Located in front of the historic Beebe Building is a historical marker that reads:
The Grand Pacific Hotel building, along with its northern neighbor, the Colonial Hotel, were both listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Today they are known collectively as the Colonial Grand Pacific. The NRHP Nomination Form contains a statement of significance for this building and tells us:
The Grand Pacific Hotel is one of Seattle's finest examples of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture, and is one of the last major buildings in Seattle to be designed in the style.
Commercial development along Seattle's First Avenue was restricted largely to the Pioneer Square area until after the fire of 1889. Soon after rebuilding began, the center of the commercial area began to expand northward, and brick commercial buildings steadily replaced the residences formerly located along what were to become the city's major streets. The Holyoke Building (National Register, 1976), started before the fire and completed in 1890, was the first major office building erected on First Avenue north of Madison Street. It was followed in the 1890*s by the sporadic development of additional lots and the construction of several other large commercial buildings generally representative of late Victorian architecture.
The pace of development accelerated markedly, however, in 1897 and 1898 when the Klondike gold rush suddenly boosted Seattle's economy and growth, and Seattle became the pre-eminent point of departure for the gold fields. One of the immediate demands created was that for conveniently located and moderately priced hotels and rooming houses to serve transient miners, sailors, and businessmen. Along with others in the First Avenue area, the Grand Pacific Hotel was put up to accommodate that trade.
Opening its doors originally as the "First Avenue Hotel," the name was changed very early in its existence. Outside the tradition of the grand hotel, it catered specifically to men of modes-t means- who favored its- inexpensive rooms and easy access to the port. Over the years, the store fronts bracketing the hotel entry were occupied with a variety of businesses, but all reflected the tenor of the hotel's clientele: restaurants, beer parlors, pawnbrokers, and clothiers. The nature of the hotel was thus established from its very beginning, and it is remarkable that the neighborhood changed so little over the years.
Although Richardsonian Romanesque was out of date, it was embraced by Seattle as its architecture of preference in the rapidly paced construction of the 1890's. The powerful arches and rustic stonework that marked the style probably found its most expressive display locally in the Pioneer Building (National Historic Landmark, 1977), and was echoed by many other buildings in the Pioneer Square area. Only a few buildings outside of that commercial core were erected in the fashion, and new construction went on to adopt other interpretations of buildings. The Grand Pacific Hotel is one of the last Richardsonian designs to be put up in the city, and is probably the most isolated example of the style.