# Hotel Seattle > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Hotel_Seattle > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Hotel_Seattle.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Seattle > Source revision: 1344233200 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Hotel Seattle**, also known as **Seattle Hotel** and the **Collins Block**, was located in [Pioneer Square](/source/Pioneer_Square,_Seattle) in a triangular block bound by James Street to the north, Yesler Way to the south, and 2nd Avenue to the east, just steps away from the [Pioneer Building](/source/Pioneer_Building_(Seattle,_Washington)). It succeeded two prior hotels, a wooden and then a masonry Occidental Hotel. It was built in 1890 after the [Great Seattle Fire](/source/Great_Seattle_Fire) and served as a hotel until early in the 20th century. By the time neighboring [Smith Tower](/source/Smith_Tower) was completed in 1914, the Seattle Hotel had become an office building. It was demolished in the early 1960s and the site is now home to the [Sinking Ship](/source/Sinking_Ship), a [parking garage](/source/Parking_garage). ## Precursor: The Occidental Hotel, I and II (1861–1889) Before the Seattle Hotel rose in 1890, there was the Occidental Hotel.[1] The first Occidental, which opened in 1861, was a wooden building. Twenty years later, on September 26, 1881, it held a memorial service for President [James Garfield](/source/James_Garfield), who had died five days earlier from injuries sustained when he was shot in July. In 1883, the wooden structure was torn down and John Collins built a bigger, grander one in the same location. Construction bids were accepted in February 1883.[2] Construction for the new hotel began on about May 1, 1883. The architect was Donald Mackay.[3][4] The Puget Sound National Bank, which was co-founded by [Jacob Furth](/source/Jacob_Furth), was located in the Occidental Hotel.[5] The new hotel lasted just four years, before burning down in the [Great Seattle Fire](/source/Great_Seattle_Fire) on June 6, 1889. The second Occidental Hotel, like the Seattle Hotel, was also triangular-shaped. ## Description The Seattle Hotel was a triangular-shaped building (much like the [Flatiron Building](/source/Flatiron_Building) in [Manhattan](/source/Manhattan), [New York](/source/New_York_(state))), with its narrow face located at the junction of James and Yesler. It stood five stories high and for much of its existence bore the inscription "1890" above the fifth-story window, signifying the year it was completed. Designed in the [Victorian architectural](/source/Victorian_architecture) tradition and clad in white cement, it stood in stark contrast to its dark brick and stone neighbors. ## Significance of its demolition Damaged by the [1949 Olympia earthquake](/source/1949_Olympia_earthquake) and abandoned by 1961, the Seattle Hotel was torn down and replaced with a parking garage, derisively called the "[Sinking Ship](/source/Sinking_Ship)" as part of the initial stages of an urban-renewal plan that would level all the old buildings in the district. That was as far as the plan went. The old hotel's demise kicked off a preservation movement spearheaded by the likes of Alan Black, [Victor Steinbrueck](/source/Victor_Steinbrueck) and historian/author [Bill Speidel](/source/Bill_Speidel) which led to a revival of the [Pioneer Square](/source/Pioneer_Square,_Seattle) district. By 1970, with its buildings refurbished, a [historic district](/source/Historic_district) area including the Square was listed on the [National Register of Historic Places](/source/National_Register_of_Historic_Places). ## References 1. Dorpat, Paul (19 September 2014). ["See Seattle's grand Occidental Hotel in 1887"](http://seattletimes.com/html/pacificnw/2024450587_0921nowandthenxml.html). *seattletimes.com*. Retrieved 8 February 2015. 1. ["Local Brevities"](https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045611/1883-02-16/ed-1/seq-2/). Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer. Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer. February 16, 1883. Retrieved May 26, 2020. 1. ["Real Estate Review"](https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045611/1883-04-18/ed-1/seq-2/). Seattle Post-Intelligencer. April 18, 1883. Retrieved May 26, 2020. 1. Dorpat, Paul (21 September 2014). ["Seattle Now & Then: The Occidental Hotel"](https://pauldorpat.com/2014/09/20/seattle-now-then-the-occidental-hotel/). *Seattle Now & Then*. Retrieved 30 May 2020. 1. Handford, Clarence (December 1, 1884). [*The City directory ... of Seattle, Washington: embracing a street, business, residence, and church directory, list of city and county officials, secret and benevolent organizations, wharf directory, etc.: also a complete classified business directory*](http://seattle.bibliocommons.com/item/show/354676030). No. 1884. Industrial World. Retrieved May 26, 2020. ## External links - [HistoryLink Essay - Occidental Hotel: The Rise, Fall, Rise, and Fall of Pioneer Square's Historic Hotel](http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=7081) - [HistoryLink Essay - Now & Then -- Seattle Hotel vs. the Sinking Ship](http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=2570) - [Historic Seattle: History of Historic Preservation In Seattle](http://www.historicseattle.org/projects/historyofpreservation.aspx) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20070221025842/http://www.historicseattle.org/projects/historyofpreservation.aspx) 2007-02-21 at the Wayback Machine - [WhiteHouse.gov: Biography of James Garfield](https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/history/presidents/jg20.html) - [Glass Steel and Stone: Flatiron Building](https://web.archive.org/web/20041221224825/http://glasssteelandstone.com/BuildingDetail/438.php) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Hotel Seattle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Seattle) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Seattle?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.