The Hoge Building is a 17-story building constructed in 1911 by, and named for James D. Hoge, a banker and real estate investor, on the northwest corner of Second Avenue and Cherry Street in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

. The building was constructed primarily of tan brick and

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

built over a steel frame in the architectural style of

Second Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ar ...

with elements of Beaux Arts. It was the tallest building in Seattle from 1911 to 1914, until the completion of

Smith Tower Smith Tower is a skyscraper in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. Completed in 1914, the 38- story, tower was among the tallest skyscrapers outside New York City at the time of its completion. It was the t ...

History

The site of the Hoge building, at 705 Second Avenue, was the location of the cabin of

Carson Boren Carson Dobbins Boren (December 12, 1824 – August 19, 1912) was an early founder of Seattle, Washington (see Denny Party). His sister Mary Ann was married to Arthur Denny, and his sister Louisa to David Denny. Boren was the first King Count ...

, reputedly the first white man's house in what was to become Seattle. The cabin was later replaced by a row of 1 and 2 story shops facing Cherry Street which would all be destroyed by the

Great Seattle fire The Great Seattle Fire was a fire that destroyed the entire central business district of Seattle, Washington, on June 6, 1889. The conflagration lasted for less than a day, burning through the afternoon and into the night, during the same summer ...

. Hoge's uncle, John Hoge, a wealthy businessman of

Zanesville, Ohio Zanesville is a city in Muskingum County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located at the confluence of the Licking River (Ohio), Licking and Muskingum River, Muskingum rivers, the city is approximately east of Columbus, Ohio, Columb ...

purchased the site soon after the fire and erected a three-story brick building to house his company: Washington Territorial Investment Company, ''

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. Th ...

'', Washington National Bank, and several other small businesses. Hoge would form Union Trust & Savings Bank (later renamed Seattle Trust Bank and merged with

Seafirst Bank Seafirst Corporation was an American bank holding company based in Seattle, Washington. Its banking subsidiary, Seafirst Bank, was the largest bank in Washington, with 235 branches and 497 ATMs across the state. Formed in 1929 via the merger ...

) in 1903 which would become the ground-floor tenant of his new building. Hoge commissioned the architectural firm of

Charles Bebb Charles Herbert Bebb (Birth Registered as "Herbert Charles Bebb"), (10 April 1862 (1856 on US Naturalisation) – 21 June 1942) was an American architect, who participated in two of the city of Seattle's most important partnerships, Bebb and Mend ...

and Louis Mendel to design the building. Construction began in March 1911. The steel frame of the building was constructed at an amazing pace, with all 18 stories completed in 30 days, a feat which broke all records at the time. Reportedly, the building was designed with special concern by the architects for seismic events as a result of the

1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Time Zone, Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated Moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli inte ...

. One of the last branches of Dexter Horton Bank was housed in the building in 1991 after being moved from its own building. The ground floor previously contained a Bank of America branch but as of January 2020, the commercial space is vacant. The building was owned by the Hoge family until being sold in 1986.

References

External links

Hoge Building Nomination form
for The National Register of Historic Places, 1979. {{Buildings in Seattle and Washington timeline Commercial buildings completed in 1911 1900s architecture in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Seattle Skyscraper office buildings in Seattle Office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) 1911 establishments in Washington (state)

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links