<div class="description">
Transcribed from postcard: "Looking up James Street at the left. Yesler Way at the right from Pioneer Square. Showing the 42 Story L.C. Smith Building Seattle, U.S.A." The Seattle Hotel, which appears in the center of the image, was constructed in 1890. It replaced the Occidental Hotel which burned down in the fire of 1889. In 1891, the building served as home to the Seattle Public Library and was converted into an office building in the early 1900's. By 1961, the building was abandoned and later torn down and replaced with a parking garage. This instigated a historic preservation movement in the Pioneer Square area to preserve other historic buildings before they could be demolished. The Smith Tower, which appears in the background, was constructed in 1914 by the architecture firm Gaggin and Gaggin. It was the tallest building in Seattle until the construction of the Space Needle in 1962.</div>
This file was contributed to Wikimedia Commons by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Seattle_Public_Library" class="extiw" title="w:en:Seattle Public Library"><span title="public library system serving Seattle, Washington">Seattle Public Library</span></a> as part of a cooperation project. The donation was facilitated by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Public_Library_of_America" class="extiw" title="w:Digital Public Library of America">Digital Public Library of America</a>, via its partner Northwest Digital Heritage.<span style="text-align:left">
<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://cdm16118.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16118coll3/id/392">Record in source catalog</a></li>
<li>DPLA identifier: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://dp.la/item/4516476878132e5a415d6cb2c93b2d58">4516476878132e5a415d6cb2c93b2d58</a></li>
<li>Seattle Public Library identifier: spl_pc_00213</li></ul></span>