Historic status protects building's features

Because of the Smith Tower's historic status, the new owners cannot change many of the building's historic features, including the old brass and copper fixtures and the elevator cages.

The configuration of certain floors must remain, said William Justen, the Samis Foundation's managing director of real estate.

The carved-wood ceiling and furnishings of the "Chinese Room" on the 35th floor also must remain. According to Samis officials, the room was designed by the Empress of China, after Smith visited China and presented her with several of his typewriters.

When he told her about his plans to build one of the world's tallest skyscrapers, she asked him to save a floor for her to design.

While the room has changed since the building was first unveiled in 1914, all the furniture remains, including a "Wishing Chair" that has a carved dragon and phoenix and is said to auger marriage within a year for any single person that sits in it.

When he visited Seattle in 1918, Chinese official Tang Hualong was amazed by the ingenuity of the American work ethic he saw exemplified in the Smith Tower.

"In Seattle I saw the Smith Building with over forty stories, towering so high that it pierces the clouds, and I was told that it took the Smiths, father and son, two generations to complete," he wrote in an account of his visit.