Architectural tour features grand buildings with intriguing pasts

On a clear day, the rooftop park of Seattle's Rainier Tower affords a panoramic view of downtown, Elliott Bay and points beyond.

Through the eyes — and lively anecdotes — of architectural historian Bob Purser, however, that view is a decade-by-decade slide show of Seattle history.

At 10 a.m. tomorrow, Purser conducts his popular Discover tour of downtown's Metropolitan Tract, sponsored by the Seattle Architectural Foundation.

This year marks the tract's 100th anniversary.

"We start out with the Beaux Arts features of the Cobb Building and end up talking about the modern architecture of Minoru Yamasaki's IBM Building and Rainier Tower," said Purser, a Bellevue Community College design teacher who has been conducting tours for 12 years.

Along the way, participants savor details of the Fairmont Olympic Hotel (established in 1924), the Skinner Building (1926) and the Fifth Avenue Theater (1926).

Purser's tour covers 10 historic acres of downtown Seattle, bordered by Union Street, Seneca Street, and the alleys east of Fifth Avenue and west of Fourth Avenue. Deeded in 1861 by Seattle founding father Arthur Denny for a university, this important square of real estate was turned over to the management of Metropolitan Building Co. in 1904, 10 years after the UW moved to its present location. In 1954, Unico Properties took over.

The university, which retains ownership of the land, has netted more than $350 million from its development since 1904.

But the architectural details of the beautiful old buildings — some of them now long gone — and the colorful tycoons who developed them are what interest Purser.

"The Olympic Hotel is a highlight," said Purser. "We look at the real front entrance, which is on Seneca, with its terra cotta facade."

The stately Metropolitan Theatre once stood where the present entrance of the hotel is located today. The famous Chinese-inspired interior of the Fifth Avenue Theatre, we learn, was fashioned by an interior designer from Gumps department store, in San Francisco.

"The Henry Stuart White buildings on Fourth Ave., across from the Cobb building, were destroyed in the 1970s," recounted Purser. "Stuart was a fellow who had made some money in El Paso. He came to Seattle and bought a company that was trying to can milk. It was right before the [Yukon] Gold Rush, so he wound up selling canned milk to the gold miners and made a fortune. He bought a farm and brought in 50 cows, which he sold to farmers at cost, then bought their milk and started Carnation Farms, and the town of Carnation."

The Metropolitan Tract tour is one of many offered by the Seattle Architectural Foundation from May to October. There are four types: Discover (downtown), Explore (neighborhoods), Focus (single buildings) and Destination (out of town).

Paul de Barros: 206-464-3247 or pdebarros@seattletimes.com