Arctic Building Chimeras - Seattle, WA
N 47° 36.218 W 122° 19.920
10T E 550210 N 5272463
The Arctic Building contains some of the neatest frieze of walrus chimeras found in downtown Seattle. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Waymark Code: WMYWWZ
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 08/03/2018
Views: 2
The
Arctic Building, now the
Arctic Club Hotel, occupies the northeast corner of 3rd Avenue and Cherry Street in downtown Seattle.
NPS.gov has a nice writeup of the Arctic Building and says the following:
The Arctic Building is associated with one of the lesser-known facets of the Klondike gold rush--the formation of social institutions for the men who returned from the Yukon gold rush after "striking it rich." Though most who headed north found no gold, a small percentage did return to Seattle with more than just memories. The Arctic Club, originally located in the Morrison Hotel, provided an exclusive social community for those Seattlites who had returned from the Alaska Gold Rush with money in their pockets and a repertoire of stories to tell about their adventures in the Yukon. In 1916, they commissioned A. Warren Gould, one of the city's most prominent architects, to design the building that would become their institution's new home.
Gould created an eight-story building true to the club's origins: fine Alaskan marble covered its main corridors and walrus heads ran around the third-floor exterior. The Arctic Building was one of the earliest to use terra cotta panels placed over a steel reinforced concrete frame; however, unlike other early users of this technique (such as the Hoge Building), the Arctic Building sported not just off-white panels but also used submarine blue and orange-brown. The club's elegant interior included a ladies' tea room, private dining rooms, billiard and card rooms, a bowling alley, barber shop and private roof garden. The formal dining room, however, was always the focal point of the club, its stuccoed ceilings, which were artistically frescoed, the ornamented cornices and beautiful chandeliers speak of the rich history and foundations of this building. From its opening, the building also offered commercial space, but now offices have taken over the entire building including those floors once reserved for Arctic Club members. Despite its new use, the Alaskan marble and sculptured walrus heads still proclaim the building's origins--one part of the prosperity Klondike gold brought to Seattle.
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The NRHP website has a PDf to this registered building here. HistoryLink.org also has a very extensive writeup on the Arctic Building and summarizes with the following:
The Arctic Building was purchased in spring 2006 by Spokane-based developer Bill Lawson, Chris Ashenbrener, and Conover Bond Development. A major interior redevelopment was led by Candra Scott & Anderson, a San Francisco-based design firm. Burgess Weaver Design Group of Seattle oversaw structural and seismic components of the redevelopment.
Currently, the Doubletree Arctic Club Hotel is a luxurious venue just a block from Seattle’s Pioneer Square area. The original entrance to the Arctic Club and its main lounge have been restored (sadly, the polar bear has been lost), and today when visitors enter, numerous portrait photographs of former club members are there to greet them. Mouldings and other original decorations have been rescued and reused, and one can almost guess where the original ladies lounge, library, and other Arctic Club facilities might have been. A lovely fireplace is installed in the lounge -- not the original tile. The Dome Room has had an extraordinary facelift and simply glows.
The Arctic Building joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and is a City of Seattle Landmark (Ordinance 116969, Dec. 13, 1993). Currently, the Doubletree Arctic Club Hotel is one of two National Trust Historic Hotels in Seattle, along with the Mayflower Park Hotel.