Now And Then
By Paul Dorpat
A Second Chance
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 MUSEUM OF HISTORY & INDUSTRY THEN: Someone from the Romans studio — perhaps Asahel Curtis who managed it — recorded this view north on Second Avenue from Pike Street soon after Second Avenue was lowered as much as 60 feet two blocks north at Stewart during the Denny Hill Regrade. Because of the regrade, the majority of buildings included here — the brick and tile ones — are nearly brand new.
PAUL DORPAT NOW: The decorative terra-cotta has been removed from the old Standard Furniture Co. building left of center in both views. |
PLACING THIS historical scene is easy: Many of the structures survive. Both views look north on Second Avenue through its intersection with Pike Street. I'm no whiz in dating costumes, but these outfits look very much of the sort that visitors to the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition wore. But such dating by style is too imprecise, especially when all those buildings serve as fingerprints. With a little searching I found the key — the Haight Building, though it's hard to see in the contemporary shot and is just a construction site in the historical scene.
We'll approach it in a roundabout way. First, the old-timer in this comparison is the Eitel Building on the far left. In 1905 when the building's construction was nearly complete, Second Avenue north of Pike was still being lowered — an early section of the Denny Hill Regrade. One block north on Second at Pine Street is the formidable Standard "Your Credit is Good" Furniture Co. It appears left of center in both views, although in the "now" scene the terra-cotta has been stripped away. It was the victim of a 1961 remodel, an in-vogue disgrace done, no doubt, for the "forward-looking" Century 21 World's Fair of 1962.
Another block north, and right-of-center in both scenes, is the New Washington Hotel/Josephinum at the corner of Second and Stewart. The hotel was developer James Moore's response to losing his Gothic landmark, the original Washington Hotel, to the regrade. (His namesake Moore Theatre is directly behind the hotel.) The New Washington opened in 1908, the same year the Haight Building was constructed.
The Haight stands directly to the right of the Josephinum. Can't we now conclude that the historical photo was made sometime in the winter of 1907-1908?
Paul Dorpat specializes in historical photography and has published several books on early Seattle.
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