The Frederick & Nelson Building is a

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

building and

landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern-day use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures ...

on Pine Street in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, United States. It was designed by the

John Graham & Company John Graham & Company, or John Graham & Associates was the name of an architectural firm, founded in 1900 in Seattle, Washington, by English-born architect John Graham (1873–1955), and maintained by his son John Graham Jr. (1908–1991). The f ...

architecture firm for Donald E. Frederick, and opened in 1918. It was the flagship store of the

Frederick & Nelson Frederick & Nelson was a department store chain in the northwestern United States, based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. Founded in 1890 as a furniture store, it later expanded to sell other types of merchandise. The company was acqu ...

department store chain until its bankruptcy and liquidation in 1992. It has been the flagship store of the

Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a seco ...

department store chain since 1998;, replacing its first store on Fifth Avenue, which opened in 1901.

History

Donald E. Frederick, the remaining business partner of the

business, made expansion plans for a new building in downtown Seattle in 1914. The original plans called for the building to be six stories tall with a seventh floor in the basement, however, the foundation was built with the strength to hold ten stories. Even though businessmen and financiers branded the project "Frederick's Folly", his dream was finally realized three decades later. Despite a shortage of building materials that were needed elsewhere to fight

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the building opened on September 4, 1918, and hosted over 25,000 customers on opening day.

Architecture

The building was designed by

in the

Neo-Renaissance 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 ...

style.

Gallery

File:Frederick & Nelson department store exterior, ca 1918 (MOHAI 5065).jpg, Original exterior before renovation (1918)

Notes

References

External links

* , Nordstrom website Commercial buildings completed in 1918 Buildings and structures in Downtown Seattle Tourist attractions in Seattle 1918 establishments in Washington (state) Department store buildings in the United States {{Washington-struct-stub