Around Seattle


	Before heading north through Canada to Alaska I paid a visit to the historic Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle.

I first visited the Smith Tower, it is a 38-story 500 feet tall skyscraper which was completed in 1914. It is the oldest skyscraper in Seattle and (amazingly) was the tallest building on the West Coast until the Space Needle was built in 1962.

From the ground it is very difficult (if not impossible) to take a photograph that shows its shape and size. This photograph is from the Wikimedia Commons and was taken by Christopher S. Maloney (NorthLights) on 10 February 2005.

The 35th floor of the Smith Tower features both The Chinese Room and an observation deck, both of these are open to the public (for a fee). The furniture and other hand-carved items in the Chinese Room were gifts from the Empress of China.

The following photographs were taken from this observation deck.

On the left is a view of the bay and harbour looking south west.

Below is a view looking westward showing the sweep of the bay and the ferries and other ships.


	A view looking north west, the Space Needs can just be seen in the gap between the buildings on the right of the photograph.


	The Smith Tower is one of the last buildings on the West Coast to employ elevator operators. The Otis Elevator Company provided the elevators which (as can be seen here) have brass surfaces and latticed doors. These allow the rider to see into each hallway and also out through the glass walls in front of each office.


	After leaving the Smith Tower I walked through Pioneer Park to the start point of the Seattle Underground tour. As can be seen the park (which came close to being built over) retains many of its original features including the multi-globe street lamps and the reconstructed Iron Pergola.

The Seattle Underground is a network of underground passageways and basements that were originally at ground level. When Seattle was rebuilt after the 1889 fire it was decided to raise the streets one to two stories higher than the original ground level. In order to achieve this the streets were lined with concrete walls that formed narrow alleyways between the walls and the buildings on both sides of the street, with a wide "alley" where the street was. Soil from the hillsides was used to raise the streets to the desired new level, generally this was 12 feet higher than before but in some places it was nearly 30 feet higher.

Unbelievably pedestrians initially climbed ladders to go between street level and the sidewalks in front of the buildings (death through falling from street to sidewalk level - especially after the saloons closed - apparently was common). Eventually the sidewalks were raised (frequently by building brick archways) to the new street level and the originals were submerged. To illuminate these now underground areas skylights with small panes of clear glass were installed.

In 1907 the city condemned the Underground for fear of bubonic plague, as a result the basements were left to deteriorate or were used as storage. Some became illegal flophouses for the homeless, gambling halls, speakeasies, and opium dens.

A part of these underground walkways have been reopened for tours, the company running these tours has a web site here.

This was one of the first areas the tour took in, it was fairly large and looked like it might have been an underground saloon at one time.


	Here is an example of the concrete wall that was built to hold back the soil used to raise the street level.


	A typical walkway with the concrete wall on the right.


	Another view of the underground walkways, the tour operators have installed wooden guide rails to make getting around easier.


	Occasionally you will get some indication of where you are.


	Another example of the walkway, note the uneven floor (the tour operators have installed a false floor - see right) and the false / blocked windows.


	Here a room seems to have been created in the underground.

Here is an example of the skylights that were installed to provide some illumination of the underground walkways. The glass became amethyst coloured because of manganese in the glass.

Here is the same skylight (at least I think it’s the same one) seen from street level.


	In the TV movie “The Night Strangler” (one of the movies that preceded the Kolchak: The Night Stalker show) the Seattle Underground features prominently.

[New Wildwood] [Contents] [Route 66] [Western Odyssey] [South East USA] [Round the World] [Why Wildwood?] [Site Status and News]