Formerly: King County Hospital Built: 1930-1931 Type: Medical Facility Maximum Height: 174 feet / 53 meters Location: 325 Ninth Avenue, Seattle, United States
Building Rating 40% of readers like the Harborview Medical Center.
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F rom modest beginnings in South Seattle, the Harborview Medical Center is one of the University of Washington's major outreach programs. Its doors opened in 1877 in a two-story building, which it quickly outgrew. By 1906 the facility was in Georgetown with room for more than two-hundred patients. This facility was also quickly outgrown, and the hospital moved to its present location in 1931. At that time, the central building was erected on a hill overlooking the city. It features a type of architecture common in metropolitan America at the time -- stately wings stretch out from a central tower. It uses long vertical creases to exaggerate its height while at the same time giving a tactile sense to the observer. The central building was later complemented by two others -- one nine, the other 11 stories tall.
