Location: 210 5th Ave SW
mid-Century modern
Seattle First National Building 1960s, Thurston County Assessor, Southwest Regional Archives |
Seattle First National (Bank of America) Building today (2014), photo by Deb Ross |
The Seattle First National Bank Building in downtown Olympia is similar to a building erected in the Denny neighborhood in Seattle for the same institution. Architectural historian Michael Houser speculates that Seattle architects Frank McClellan and Hugo Osterman were asked to alter that building’s design to suit Olympia conditions. It was erected in 1959. The building employs “Roman bricks,” skinnier than standard bricks, a glass curtain wall, and a curved entryway. Note the mosaic of the Legislative Building inside the entryway, just visible in the photograph to the right.
The building is on the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation inventory as part of DAHP’s modernism project.
According to historian Georgiana Blankenship, this was also the site of the first brewery in Olympia.
Additional resources:
Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation Inventory
Copyright © 2022 Deborah Ross