Historic Preservation

Historic photo of the Hotels Lewiston and Scargo.

Plymouth Housing is proud to have a part in preserving Seattle’s past. Each of Plymouth’s six historic buildings are over 100 years old: the St. Charles Apartments (1913), the Pacific Apartments (1916), Haddon Hall (1910), the Scargo Apartments (1911), the Lewiston Apartments (1911), and Plymouth on Stewart (1909).

Despite the extensive destruction of the 1889 Great Seattle Fire, the city was booming at the turn of the century. The Klondike Gold Rush had invigorated the local economy, and the city’s population was growing rapidly. From 1902-1920 these conditions sparked a period of downtown commercial development. Theaters, department stores, office buildings, and even early high rises began to spring up, as well as many hotels. At the time, hotels did more than serve their typical modern purpose of providing lodging for short-term visitors. Instead, most “hotels” functioned more like apartment buildings or boarding houses might. Of our six historic buildings, all but Haddon Hall had their starts as hotels during this bustling time. Together, they spanned the wide array of clientele that downtown Seattle’s early 20th century hotels served.

The Scargo Hotel (Hotel Scargo) and the Lewiston Hotel (Hotel Lewiston), both constructed in 1911, were worker’s hotels. They served single men who made their livings in factories, canneries, or lumber camps. Lodgers would have paid by the week or month and might have only lived in the area seasonally. The Scargo Apartments were purchased by Plymouth in 1988, and a total renovation was completed in 2010.

Farthest on the luxury end were the St. Charles Apartments, formerly the St. Charles Hotel, and originally called the Rector Hotel. The hotel connected to the adjoining Grand Opera House via a marble staircase from the Rector’s lobby which lead directly to the balcony of the opera house. Unfortunately, a 1917 fire in the theater permanently closed the opera house, but the Rector became the St. Charles and remained a hotel until the last few decades of the 20^th century. Plymouth Housing purchased the St. Charles in 1984, and a renovation was completed in 2004. The Lewiston was also acquired by Plymouth in the late 1980s, and restorations were completed in 2000.

The Pacific Apartments were designed with both long-term and short-term guests in mind, as you can tell from their original name: Leamington Hotel and Apartments. Built in 1916, the Leamington was had distinct hotel and apartment sections. Over the years, the Leamington Hotel and Apartments has been known by many other names, including the Pacific Hotel, the Pennington Hotel, the Penbrook Hotel, the Milner Hotel, and of course, the Pacific Apartments. The hotel closed its doors in the early 1980s, and the building was vacant for almost a decade, before finding a new life with Plymouth in 1993. Our renovations on the Pacific earned us an Outstanding Achievement Award in Historic Preservation from the Washington State Historic Preservation Officer.

Not as much is known about the Hotel Archibald, constructed in 1909. It was renamed the St. Regis Hotel in 1916, and continued to operate as a hotel for most of its life. The building suffered significant damage during the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, and  was badly in need of renovation when Plymouth acquired it in 2004. Renovations were completed in 2005, and it has operated as Plymouth on Stewart ever since.

Originally called the Kelley-Gorham building, Haddon Hall was one of the first large apartment buildings in Seattle. It was also considered one of the first large buildings to be constructed on a newly-leveled section of 3^rd Avenue, when it was completed in 1910. We purchased the building in 1996, and completed renovations on in 2006.

We love that these buildings are able to act as windows into our city’s past, as well as doors to brighter futures for our residents.