National Register of Historic Places

National Building

Seattle, King County, Washington
Listed
April 28, 1982
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
82004244

About this property

The National Building is a historic warehouse building in downtown Seattle, Washington, located on the east side of Western Avenue between Spring and Madison Streets in what was historically Seattle's commission district. It is now home to the Seattle Weekly. It is a six-story plus basement brick building that covers the entire half-block. The dark red brick facade is simply decorated with piers capped with small Ionic capitals and a small cornice, which is a reproduction of the original cornice. Kingsley & Anderson of Seattle were the architects. The National Building was constructed from late 1904 to mid 1905 by the Northern Pacific Railway as part of the road's multimillion-dollar plan to improve their many Seattle properties and capitalize on the city's booming commission trade. One of the building's first tenants was the National Grocery Company which at first only occupied two of the building's eight stories and would later occupy the entire building, becoming its namesake. It would occupy the building until 1930. The building was later home to many small manufacturing and distributing firms and has been an office building since the late 1960s. The National Building individually was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 29, 1982 and became a city of Seattle landmark collectively with the Globe Building, Beebe Building and Hotel Cecil one year later as "First Avenue Groups/Waterfront Center".

Location

1006--1024 Western Ave.
Seattle, King County, Washington
47.60479, -122.33737

Categories

COMMERCE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Native Heritage
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Nearby Historic Sites

Globe Building, Beebe Building and Hotel Cecil
Industrial
0 mi
Grand Pacific Hotel
Industrial
0.1 mi
Federal Office Building
Early Republic
0.1 mi
Colonial Hotel
Colonial
0.1 mi
Holyoke Building
Industrial
0.1 mi

Nearby Battles

Puget Sound War — Battle of Seattle (January 26, 1856)
1856Indian Wars
0.3 mi
Yakama War — Battle of Seattle
1856Indian Wars
0.3 mi

Questions about this property

When was National Building listed on the National Register?

National Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 28, 1982.

What type of historic resource is National Building?

National Building is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for National Building?

The period of significance for National Building is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near National Building?

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