Skyscrapers Cities Seattle Smith Tower


Attributed to wikipedia user NorthLights
Attributed to wikipedia user NorthLights
Height462 feet
Floors38
Year1931

About Smith Tower

The Smith Tower, located in Pioneer Square, is the oldest skyscraper in Seattle, Washington, USA. Completed in 1914, the tower is named after its builder, firearm and typewriter magnate Lyman Cornelius Smith. Containing 38 floors, it was the tallest office building west of the Mississippi River until the Kansas City Power & Light Building was built in 1931. It remained the tallest building on the West Coast until the Space Needle overtook it in 1962. The building is a designated Seattle landmark. In 1909, Smith planned to build a 14-story building in Seattle. His son, Burns Lyman Smith, convinced him to build instead a much taller skyscraper to steal the crown from rival city Tacoma's National Real Estate Building as the tallest west of the Mississippi. Construction began in 1910. Although Smith did not live to see it, the building was completed in 1914 to a height of 143 m (462 ft) from curbside to the top of the pyramid, with a pinnacle height of 149 m (489 feet). Its ribbon cutting was July 3, 1914. Ivar Haglund of Ivar's restaurant fame bought the tower for $1.8 million in 1976. The Samis Foundation acquired the tower in 1996.

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