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Photograph © Wayne Lorentz
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Formerly: The Seattle Hotel
Built:
0
Type: Transportation Facility
City: Seattle
State: Washington
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P
eople visiting Seattle love this whimsical parking garage and the way it appears to be slipping beneath the waves. People who live in Seattle hate this parking garage and wish it would finally slip beneath the waves and never be seen again. Though some revile it for its visual impact, most who despise the garage do so because of what came before it. This was formerly the location of the Seattle Hotel. The hotel was a landmark in the city, serving guests for as long as anyone can remember. By the late 1950's, the Pioneer Square area was a downtrodden shell of its former self, and the hotel had lapsed into a seedy coma, looking like a junkie propped up against the hill. But that didn't mean people didn't love it. And when a developer decided that the cause of urban renewal was best served by razing the structure, people were outraged. You don't throw grandma in the trash just because her stockings sag and she smells funny. That is, more or less, exactly what happened on the morning of 3 April, 1961 when demolition crews turned the Seattle Hotel to dust. In its place came this odd-looking piece of work. Squeezed into a triangle-shaped piece of sloping land, it leans backward into the hill at an angle that wouldn't seem so steep if it wasn't for the fact that everything else in the area leans the other way, and that the structure comes to a point. Over the years there have been dozens of plans to do away with the parking garage, and dozens of reasons why it should be done. But the fact remains that in this section of Seattle, parking is at a premium, and though it is considered an eyesore, the Sinking Ship is a needed eyesore.
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 "Why don't you adults use your heads? The Seattle Hotel is one of our most historic buildings, and you are letting some million of dollars be wasted on a gas station to be built on top of it."
12-year-old Christy Nelsen, Seattle Times, 1961
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