Exchange Building
Seattle’s premier Art Deco office tower when it opened in 1930, the Exchange Building brought the idiom of the New York and Chicago skyscraper to the Pacific Northwest — a 23-story statement in limestone and terracotta at the edge of Pioneer Square.
At a glance
The Exchange Building at 821 Second Avenue in downtown Seattle was completed in 1930 to designs by architect John Graham Sr. At 23 stories and 307 feet it was, upon completion, one of the tallest buildings in the Pacific Northwest — a significant achievement for a city that was growing rapidly but had not yet built to the heights of the major East Coast and Midwest financial centers. The building takes its name from its original tenants, who included financial and commodities exchange businesses. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and remains in active office use today.
Key facts
- Address: 821 Second Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104
- Height: 23 stories, 307 ft (94 m)
- Completed: 1930
- Architect: John Graham Sr.
- Style: Art Deco
- NRHP: Yes
- Current use: Commercial offices
History
John Graham Sr. was one of Seattle’s most prolific architects of the early 20th century. His practice designed commercial, residential, and institutional buildings across the city, and the Exchange Building represented his most ambitious commercial commission to date — a full-height skyscraper in the Art Deco style that had emerged as the dominant idiom for commercial architecture in the United States after the 1922 Chicago Tribune Tower competition and the 1925 Paris Exposition des Arts Décoratifs.
Seattle in 1930 was a city whose economy was tied to timber, fishing, and the Alaska trade — industries that had generated sufficient capital to fund a building of this scale and ambition. The Exchange Building’s name reflected its financial-district tenants: commodities brokers, securities dealers, and the exchange-based businesses that had made the city a trading center for the Pacific Northwest’s resource economy.
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its architectural quality and its significance in the history of Seattle’s commercial development. John Graham Sr.’s son, John Graham Jr., would go on to design the Space Needle for the 1962 World’s Fair — a continuity of architectural ambition across generations and styles.
What you see
The Exchange Building’s facade is faced in limestone and terracotta, its surface organized into vertical bays punctuated by Art Deco ornamental detail at the entrance, the spandrel panels, and the upper setbacks. The building follows the canonical setback logic of Art Deco commercial architecture — the shaft stepping back progressively as it rises, creating the tapering profile that was required by zoning in many American cities and that had become aesthetically desirable regardless of regulation.
At street level on Second Avenue, the Exchange Building presents a formal entrance appropriate to a financial-district building — the scale and materials signaling the kind of corporate authority that justified the skyscraper form in the American cities of the 1920s and 30s. The building’s Art Deco ornament is measured rather than exuberant, appropriate to Seattle’s more restrained commercial culture and to the building’s position at the edge of the Pioneer Square historic district.
Practical information
- Lobby: Accessible during business hours; the building is in active commercial use
- Exterior: Viewable at all times from Second Avenue
- Photography: Best full tower shot from the west side of Second Avenue; the Pioneer Square historic district provides architectural context to the south
- Transit: Pioneer Square Station (Link Light Rail) is two blocks south
Getting there
The Exchange Building is in downtown Seattle at Second Avenue and Cherry Street, adjacent to the Pioneer Square historic district. Link Light Rail stops at Pioneer Square Station, two blocks south. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) is about 14 miles south via Light Rail (about 40 minutes). The Seattle waterfront is four blocks west.
Nearby
- Pioneer Square Historic District — Seattle’s oldest neighborhood immediately to the south, with 1890s–1910s commercial buildings
- Smith Tower (1914) — Seattle’s first skyscraper, one block south on Second Avenue
- Seattle Art Museum (1991) — Robert Venturi’s postmodern building, five blocks north
- Pike Place Market (1907) — Seattle’s famous public market, 10 minutes north on foot
Sources
- Wikipedia, “Exchange Building (Seattle)” — architect, date, height, NRHP designation
- National Register of Historic Places nomination — significance statement
- Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board — landmark designation context
- HistoryLink.org — Seattle architectural history database
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