Cities are only supposed to have one city hall… right? Well, no one told Seattle that. The many moves of Seattle’s government seat have made the story of today’s city hall one of confusion, history, and architectural innovation, and it all starts just over 150 years ago.

City Hall #1: 1869-1882

Seattle was officially incorporated in 1869. The first city government seat wasn’t built for them at all. “City Hall,” for the first 15 years of Seattle’s history was just a series of rented spaces around town.

City Hall #2: 1882-1889

The first official City Hall was built in 1882. To be fair, it wasn’t just a city hall. The town had approved an $8000 building project that would house the city government, the fire station, and the jail. This whole situation lasted less than 7 years – it burnt down in the fire of 1889. After the fire, the city government ran in converted houses. The site of this original hall was bought 6 years later and turned into stables, storage, and a blacksmithing shop.

Something else important happened in 1889: Washington became a state. Not great timing for a city that had just burnt down. This meant Seattle had to create an official City Charter, and their city government went from small and volunteer-run to large and bureaucratic. This brought the city back to 1869-style functioning, with the city government renting spaces in buildings all over town.

City Hall #3: 1891-1909 (Katzjenhammer Castle)

In 1890, Seattle’s mayor was officially done with bouncing from rented space to rented space, pouring money into buildings the city didn’t own. He proposed the city buy the old King County courthouse near the center of the city. They did, and began a massive retrofitting project. They added so much space, including mayor’s offices, firehouse space, and a basement space for the jail, that the building was jokingly referred to as a castle. The mayor expected this city hall would last a long time.

He was wrong. By 1892, the City of Seattle and its inhabitants started arguing about building a new city hall.

City Hall #4: 1909-1916 (The Yesler Building)

In 1905, Seattle was building a new facility for the Police and Health Departments. What started out as a 2-story building plan ended up as a massive 5-story situation when the City glommed onto the project and added a bunch of space for government offices. Finished in 1909, it still didn’t fit all the city offices, and Seattle continued to rent additional spaces throughout the town.

City Hall #5: 1916-1962 (County-City Building)

In 1911, King County began construction on a new courthouse. The City of Seattle wanted to ride the coattails of this project, too, and turned the courthouse project into an entire civic center endeavor. Good news was the previous building the city government occupied was returned to its original use: housing the Health and Fire Departments, Jail, and City Hospital.

The city government took up residence in these facilities in 1916. There were major updates to the center in 1930 and again in 1960. Did Seattle’s city government finally find its forever home?

Nope. In the 1950’s, King County kindly asked the City of Seattle to find its own space.

City Hall #6: 1962-2001 (The Municipal Building)

This was a $7 million project that took 2 years to complete (1960-1962), and was the first time the City of Seattle constructed an actual dedicated City Hall. The architecture of the building was a huge deal, with 5 plans being scrapped before everyone could agree on an architect. The building had a rooftop garden and a state-of-the-art phone network. Seattle dropped another $150,000 into updates in 1970.

However, the city government was still renting spaces throughout the city. Why couldn’t they ever plan a building with enough space? Your guess is as good as ours. The next few years saw several speculative plans for expanding the Municipal Building, and then another few years was spent arguing about the cost vs benefit of building yet another City Hall.

City Hall #7: 2001-Present (Civil Complex)

For some reason, in 1997, Seattle decided they didn’t need a huge building anymore… ?

A smaller, post-modern-style city hall was planned along with a new Justice Center and Key Tower, which form a complex with a center courtyard – a true civic center of the city. Finally.

The architecture of this new city hall is a marriage of space for the public, space for government business, and space for the tradition of legislative ritual. A huge atrium of glass panels flanks a glass tower of executive offices, with a public glass catwalk connecting the tower to the back chambers. It represents transparent government, with the only stone facade of the building facing the Justice Center. The other benefit of this modern building is the seismic resistance, as earthquakes are becoming more and more prominent in the area.

Has the City of Seattle’s government finally found its place and identity within the city? Only time will tell.