The story
Syracuse industrialist Lyman Cornelius Smith, a firearm and typewriter magnate, backed the tower but died in 1910. His son Burns Lyman Smith declared it would be "42 stories high, and not one story less," and opened it on July 4, 1914, at about 462 feet. It was the tallest building west of the Mississippi until 1931 and the tallest on the West Coast for nearly half a century.
Its eight high-speed elevators were the finest on the coast, and it was one of the last West Coast buildings to keep elevator operators. The observatory floor was built to look like a Chinese temple interior. Its most famous owner was restaurateur Ivar Haglund.
Everything that was here
- 1914–present · still open
Smith TowerOffice Building
When Smith Tower opened on July 4, 1914, it was the tallest building west of Ohio. Its namesake, typewriter magnate L. C. Smith, had died four years earlier.
See the map in 1915 →
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Connected places
Coq d'Or
The Four Deuces
French Country Inn
Bob Chinn's Crab House
Schaller's Pump
Explore the full web of connections on the map.
Nearby history
The Double Header
Merchant's Cafe and Saloon
Doc Maynard's Public House and Seattle Underground
Seattle Underground (Pioneer Square)
Central Saloon
OK Hotel
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