Hotel Seattle
Hotel Seattle, also known as Seattle Hotel and the Collins Block, was located in Pioneer Square in a triangular block bound by James Street to the north, Yesler Way to the south, and 2nd Avenue to the east, just steps away from the Pioneer Building. It succeeded two prior hotels, a wooden and then a masonry Occidental Hotel.
It was built in 1890 after the Great Seattle Fire and served as a hotel until early in the 20th century. By the time neighboring Smith Tower was completed in 1914, the Seattle Hotel had become an office building. It was demolished in the early 1960s and the site is now home to the Sinking Ship, a parking garage.
Precursor: The Occidental Hotel, I and II (1861–1889)
Before the Seattle Hotel rose in 1890, there was the Occidental Hotel. The first Occidental, which opened in 1861, was a wooden building. Twenty years later, on September 26, 1881, it held a memorial service for President James Garfield, who had died five days earlier from injuries sustained when he was shot in July.In 1883, the wooden structure was torn down and John Collins built a bigger, grander one in the same location. Construction bids were accepted in February 1883. Construction for the new hotel began on about May 1, 1883. The architect was Donald Mackay.
The Puget Sound National Bank, which was co-founded by Jacob Furth, was located in the Occidental Hotel.
The new hotel lasted just four years, before burning down in the Great Seattle Fire on June 6, 1889. The second Occidental Hotel, like the Seattle Hotel, was also triangular-shaped.