HARD DRIVE TO THE KLONDIKE:
PROMOTING SEATTLE DURING THE GOLD RUSH
A Historic Resource Study
for the Seattle Unit of the
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
CHAPTER SIX
Historic Resources in the Modern Era
Globe Building
| Property 5 | Globe Building 1007 First Avenue Seattle, WA |
Tax Parcel No.: 197460-0035 Legal Description: Lot 6 and 7, Blk. B, AA Denny's First Add. National Register Status: Listed on April 29, 1982 |
Architectural Description
The Globe Building is part of a collection of turn-of-the-century commercial buildings located just north of Pioneer Square and referred to as the First Avenue Groups. In 1980, the Seattle Office of Urban Conservation prepared a National Register nomination for the First Avenue Groups which provided the following physical description of the Globe Building's street-facing elevations:
The First Avenue facade is organized into three vertically ascending layers consisting of a continuous ground floor storefront zone, a two story body and an arcaded upper story. The storefront zone consists of large display windows and clerestories, many of which have been cosmetically altered with garish signage and other reversible accretions. Masonry walls above the storefronts are supported by a series of slender iron columns and horizontal girders encased within a terra cotta entablature. The walls are faced in tan-colored press brick and are penetrated by pairs of double hung windows at the second and third stories, and a nearly continuous arcade of round arched windows at the fourth story. Neo-classical detailing executed in ivory-colored terra cotta includes corner quoins, bracketed lintels above the second story windows, segmented flat arches above the third story windows and a terminating cornice detailed with an egg and dart motif. An arched entrance canopy, four iron balconies and a small roofline pediment originally incorporated at the center of the First Avenue facade no longer remain.
The Madison Street facade incorporates similar fenestration and detailing. The wall plane of this facade is interrupted at the center where a slight recess occurs beneath an elliptical terra cotta arch. The recess appears to have originally opened into an internal light court, which has since been enclosed. The wall surface now contains unadorned double hung windows. Openings at the basement level of this facade relate to the Arlington Garage, which occupied the lower floors of the building several decades after the building's initial construction.
Historical Significance
The First Avenue Groups National Register nomination indicates that the Globe Building was "constructed for developer J. W. Clise in 1901, and was originally occupied by retail stores, offices, and presumably lodgings." [39] This nomination indicates that the Globe Building, along with the Grand Pacific Hotel, housed the influx of transient laborers that arrived with the gold rush.
Among the offices housed in the Globe Building were two businesses associated with ties to the Far North that Seattle established during the Klondike Gold Rush. From 1903 until 1912, the offices of the Alaska Gold Standard Mining Co. were located in the Globe Building. Seattle's fascination with the Far North culminated in 1909 with the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition. From 1908 until 1909, the Treasurer's Office for this noteworthy event was housed in the Globe Building. [40] Today, this building houses the Alexis Hotel.
