The Sinking Ship is a multi-story

parking garage A multistorey car park (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a build ...

in Pioneer Square, Seattle bound by James Street to the north, Yesler Way to the south, and 2nd Avenue to the east, and just steps away from the Pioneer Building on the site of the former Occidental Hotels and

Seattle Hotel Hotel Seattle, also known as Seattle Hotel and the Collins Block, was located in Pioneer Square in a triangular block bound by James Street to the north, Yesler Way to the south, and 2nd Avenue to the east, just steps away from the Pioneer Buildi ...

. After the Seattle Hotel was demolished in 1961, the Sinking Ship was built as part of a neighborhood redesign. It was designed by Gilbert H. Mandeville (engineer) and Gudmund B. Berge (architect) of the Seattle firm Mandeville and Berge, and built in 1965. They also designed the Logan Building and an addition to the First Presbyterian Church downtown, the Ballard branch of Seattle Public Library, and two buildings at the Seattle World's Fair in 1962 (the Alaska Building and the Transportation 21 Building). A writer for HistoryLink described the Sinking Ship as "that skid road parking garage whose nihilistic construction depresses the flatiron block where James Street and Yesler Way meet at Pioneer Square." The parking garage is said to be haunted. It is owned by the Kubota–Fujii family, who had acquired the Seattle Hotel in 1941. Doris Kubota, from the same family, called the garage the "ugliest building in all of Seattle". It was also used during the 2001 Mardi Gras riot as a staging area for police and city officials. The

Seattle Monorail Project The Seattle Monorail Project was a proposed five-line monorail system to be constructed in Seattle, Washington, US, as an extension of the existing Seattle Center Monorail. The , 17 station Green Line running from Ballard to West Seattle via Seat ...

proposed a monorail station at the site of the Sinking Ship, which it hoped to acquire through condemnation. The Kubota family disputed the condemnation lawsuit, stating their intention to build housing and retail at the site. In 2019, the parking lot was named the "coolest parking lot" in the United States by the design publication Architizer and London-based Looking4.com. , the garage is managed by Diamond Parking.

References

External links

Audio history of Sinking Ship
from Washington State Department of Transportation {{Pioneer Square, Seattle 1960s establishments in Washington (state) Garages (parking) in the United States Tourist attractions in Seattle Reportedly haunted locations in Washington (state) Pioneer Square, Seattle