Arctic Building
- Architect
- A. Warren Gould
- Year
- 1916
- Style
- Beaux-Arts
- City
- Seattle, WA
- Collections
- carl gould’s campusbeaux-arts downtown
The Arctic Building is a ten-story terra cotta tower built in 1914 for the Arctic Club, a social group founded by wealthy veterans of the Klondike Gold Rush, who occupied it until the club dissolved in 1971. Designed by architect A. Warren Gould, the building is clad entirely in cream-white terra cotta with submarine-blue and orange-brown accents, one of the finest examples of multicolored matte-glaze terra cotta work in the city.
the building
Walrus heads and the Polar Bar. The building is best known for the terra cotta walrus head sculptures lining its third floor, and for the polar bear associated with the Polar Bar, the hotel's cocktail lounge.
From club to hotel. The Arctic Club occupied the building until it dissolved in 1971. In 2008 the building was restored and converted into the Arctic Club Hotel, a luxury hotel, and the rooftop garden once used by the social club was replaced with a penthouse office suite.
Original ownership. The site was originally owned by Joseph R. Lewis, Chief Justice of Washington Territory and a direct descendant of George Washington.
the style
Gould's design uses cream-white terra cotta with submarine blue and orange-brown accents, a Beaux-Arts treatment realized in some of the city's finest multicolored matte-glaze terra cotta work.
More on Beaux-Artsthe architect
A. Warren Gould designed the Arctic Building for the Arctic Club.
significance
The Arctic Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, and is separately designated Seattle City Landmark #150 (designated December 13, 1993).
nearby
- Rector Hotel
- Lyon Building
- Rainier Club
- L. C. Smith Building (Smith Tower)
- Pioneer Building
- Exchange Building