built in 1910 as a bank initially, this building has transformed many times over in the past 112 years, with businesses come and gone. The 7th through 10th floors of this building are now private residences. The building is owned and managed by the
Pine Street Group and have turned the building into both condos and commercial office space. This building was registered as a
National Historic Place in 2003 and some excerpts from the NRHP PDF application says the following:
The Northern Bank and Trust Building was one of the earliest substantial office buildings to be constructed in the area of Fourth and Pike in Seattle's downtown. Its construction was a reflection of the gradual early 20th century expansion of the business community northward from its origins in Pioneer Square to major focal points along Second Ave., later Third Ave., and then Fourth Ave.
The construction of this building, as well as the construction of several new buildings such as the Moore Theater and Hotel (E.W. Houghton, 1908, 1932 Second Ave., Seattle) built within the area immediately to the northwest, was an indication of investors' confidence in the northward expansion of downtown. By locating in this building, the Northern Bank and Trust Company was in the vanguard of commercial and financial institutions that began to locate further north and east of the established commercial core, which had been primarily clustered along Second Ave. from Cherry St. north to Pike St.
The April 21,1906, issue of Pacific Builder and Engineer announced that the building would be called the Northern Securities Building and that the corner store space would be designed to house the headquarters of Northern Bank and Trust Company. The building opened in 1907 with five floors, as originally planned. It is unknown today why the building was constructed in two phases. Photos of the completed bank interiors were published in Pacific Building and Engineer in October 1907. Between 1909 and 1910, the final five stories were added as planned at a cost of S100,000. With the addition of these five floors between 1909 and 1910, the Northern Bank and Trust Building became the tallest building in the northern section of downtown.
Since 1922, when Seaboard National Bank established headquarters in the structure and took over the ground-floor banking operations, the building has been known as the Seaboard Building. The Dexter Horton National Bank acquired the Seaboard National Bank in 1925, with a branch bank occupying the former corner location. The Dexter Horton Bank built a new bank on the eastern end of the building along Pike St. at street level in 1927, and turned the corner location over to Bartell Drug Stores in 1929. In 1937, the ground floor spaces were occupied by the Brewster Cigar Co. and Arne Sunde Jeweler along Westlake Ave. Bartell Drug Stores, Jesse S. Hoeslich Jeweler, Green's Apparel and Seattle First National Bank Seaboard Branch occupied the Pike St. ground-floor spaces. Rivkins Jewelers replaced the Bartell Drug Store in this corner location in 1947.
In 1976, Seaboard Associates, owners of the building, completed renovations to the building that included removal of the original office partitioning on floors three through six and floor eight. Subsequently, the Pacific Seaboard Group obtained title to the property and exchanged it in 1979 for the 23-story Exchange Building, passing ownership of the Seaboard Building to the Northwest Building Group. Seattle-First National Bank remodeled the bottom three floors between 1979 and 1981. This renovation probably removed the remainder of the Dexter Horton Bank interior. Nordstrom purchased the building in 1981 and made additional alterations during the 1980s and 1990s.
The architect of the Northern Bank and Trust Building was William Doty Van Siclen. He was born in Clearwater, Michigan, on April 29, 1865. There is no known information regarding any formal architectural training Van Siclen may have undertaken.