I’m not sure how to write this without sounding like I’m a member of the Seattle tourist board. Of all the sites you can see in Seattle one of the list should to be Smith Tower. And of course you’ve never heard of Smith Tower. And neither had I, until it was mentioned on the Seattle Underground Tour.
Poking from the ground behind an Escheresque parking lot in Pioneer Square, Smith Tower is THE first skyscraper made in Seattle. Built in 1914 it was built from alaskan marble and metal. The doors, which at first appear to be polish mahogany, are actually made from metal to look like mahogany. You see after that fool burnt the city down from his misplaced grease brick, Seattle wasn’t going to go through the pains of building the city again. And so their tallest structure was going to be completely fireproof. The result is a glistening white and grey lobby etched with brass details.
Smith tower, I was told by one of the staff members who followed me around giving me more information that I needed to know, still uses 7 of its 8 original Otis elevator motors. We took the only elevator that goes to the 35th floor; the observation lounge that sits just below the pyramid top. The room is quite sparse and other than the 8th original Otis motor on display behind a locked door and some informational snippets, you won’t find much here. The most interesting thing you’ll find is the cutouts from Seattle’s home magazine showing photos of the top of Smith Tower, a converted condominium that is not open to the public.
Outside you find yourself in a balcony that wraps around the circumference of the 35th floor of the Tower. The Art Deco bars that keep you in add to the feeling that you’ve flown through time. the 360 degree view allows you to see all of Seattle and, if you’ve taken the Underground tour, you can get an idea as to how the old town was made. What struck me first after my first walk around was how compressed the city was. You really get a sense of this as you walk it, especially if you’re from a large and sprawling downtown core like Toronto: Seattle’s streets snap from a neighbourhood like Cabbage Town to Bloor West to King West, all inthe space of minutes. And up on the 35th floor you can actually see this.
The impact of how beautiful and special Smith Tower is is really made by going on the Underground Seattle tour the day before. If it hadn’t've been for Dave, our tour guide, mentioning this building, I wouldn’t've known that I could scale it. And the knowledge of what Seattle went through the years before Smith Tower was built let’s you appreciate the marvel that it is.
