The four-story building was one of the many that went up in the " burnt district " in the years after the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 ; it was erected in 1893 . Highly praised at the time of its construction , it was designed by the architectural partnership Skillings and Corner ( Warren Porter Skillings and James N. Corner ) . Used in its early years for a series of wholesale businesses ( including Roy & Company , H N. Richmond and Company and John B. Agen ) , it was designed to carry loads of 250 pounds per square foot . The National Grocery Company occupied space in the building until moving into the much larger National Building at Western Avenue and Madison Street in 1904 which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Great Seattle Fire
Great Seattle Fire
Union Trust Building (Seattle)