The Washington Hotel, 3rd Avenue between Stewart and Virginia, Photographed during preparations for President Teddy Roosevelt's visit in 1903. According to HistoryLink.org, The Washington Hotel, which loomed atop Denny Hill between 1890 and 1906 was only in operation for one or two summers before it was torn down to make way for the Denny regrade. After it was conceived of and built by Seattle founder Arthur Denny, economic reasons kept Denny from finishing it and the doors remained closed for 10 years until James Moore purchased it around 1903. President Teddy Roosevelt requested the hotel open for his one-night stay in Seattle. Courtesy of Seattle Municipal ArchivesWebster & Stevens/Seattle Municipal Archives
A soon-to-be-closing Bed Bath and Beyond and parking garage now hold the space that was home to the Washington Hotel over a century ago. Photographed Sept. 5, 2018. (Genna Martin, SeattlePI)GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM
In 1905 22-year-old Seattle sculptor James A. Wehn applied for and eventually won the commission of a local improvement fund to design a fountain and statue at the corner of Denny Way, Cedar Street and Fifth Avenue. His copper statue of Chief Sealth (Chief Seattle) at Tilikum Place was unveiled on Founders Day, November 13, 1912, by the Chief's great-great-granddaughter Myrtle Loughery. Atop a pedestal with bear heads spouting streams of water, the Chief stands with arm raised in greeting to the first white settlers that landed at Alki Point in 1851. Tilikum means "welcome" or "greetings" in Chinook. A bust of Chief Sealth, also by James A. Wehn, stands in Pioneer Square. Photographed in 1925. Courtesty of MOHAI, [1983.10.3080.5]Webster & Stevens/MOHAI
Tilikum Place Fountain, photographed June 1, 1968. Courtesy of Seattle Municipal ArchivesSeattle Municipal Archives
Westlake Chevrolet photographed in 1947. Seattle had car dealerships in the downtown area and in many neighborhoods. Westlake Chevrolet sold new and used cars and trucks south of Denny Way, on Westlake Avenue near Lenora. Courtesy of Seattle Municipal ArchivesSeattle Municipal Archives
The Denny Triangle area has been completely transformed, in recent years by Amazon buildings and new apartment and condo buildings. Photographed Sept. 5, 2018. (Genna Martin, SeattlePI)GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM
Denny Hill rises up behind the Sibella Court building at Fifth Avenue between Lenora and Blanchard, photographed March 20, 1929. Courtesy of Seattle Municipal ArchivesCourtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives
The building still stands near the monorail tracks on Fifth Avenue. Photographed Sept. 5, 2018. (Genna Martin, SeattlePI)GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM
Exterior of the Bon Marche livery stables, Seattle, circa 1900. The Bon Marche was founded in 1890 by German immigrant Edward Nordhoff and his wife Josephine. Originally located in Seattle's Belltown district at First Avenue and Cedar Street, in 1896 it moved to a more central location downtown at Second Avenue and Pike Street." This exterior shot is of the Bon Marche Stables (later Compton Lumber Company, today Compton Building) at 2315 Western Avenue. Livery stables were once common in downtown Seattle for shoppers and travelers to 'park' their horses while doing business or staying the night. Photo courtesy of MOHAI, Bon Marche Collection [2009.20.72]MOHAI Bon Marche Collection/MOHAI
The Compton Building still stands at 2315 Western Avenue and though most of the facade has been replaced it retains the same look and shape as the original. Photographed Sept. 5, 2018.GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM
The Crystal Pool Natatorium, photographed here in 1927. The building at the corner of Second and Lenora Street has a storied history and has been home to a variety of business and organizations over the years. Built originally as a a large saltwater swimming pool and boxing venue in 1915, it also was used as a roller skating rink, convention center and meeting spot, including hosting a 1923 Ku Klux Klan meeting. It later became Bethel Temple, a Pentecostal Church in the mid 1940s and remained for the next 60 years. Courtesy of MOHAI, [1983.10.769]Webster & Stevens/MOHAI
The former Crystal Pool Natatorium is now home to the Cristalla condominium building, erected between 2003 and 2005. A pergola remains on the corner, a reminder of the original domed entrance. Photographed Sept. 5, 2018. (Genna Martin, SeattlePI)GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM
Alley at Second and Broad, photographed October 10, 1951. Courtesy of Seattle Municipal ArchivesSeattle Municipal Archives
Alley at Second and Broad, photographed Sept. 5, 2018.GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM
The Lorraine Hotel at 2327 2nd Avenue, later known as the William Tell, was built in 1925 and was a highlight of Belltown's "Film Row" in the mid-1990s, frequently housing Hollywood actors and film executives during their visits to the Northwest. It later became a low-income housing for more than 20 years. This photograph was taken in 1929. (Courtesy of MOHAI)Staff Photographer/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The historic William Tell building was purchased in 2008 by a real-estate investment company and is now home to City Hostel of Seattle. Photographed Sept. 5, 2018. (Genna Martin, SeattlePI)GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM
The Austin A. Bell Building on First Avenue and Battery Street, photographed May 27, 1942. The construction of the building, named for Austin Americus Bell who developed plans for the building in 1889, was actually carried out by his wife Eva after Bell's sudden suicide. The plans were drawn by local architect Elmer Fisher and the building was completed in 1890. It has served as apartments, a hotel and dance hall, a poop table manufacturing shop, and is currently a 52-unit condominium building with commercial space on the first floor. The building was registered as a City of Seattle Landmark in 1978. Courtesy of MOHAI, [1983.10.13528]Webster & Stevens/MOHAI
The Austin A. Bell Building is now home to condo units and the Belltown Pub and a Starbucks. Photographed Sept. 5, 2018. (Genna Martin, SeattlePI)GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM
Bell's Hotel (also often called the Hotel Bellevue or the Bellevue House) at 2330 1st Ave. (intersection of 1st and Battery Sts), photographed in 1898. The Hotel survived the Great Fire and stood at this location until 1937. Courtesy of University of Washington Special CollectionsAnders Beer Wilse/University of Washington Special Collections
Sarajevo Restaurant and Ora Nightclub now stand in the spot of the former Bell's Hotel. Photographed Sept. 5, 2018. (Genna Martin, SeattlePI)GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM
Fire Station No. 2, under construction at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Battery Street, 1920. Courtesy of Seattle Municipal ArchivesSeattle Municipal Archives
The Fire Station still stands at the corner of Fourth and Battery Street. Photographed Sept. 5, 2018.GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM
Construction of Seattle's monorail system began in April 1961. Sixty-two precast concrete piers support pairs of beams that hold the tracks . Here, in November 1961, the track beams have already been installed on the piers in the foreground. The photo looks north on Fifth Avenue. In the background, the exterior of the Space Needle is almost complete. The winged globe trademark of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer can be seen in the right background. Courtesy of MOHAIStaff Photographer/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Space Needle is still visible above the monorail track on Sept. 5, 2018, but the old Seattle P-I globe is now on Western Avenue. (Genna Martin, SeattlePI)GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer building on Wall Street, photographed in 1948. In the late 1940s, the newspaper held a nationwide competition for an architect for a new building on Wall Street. The design included a large, revolving globe with an eagle on top, which stood above the entryway. The streamlined style of the building, with its glass and flat surfaces, was very popular during the 1930s and 1940s. Courtesy of MOHAIStaff Photographer/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The old PI building is now home to City University of Seattle, photographed Sept. 5, 2018. (Genna Martin, SeattlePI)GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM
The Carnival Drive-in was located on the northwest corner of Aurora Avenue and Denny Way. The site is currently a service station. It was photographed in 1955 by a Seattle Post-Intelligencer photographer.SEATTLEPI.COM
The spot is now filled by a Shell gas station and mini mart, photographed Sept. 5, 2018.GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM
A comparison of Belltown's fire station from 1920 to 2018.
There's no longer a massive and grand Victorian-style hotel -- The Washington Hotel -- along Third Avenue, which welcomed President Theodore Roosevelt as its first guest (and closed three years later). And there's no longer a swimming pool and boxing arena, which later became a Pentecostal Temple.
Though the backdrop to the Chief Sealth statue on Denny has shifted somewhat, Seattle's namesake still stands under the Monorail line.
At 2315 Western Avenue, the Compton Building still stands, outlasting both The Bon Marché store that originally constructed the building, and the regular practice of riding horses around Seattle, which is what the building was intended for in 1900: the stables for people who were shopping at Bon Marché.
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The thoroughfare from Aurora towards Elliott Bay no longer heads past the old P-I globe (or, for that matter, the P-I newsroom that once sat there); you'll now find us -- and the globe -- farther west in Belltown.
While there's some familiar facade near the site of the Bell's Hotel, the street and the city behind it have changed since 1898:
The hotel on the corner is the Bell's Hotel, which would survive the Great Fire and stay at that location until 1937.
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Meanwhile at Aurora Avenue and Denny Way, you'll find a place to pull over in your car, but an entirely different type of service. Compare 1955 with present day:
![In 1905 22-year-old Seattle sculptor James A. Wehn applied for and eventually won the commission of a local improvement fund to design a fountain and statue at the corner of Denny Way, Cedar Street and Fifth Avenue. His copper statue of Chief Sealth (Chief Seattle) at Tilikum Place was unveiled on Founders Day, November 13, 1912, by the Chief's great-great-granddaughter Myrtle Loughery. Atop a pedestal with bear heads spouting streams of water, the Chief stands with arm raised in greeting to the first white settlers that landed at Alki Point in 1851. Tilikum means "welcome" or "greetings" in Chinook. A bust of Chief Sealth, also by James A. Wehn, stands in Pioneer Square. Photographed in 1925. Courtesty of MOHAI, [1983.10.3080.5]](https://s.hdnux.com/photos/75/50/62/16157871/4/ratio3x2_1920.webp "In 1905 22-year-old Seattle sculptor James A. Wehn applied for and eventually won the commission of a local improvement fund to design a fountain and statue at the corner of Denny Way, Cedar Street and Fifth Avenue. His copper statue of Chief Sealth (Chief Seattle) at Tilikum Place was unveiled on Founders Day, November 13, 1912, by the Chief's great-great-granddaughter Myrtle Loughery. Atop a pedestal with bear heads spouting streams of water, the Chief stands with arm raised in greeting to the first white settlers that landed at Alki Point in 1851. Tilikum means \"welcome\" or \"greetings\" in Chinook. A bust of Chief Sealth, also by James A. Wehn, stands in Pioneer Square. Photographed in 1925. Courtesty of MOHAI, [1983.10.3080.5]")
![Exterior of the Bon Marche livery stables, Seattle, circa 1900. The Bon Marche was founded in 1890 by German immigrant Edward Nordhoff and his wife Josephine. Originally located in Seattle's Belltown district at First Avenue and Cedar Street, in 1896 it moved to a more central location downtown at Second Avenue and Pike Street." This exterior shot is of the Bon Marche Stables (later Compton Lumber Company, today Compton Building) at 2315 Western Avenue. Livery stables were once common in downtown Seattle for shoppers and travelers to 'park' their horses while doing business or staying the night. Photo courtesy of MOHAI, Bon Marche Collection [2009.20.72]](https://s.hdnux.com/photos/75/50/62/16157878/4/ratio3x2_1920.webp "Exterior of the Bon Marche livery stables, Seattle, circa 1900. The Bon Marche was founded in 1890 by German immigrant Edward Nordhoff and his wife Josephine. Originally located in Seattle's Belltown district at First Avenue and Cedar Street, in 1896 it moved to a more central location downtown at Second Avenue and Pike Street.\" This exterior shot is of the Bon Marche Stables (later Compton Lumber Company, today Compton Building) at 2315 Western Avenue. Livery stables were once common in downtown Seattle for shoppers and travelers to 'park' their horses while doing business or staying the night. Photo courtesy of MOHAI, Bon Marche Collection [2009.20.72]")
![The Crystal Pool Natatorium, photographed here in 1927. The building at the corner of Second and Lenora Street has a storied history and has been home to a variety of business and organizations over the years. Built originally as a a large saltwater swimming pool and boxing venue in 1915, it also was used as a roller skating rink, convention center and meeting spot, including hosting a 1923 Ku Klux Klan meeting. It later became Bethel Temple, a Pentecostal Church in the mid 1940s and remained for the next 60 years. Courtesy of MOHAI, [1983.10.769]](https://s.hdnux.com/photos/75/50/62/16157882/4/ratio3x2_1920.webp "The Crystal Pool Natatorium, photographed here in 1927. The building at the corner of Second and Lenora Street has a storied history and has been home to a variety of business and organizations over the years. Built originally as a a large saltwater swimming pool and boxing venue in 1915, it also was used as a roller skating rink, convention center and meeting spot, including hosting a 1923 Ku Klux Klan meeting. It later became Bethel Temple, a Pentecostal Church in the mid 1940s and remained for the next 60 years. Courtesy of MOHAI, [1983.10.769]")
![The Austin A. Bell Building on First Avenue and Battery Street, photographed May 27, 1942. The construction of the building, named for Austin Americus Bell who developed plans for the building in 1889, was actually carried out by his wife Eva after Bell's sudden suicide. The plans were drawn by local architect Elmer Fisher and the building was completed in 1890. It has served as apartments, a hotel and dance hall, a poop table manufacturing shop, and is currently a 52-unit condominium building with commercial space on the first floor. The building was registered as a City of Seattle Landmark in 1978. Courtesy of MOHAI, [1983.10.13528]](https://s.hdnux.com/photos/75/50/63/16157894/4/1920x0.webp "The Austin A. Bell Building on First Avenue and Battery Street, photographed May 27, 1942. The construction of the building, named for Austin Americus Bell who developed plans for the building in 1889, was actually carried out by his wife Eva after Bell's sudden suicide. The plans were drawn by local architect Elmer Fisher and the building was completed in 1890. It has served as apartments, a hotel and dance hall, a poop table manufacturing shop, and is currently a 52-unit condominium building with commercial space on the first floor. The building was registered as a City of Seattle Landmark in 1978. Courtesy of MOHAI, [1983.10.13528]")
