1200 Fifth, formerly the IBM Building, is a 20-story office building in the
Metropolitan Tract, part of downtown
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...
,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
. The building was designed by
Minoru Yamasaki
was an American architect, best known for designing the original World Trade Center in New York City and several other large-scale projects. Yamasaki was one of the most prominent architects of the 20th century. He and fellow architect Edward ...
, who also was architect of
Rainier Tower
Rainier Tower is a 41-story, skyscraper in the Metropolitan Tract of Seattle, Washington, at 1301 Fifth Avenue. It was designed by Minoru Yamasaki, who designed the World Trade Center in New York City as well as the IBM Building, which is on ...
on the corner diagonally opposite, and the
World Trade Center in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
. Construction on the building began in May 1963 and it was completed in October 1964.
Nard Jones wrote in 1972 that "There is an architectural poetry about
he buildingthat is at variance with the endless jibes at computerization and the alleged sober pragmatism of IBM personnel." The building's crown has a series of 191 "fins" that measure tall and surround the machinery floors.
The corner of the complex at 5th Avenue and University Street was the site of the
Seattle Ice Arena from 1915 to 1963.
References
External links
*
Building profileat Unico Properties
{{DEFAULTSORT:1200 Fifth (Seattle)
Downtown Seattle
Office buildings in Seattle
Skyscraper office buildings in Seattle
Minoru Yamasaki buildings
NBBJ buildings
Office buildings completed in 1964
1963 establishments in Washington (state)