An Anchor Of Commerce

IN THE SPRING of 1889 the lumberman-banker Richard Holyoke announced his intention to begin construction on his namesake building at the southeast corner of Spring Street and Front Street (First Avenue). The artist who was then preparing a bird's-eye drawing of every structure in Seattle took note and included the Victorian in his rendering well before the first red brick was laid.

The grading began in April. By the time it was finished in mid-May and the trenches for the foundation were being dug, the bird's-eye that depicted its five stories topping the surrounding neighborhood was probably already for sale.

The sales life of the 1889 bird's-eye was, we know, a short one because, on June 6, about 35 blocks of the city it depicted burned down. Holyoke's neighbors to the south of Spring had expected his new structure to give their commercial district a distinguished northern anchor. Instead, the freshly graded corner acted the hero and saved the buildings to the north — most of them residences — by starving the fire.

In this view, the Holyoke is nearly new. The storefront tenants include the Collins Bros., dealers in mantels and grates, and Pacific Carpets. The Seattle Conservatory of the Arts, Mrs. Langley Celeste Slauson director, is on the top floor, and so is the artist Miss Jessie Fisk. Renters of the Holyoke's offices include other artists and at least one physician, a Mrs. S.A. Kendall.

Three weeks after the '89 fire, The Seattle Times reported that bricks for the Holyoke block were arriving and the laying was to proceed "soon." The occasional claim that the Holyoke was the first new business block completed after the fire may be true, and the bird's-eye artist certainly gave it a head start.

Paul Dorpat specializes in historical photography and has published several books on early Seattle.