| Skyline of Seattle | |
|---|---|
 Seattle's skyline and theSpace Needle | |
| Tallest building | Columbia Center (1985) |
| Tallest building height | 937 ft (286 m) |
| Number of tall buildings(2025) | |
| Taller than 150 m (492 ft) | 22 |
| Taller than 200 m (656 ft) | 5 |
| Number of tall buildings — feet | |
| Taller than 400 ft (122 m) | 53 |
Seattle is the most populous city in theU.S state ofWashington and thePacific Northwest region ofNorth America, with a metropolitan area population of over 4 million. It is home to 53 completed high-rise buildings over 400 feet (122 meters), of which 21 are over 500 ft (152 m) tall.[1] Seattle's skyline is one of the largest on theWest Coast of the United States, and is by far the largest in theNorthwestern United States.[2] The tallest building in Seattle is the 76-storyColumbia Center, which rises 937 feet (286 m) and was completed in 1985.[3] It is currently the41st-tallest building in the United States, and the tallest building in the state of Washington.[4]
The history of skyscrapers in Seattle began in the late 19th century, with early construction spurred on by money from theKlondike Gold Rush and theAlaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition.[5][6] One noteworthyearly skyscraper was theneoclassicalSmith Tower, a 38-story, 462 ft (141 m) building completed in 1914.[7][8] It was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River from its completion until 1931.[9] A building boom in the 1920s was followed by a lull in high-rise development from the 1930s until the late 1950s. Seattle's world's fair, theCentury 21 Exposition in 1962, contributed to the revival of the city's downtown.[10] TheSpace Needle, considered the city's most recognizable landmark, was built for the fair as part of theSeattle Center.[11] A 605 ft (184 m) tall observation tower, it was the tallest structure in the city until 1969, as another construction boom began.[12]
The period between the 1960s and the early 1990s would see the addition of many notable commercial skyscrapers. The rate of development was particularly high during the 1980s,[13] during which the city's third and fourth-tallest buildings,1201 Third Avenue andTwo Union Square, were built. Following another downturn in the 1990s, development resumed with theIDX Tower andWaMu Center in the 2000s. In recent years, Seattle has undergone a significant amount of high-rise development. The neighborhood ofDenny Triangle has received an influx of residential towers since Amazon's relocation of their headquarters there in 2012,[14] and the skyline has also expanded northwards toSouth Lake Union and westwards towardsBelltown. Seattle's second tallest building,Rainier Square Tower, was completed in 2021.[15]
The majority of tall buildings in Seattle are located indowntown, with several high-rises extending the skyline towards South Lake Union.[16] There are also a number of towers in the area ofFirst Hill, which is separated from the rest of the downtown skyline byInterstate 5. Additionally, there are a cluster of high-rises in University District to the north, as new residential towers have been built nearUW Tower since the late 2010s.[17] The suburban city ofBellevue, east of Seattle acrossLake Washington, hasa skyline of its own.[18]
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After theGreat Seattle Fire of June 6, 1889, Seattle began reconstruction of the city's central business district under a newbuilding code requiring the use of fireproof materials, such as stone and brick. By the end of 1890, 465 buildings had been built, completing the initial phase of reconstruction, and city boosters looked to build modern high-rise buildings after the infusion of new money from theKlondike Gold Rush later that decade.[5][6] ThePioneer Building, whose observation tower surpassed 110 feet (34 m), was completed in 1892 and is regarded as the city's first modern high-rise building.[12][19] TheAlaska Building, completed in 1904 and rising 203 feet (62 m) above 2nd Avenue inPioneer Square, is considered to be Seattle's first skyscraper and first steel-framed high-rise building. It held the title of tallest habitable building in the city until the completion of the 205-foot (62 m), 18-storyHoge Building in 1911.[20][21] Both buildings had been surpassed in height by the clocktower ofKing Street Station, opened in 1906, which stands 245 feet (75 m) tall.[22]
Seattle's continued growth at the turn of the century, bolstered by theAlaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition in 1909 and the opening of theMetropolitan Tract to development, led to a building boom north ofYesler Way in the modern-day downtown.[13] On July 4, 1914, firearm and typewriter magnateLyman Cornelius Smith opened the 484-foot-tall (148 m)Smith Tower, the city's new tallest building. For several years, the 38-story tower would hold the title of tallest west of theMississippi River, and dominate the Seattle skyline.[9] By the end of the 1920s building boom, several newArt Deco high-rises above 200 feet (61 m) were completed in Seattle, including theMedical Dental Building (1925),Seattle Tower (1930), Roosevelt Hotel (1929),Washington Athletic Club (1930), Textile Tower Building (1930),Harborview Medical Center (1931), andPacific Tower (1933).[23]
New high-rise construction in Seattle was halted during theGreat Depression andWorld War II, and slowed during thepost-war economic boom in the 1950s, assuburbanization took hold in the region.[13][24] The first new building in downtown to be built after the war was theNorton Building in 1959, a 19-story office building in theInternational Style with a glasscurtain wall and simple exterior features, a departure from the previousNeo-Gothic and Art Deco styles used in high-rises.[12][25] By 1959, office space occupying downtown buildings had overtaken retail uses, with over 4,987,000 square feet (463,300 m2).[26] Seattle was selected to host theWorld's Fair in 1962, revitalizing the downtown area and bringing the construction of the fairgrounds' centerpiece, theSpace Needle. The 605-foot (184 m) observation tower became the symbol of the fair and a landmark for Seattle, and was the first new structure to surpass the Smith Tower in height.[13][27]
The 50-storySeafirst Building (now Safeco Plaza) became the city's tallest when it opened in 1969, standing 630 feet (190 m), and signaled the start of a major construction boom in Downtown Seattle.[23][12] The boom would last well into the 1980s, despite an economic downturn caused by theBoeing bust and1970s energy crisis, and introduce elements ofModernist andPostmodern architecture to high-rise construction in the city.[28] During this period, 15 skyscrapers taller than 400 feet (122 m) in height were constructed in Seattle, including901 Fifth Avenue (1973), theHenry M. Jackson Federal Building (1974),1600 Seventh Avenue (1976),Rainier Tower (1977),1111 Third Avenue (1980), theWestin Building (1981),800 Fifth Avenue (1981),Union Square (1981 and 1989), and theFirst Interstate Center (1983).[23][13] In total, more than 14 million square feet (1,300,000 m2) of office space was added by new construction in the 1980s.[24] In 1984, the 76-story, 943-foot (287 m)Columbia Center was completed, becoming the tallest building in Seattle and on theWest Coast of the United States.[23][12] During the 1980s, the suburb ofBellevue emerged as an urban center, boasting askyline of its own that would continue to grow well into the 21st century.[29]
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The boom of the 1980s was capped by the Columbia Center and other downtown towers such as1000 Second Avenue (1987),1201 Third Avenue (1988), thePacific First Centre (1989) and theGateway Tower (1990),[23][13] with new downtown office space in the decade surpassing what had been built over the previous 100 years in Seattle.[30] The new wave of development sparked fears of "Manhattanization" in downtown that would push out lower-income residents and reduce quality of life.[12][31] A downtownland use plan adopted in 1984 and shelved until 1986 required the addition of public benefits for major construction projects. Opposition to the new downtown plan, which would allow "generous" new construction unhindered by aheight limit,[32] led to the creation of the "Citizen's Alternative Plan", which would limit buildings to 450 feet (140 m) and restrict development to an annual limit of 1 million square feet (93,000 m2) of space per year. The plan was approved by voters as aballot initiative on May 16, 1989, replacing the land use plan and introduced the city's modern design review process for new development.[12][33][34]
Development of new high-rises slowed down across U.S. cities during theearly 1990s recession as demand caught up to an over-built market,[35] with Seattle's 1980s office buildings suffering from a lack of tenants that forced ownership changes or the threat of bankruptcy and foreclosure.[36] By 1992, vacancy rates for office space in Downtown Seattle reached 14.7 percent, while vacancy rates in outlying suburbs remained much lower.[37] Thedot-com bubble of the late 1990s, including a local economy boosted byBoeing andMicrosoft, led a cut of the vacancy rate to 6 percent by 1997;[38] between 1997 and 1999, new office buildings created an average of 1.5 million square feet (140,000 m2) of additional office space per year.[39] After the burst of the dot-com bubble and theearly 2000s recession, downtown office vacancies shot up from 1 percent to 13 percent by the end of 2001.[40]
Two major downtown projects, theIDX Tower (2003) andWaMu Center (2006), were completed during the early 2000s and were the first office buildings to be built since the Key Tower in 1990.[41] By the mid-2000s, office vacancies in Downtown Seattle improved to below 10 percent, but office developers were hesitant to break ground on new projects.[42][43] A new downtown zoning plan adopted in 2006 effectively repealed the 1989 Citizens' Alternative Plan and its modified 540-foot (160 m) height limit, favoring unlimited heights in downtown and 400-foot (120 m) residential towers on the periphery of downtown.[44] The new zoning plan set off a wave of high-rise residential development in the late 2000s, including the completion ofFifteen Twenty-One Second Avenue (2008), Escala (2009), and Olive 8 (2009), coming at the peak of theUnited States housing bubble and the demand for downtown luxurycondominiums before theGreat Recession.[45][46]
During theGreat Recession, downtown office vacancies rose to a record 21 percent by the beginning of 2010,[47] but dropped to 10 percent by 2013;[48] the downturn was partially blamed on the collapse ofWashington Mutual, which employed 3,500 in its downtown offices.[49] The surge in demand for office space revived several downtown high-rise office projects, includingThe Mark andMadison Centre, both exceeding 500 feet (150 m) in height and completed in 2017.[50] Other office andmixed-use buildings in Downtown Seattle include2&U and theRainier Square Tower, which became the city's second-tallest building at 850 feet (260 m).[23][51] Since 2010, developers have also sought to build high-rise residential towers in Downtown Seattle; unfinished proposals include the stalledCivic Square project[52] and asupertall 101-story tower named4/C, which would become the city's tallest building at 1,029 feet (314 m).[53] Another proposed supertall, the888 Tower, was later scaled back in height.[54][55]
Recent high-rise development in Seattle has been concentrated in theDenny Triangle andSouth Lake Union areas to the north of Downtown Seattle, both rezoned to support development in the 2000s after decades of supporting industrial and low-rise commercial establishments.[56][57] Office development came first to the Denny Triangle area in the mid-2000s, with the construction of theUnited States Courthouse (2004) and1918 Eighth Avenue (2009).[23] In 2012,Amazon.com announced their intention to relocate their South Lake Union headquarters to a complex of high-rises in Denny Triangle;[58] the first towers, the 520-foot (160 m)Doppler andDay 1, opened in 2016, and at least three more towers are in development.[59] The Denny Triangle also hosts the region's largest hotel, the 45-storyHyatt Regency Seattle near theWashington State Convention Center, which was completed in 2018.[60]
Residential developments in the Denny Triangle area above 400 feet (120 m) includeAspira (2010),Premiere on Pine,Cirrus,Kinects,Stratus,McKenzie Apartments, andAMLI Arc.[23] TheDenny Way corridor in South Lake Union, upzoned in 2013 by the city council, has at least seven high-rise residential buildings above 400 feet (120 m) in height, including the completedKiara and1120 Denny Way.[61] Other parts of downtown Seattle have also been host to recent high-rise residential development, including the twinInsignia Towers inBelltown,Tower 12,Helios, andWest Edge Tower nearPike Place Market.[23]
This list ranks Seattle skyscrapers that stand at least 400 feet (122 m) tall, based on standard height measurement. This includes spires and architectural details but does not include antenna masts. The "Year" column indicates the year in which a building was completed. Freestanding observationtowers, while not habitable buildings, are included for comparison purposes; however, they are not ranked.
There are ten skyscrapers that are under construction in Seattle that are expected to rise over 400 feet (122 m), but are not yet completed structures.[citation needed]
This lists buildings that once held the title of tallest building in Seattle. TheSpace Needle is not a building, and is thus not included in this list; the 605-foot (184 m) tower was the tallest structure in the city from 1961 to 1969.
| Name | Image | Street address | Years as tallest | Height ft (m) | Floors | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pioneer Building |  | 612 1st Avenue | 1892–1904 (12 years) | 110 (34)[D] | 6 | [12][19] |
| Alaska Building |  | 618 2nd Avenue | 1904–1906 (2 years) | 203 (62) | 14 | [20] |
| King Street Station Tower | .jpg) | 303 South Jackson Street | 1906–1914 (8 years) | 245 (75) | 8 | [22] |
| Smith Tower |  | 506 2nd Avenue | 1914–1969 (55 years) | 489 (149) | 38 | [9] |
| Safeco Plaza |  | 1001 4th Avenue | 1969–1985 (16 years) | 630 (192) | 50 | [12] |
| Columbia Center |  | 701 5th Avenue | 1985–present | 937 (286) | 76 | [12] |
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