Belltown is the most densely populated neighborhood in Seattle , Washington , United States, located on the city's downtown waterfront on land that was artificially flattened as part of a regrading project . Formerly a low-rent, semi-industrial arts district, in recent decades it has transformed into a neighborhood of trendy restaurants, boutiques, nightclubs, and residential towers as well as warehouses and art galleries. The area is named after William Nathaniel Bell , on whose land claim the neighborhood was built.
43-616: The Hull Building (also known as the A-1 Laundry Building ) is a historic commercial building located at 2401-2405 1st Avenue in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle , Washington . Designed by notable Northwest architect Elmer Fisher , It was constructed in the latter half of 1889 as an investment property by Seattle politician Alonzo Hull (1843-1929) and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 27, 1983. It
86-587: A 3-story brick building to occupy the lot with construction beginning that Spring. Completed in January 1890, Hull's $ 30,000 building was one of the first substantial brick buildings completed in the neighborhood. Featuring a restrained Victorian motif with exposed corbelled brick, pressed tin trimmings and cast iron storefront columns, it was typical of Fisher's style just prior to the Great Seattle Fire . The building contained 3 store rooms facing First Avenue while
129-530: A historic landmark for its unique engineering style. One of the oldest wooden-hulled tugboats still afloat, the Arthur Foss , is moored near the base of Queen Anne. Queen Anne Boulevard , which circles the crown of the hill, and some of the original retaining walls complete with decorative brickwork , balustrades , and street lights , are also designated landmarks. Although not located at Queen Anne and no longer located west of present-day Seattle Center ,
172-460: A mere 1.26 acres (0.51 ha), but boasts one of the most attractive views of the city, with downtown at the center of focus along with the Space Needle, and on clear days, Mount Rainier in the background. From this point there are also views of Elliott Bay and West Seattle . Kinnear Park , with 14.1 acres (5.7 ha) of woodland and grass, is Queen Anne's largest park, offering views of
215-542: A population of about 28,000. It is bordered by Belltown to the south, Lake Union to the east, the Lake Washington Ship Canal to the north and Interbay to the west. The neighborhood is built on a hill, now named Queen Anne Hill , which became a popular spot for the city's early economic and cultural elite to build their mansions. Its name is derived from the Queen Anne architectural style in which many of
258-587: A set of streets, collectively known as Queen Anne Boulevard , that loop around the crown of the hill and reflect a comprehensive boulevard design in the style of the Olmsted Brothers architectural firm. The design was never fully executed, but it remains part of the Seattle Parks System. While Queen Anne stands out in Seattle geography due to its proximity to downtown and three television broadcast towers,
301-638: A traveler's hostel. Farther down the block, the former National Theater Building now houses several small businesses. At 2332 First Avenue, Paramount's former film exchange building has housed the Catholic Seaman's Club since 1955; the ground floor is now the Sarajevo restaurant and lounge, and the Catholic Seaman's Club is upstairs. Queen Anne, Seattle Queen Anne is a neighborhood in northwestern Seattle , Washington . Queen Anne covers an area of 7.3 square kilometers (2.8 sq mi), and has
344-541: A weekly farmers' market between June and October. The Queen Anne News is a weekly community newspaper founded in 1919 and published by the Pacific Publishing Company . The Queen Anne View is a neighborhood news blog . Within the Seattle Public Schools district, Queen Anne is home to six public schools. Two former schools, Queen Anne High School and West Queen Anne School , are on
387-552: Is adjacent to the Battery Street Tunnel 's south portal. The Hull Building was built in 1889 by Alonzo Hull (1843-1929), a Pennsylvania native and American Civil War veteran who had arrived in Seattle a year prior via Little Rock, Arkansas and quickly began buying property. He took an active role in the local Republican Party and served on the Seattle City Council throughout the 1890s where he helped establish
430-530: Is disproportionately populated by unmarried, white, young adults. The population is more racially homogeneous than Seattle as a whole. Washington The Vashon Glacier carved Queen Anne Hill's topography more than 13,000 years ago, and human habitation in the area began some 3000 years ago. When white settlers arrived in the mid-19th century, the Duwamish tribe maintained a seasonal presence in and around Queen Anne. White settlement of Queen Anne stemmed from
473-414: Is free. Belltown is traversed by multiple high-frequency transit routes operated by King County Metro , including light Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) services branded RapidRide. As of 2022, RapidRide route E , which provides frequent service from North Seattle to Downtown Seattle via Aurora Avenue and through Belltown, has the highest ridership of all of King County Metro's transit services. Westlake Station
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#1733086322327516-405: Is housed in a 1914 building funded by Andrew Carnegie and built in late Tudor Revival architecture style. The structure, renovated in 2007, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been named a landmark by Seattle's Landmarks Preservation Board. The Seattle Parks and Recreation department maintains 24 parks on Queen Anne. Kerry Park , located on Highland Drive, covers
559-605: Is located just to the south of Belltown and is served by Sound Transit's 1 Line , part of the Seattle metropolitan area's regional light rail system. The Pathé Theatre at 717 1st Avenue opened around 1910 and a Pathé Exchange debuted at 2113 3rd Avenue. In August 1916, the Mutual Exchange opened at 3rd and Virginia in a building with an auditorium. The first building constructed for Seattle's burgeoning film industry and in what would become "Film Row" in Belltown opened in 1922 in
602-654: Is located on the northern edge of the Belltown waterfront. The park features contemporary pieces, various ecosystems with plants indigenous to the Pacific Northwest, and a restored beach and seawall. The park's construction was funded entirely with private donations and is operated by the Seattle Art Museum . Unlike other such parks in the United States, the Olympic Sculpture Park is unwalled, and admission
645-485: Is now Belltown. The original Ace Hotel was founded in Belltown and is still active today. The neighborhood is bounded on the north by Denny Way, beyond which lies Seattle Center , Lower Queen Anne , and Queen Anne Hill , on the southwest by Elliott Bay , on the southeast by Virginia Street, beyond which lies the Pike Place Market and the rest of Downtown , and on the northeast by 5th Avenue, beyond which lies
688-753: Is part of Washington's 7th congressional district and 36th legislative district. Queen Anne residents are represented by Pramila Jayapal in the United States House of Representatives , Jeanne Kohl-Welles in the Washington State Senate , Reuven Carlyle and Mary Lou Dickerson in the Washington House of Representatives , and Larry Phillips on the Metropolitan King County Council . Queen Anne has two ZIP codes : 98109 and 98119. The United States Postal Service operates
731-612: Is the Belltown P-Patch and the Cottage Park. These single family homes built in 1916 are the last of 11 on the 1/4 block. The Cottages mark the 1850s shoreline and are the last remaining wood framed residences in downtown Seattle. The Belltown P-Patch provides gardening opportunities through the City of Seattle P-Patch program. The Olympic Sculpture Park , a public sculpture garden of 9 acres (36,000 m ) adjacent to Myrtle Edwards Park ,
774-540: The Denny Triangle . All of its northwest- and southeast-bound streets are major thoroughfares (Alaskan Way and Elliott, Western, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Avenues); major northeast- and southwest-bound thoroughfares are Broad, Wall, and Battery Streets. The State Route 99 tunnel runs under Belltown for a number of blocks as it connects the Alaskan Freeway to Aurora Avenue North. North on Western Avenue at Vine Street
817-549: The Great Seattle Fire of 1889, and the opening of three cable car lines to the top of the hill starting in 1890, including the Queen Anne Counterbalance , further encouraged residential and business development. The 1917 opening of the Lake Washington Ship Canal , and the Fremont and Ballard Bridges over it, made the area more appealing for maritime and timber industries, and connected Queen Anne with communities to
860-548: The National Register of Historic Places . Both are now condominium apartment buildings. Queen Anne has five private schools . Seattle Pacific University , a private university founded in 1891 by the Free Methodist Church of North America, has 4000 undergraduate and graduate students on a 43 acres (17 hectares) campus on the north slope of Queen Anne. The Queen Anne branch of the Seattle Public Library
903-492: The grain elevator at Pier 86. Rachel's Park, formerly Soundview Terrace, is a play area on the west slope of the hill named after Rachel Pearson, a 6-year-old girl who died on Alaska Airlines Flight 261 in 2000. Queen Anne Bowl, adjacent to the 9.2 David Rodgers Park on the north slope of Queen Anne, has a dirt running track and synthetic surface soccer pitch . Bhy Kracke Park in East Queen Anne, features "one of
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#1733086322327946-572: The Canterbury Building) designed by Seattle architect Earl W. Morrison; it covered an entire block on the west side of Second Avenue, from Battery Street to Wall Street. By 1930, Polk lists only 18 Seattle film exchanges; while Kodascope Libraries is at 111 Cherry Street in the Pioneer Square neighborhood, all of the others are on Second Avenue within a block of Battery Street (save only Columbia Pictures at First and Battery). This situation
989-464: The Denny Cabin was built by David Denny in 1889 as a real-estate office and was made from trees cut down on Queen Anne Hill. An 800 m (0.50 mi) stretch of Queen Anne Avenue North between West McGraw and West Galer Streets serves as the spine of the central business district . The Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce is an association of neighborhood business leaders. Queen Anne hosts
1032-654: The Denny Triangle neighborhood, where online retailer Amazon 's three office towers house its downtown headquarters, and where the Cornish College of the Arts is located. Although many new businesses have eclipsed older ones, some venerated establishments still draw crowds of loyal patrons. Some of the classic, old Seattle nightspots in Belltown are: The Rendezvous, The Lava Lounge, Ohana, The Crocodile Cafe , and Shorty's. At one time Alaska Airlines had its headquarters in what
1075-569: The Film Row era. The Jewel Box theater of the Rendezvous bar is the one remaining screening room in the neighborhood, but several other buildings remain. The McGraw-Kittenger-Case building on the southwest corner of Second and Battery was once the MGM building, and is now a bar and restaurant. Just south of it is the former William Tell Hotel, once the film industry favorite, later low-income housing, and now
1118-587: The Pathe Building designed by Julian F. Everett at 2025 3rd Avenue (which was demolished in 2016). Eventually, silent-era film exchanges in Seattle serviced approximately 470 commercial movie theaters throughout Washington, Idaho , Montana and Oregon . Concern about the flammability of nitrocellulose film resulted in the concentration of film exchanges in this single neighborhood, as a zoning issue. Polk's 1923 Seattle City Directory shows 26 listings for "Motion Picture Machines and Supplies". All except
1161-477: The U.S. Army Motion Picture Service are within one block of the corner of Virginia Street and Third Avenue. From the 1920s into at least the 1960s, Second Avenue in Belltown was home to Seattle's second "Film Row." In 1928, just after the era of talkies began, the role of the Second Avenue film row was consolidated by the erection of the terra-cotta-ornamented , art deco Film Exchange Building (FEB, also known as
1204-502: The air in February 1958 from a tower adjacent to its original studios on Queen Anne Avenue. "The 1962 Seattle World's Fair was perhaps the most transformational single event in the history of Queen Anne", according to historians Florence K. Lentz and Mimi Sheridan. Named the Century 21 Exposition , the fair expanded on existing Civic Center infrastructure on the old baba'kwoh swale. After
1247-530: The area at the southern base of the hill, just north and west of Seattle Center . Whether or not Lower Queen Anne is considered a separate neighborhood matters in setting Queen Anne's southern boundary, which is either West Mercer Street or Denny Way. Queen Anne can be reached from Interstate 5 via the Mercer Street Exit (Exit 167). The neighborhood's main thoroughfares are Gilman Drive West, 3rd Avenue West, Queen Anne Avenue North, Boston Street, and
1290-464: The area had a large enough population of families with children to motivate opening McClure Middle School, but by 1981 a decline in such families led the school system to close Queen Anne High School, North Queen Anne Elementary School, and West Queen Anne Elementary School. Assistant United States Attorney Thomas C. Wales was shot in his home in the Queen Anne neighborhood on October 11, 2001, dying
1333-572: The arrival of the Denny Party at West Seattle ' s Alki Point in November 1851. In 1853, David Denny staked a claim to 320 acres (130 ha) of land the Duwamish called baba'kwoh , prairies, known today as Lower Queen Anne, and bounded by Elliott Bay to the west, Lake Union to the east, Mercer Street to the north, and Denny Way to the south. Denny called the area "Potlach Meadows". Development of
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1376-453: The best views in the city," a playground, picnic shelter, several small grassy areas, and a paved walking path connecting the different levels of the park. West Queen Anne Playfield includes a community center, indoor swimming pool , and baseball and softball fields. Queen Anne has two cemeteries : Mount Pleasant Cemetery and adjacent Hills of Eternity Cemetery, which is owned and operated by Temple De Hirsch Sinai . Queen Anne Hill
1419-478: The building up for sale. It was purchased by Hull Building LLC . Belltown, Seattle In 2007, CNNMoney named Belltown the best place to retire in the Seattle metro area, calling it "a walkable neighborhood with everything you need." Belltown is home to Antioch University , Argosy University , City University of Seattle , and the Seattle School of Theology & Psychology . It lies directly west of
1462-594: The city's water system and was vital in securing the Cedar River Water shed as Seattle's primary water source. In February 1889 Hull purchased the lot at the Northwest corner of 1st Avenue (then known as Front Street) and Battery Street for $ 13,000 from Dr. Edward C. Kilbourne, kitty corner to William Bell's grand hotel that formed the nucleus of the burgeoning North Seattle neighborhood AKA Belltown. At Kilbourne's urging, Hull commissioned architect Elmer Fisher to design
1505-505: The early 20th century helped preserve the building's character and eventually the upper floors fell vacant and have remained so to the present day. At some point the building's cornices were replaced with near replicas but otherwise the building has had minimal restoration work. The Hull building was purchased by the Eng Family in 1958, who operated A-1 Laundry out the building's first floor and basement for 58 years, closing in 2016 and putting
1548-494: The early homes were built. Queen Anne is bounded on the north by the Fremont Cut of the Lake Washington Ship Canal , beyond which is Fremont ; on the west by 15th and Elliott Avenues West, beyond which is Interbay , Magnolia , and Elliott Bay ; on the east by Lake Union and Aurora Avenue North , beyond which is Westlake . As a neighborhood toponym , Queen Anne may include Lower Queen Anne , also known as Uptown ,
1591-733: The fair, the grounds became the Seattle Center , home to the Space Needle , Pacific Science Center , Experience Music Project , Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame , the north terminal of the Seattle monorail and KeyArena . The Seattle SuperSonics began playing at the then- Seattle Center Coliseum in 1967. The Seattle Thunderbirds hockey team began play next door at the Mercer Street Arena in 1977. The Seattle Storm basketball team began play at KeyArena in 2000. As late as 1964,
1634-489: The highest point in the city, 520 feet (160 m) above sea level, is in West Seattle . Queen Anne slopes are home to seven of the twenty steepest streets in the city and 120 pedestrian staircases. Including the sub-neighborhoods of North Queen Anne , West Queen Anne , East Queen Anne and Lower Queen Anne (or Uptown ), Queen Anne has approximately 19,000 households and a total population of about 36,000. Queen Anne
1677-510: The hill, called at various times North Seattle, Galer Hill, and Eden Hill, was slow. Then an 1875 windstorm flattened thousands of trees on Queen Anne, making the previously dense forest more appealing for settlement. The hill began to be called "Queen Anne" by 1885, after the Queen Anne style houses that dominated the area. The arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway (1883) and the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway (1887),
1720-412: The next day of his wounds. The murder remains unsolved. Queen Anne is home to 29 official Seattle landmarks , including 12 historic houses. A group of residences on 14th Avenue West , built between 1890 and 1910, include one of the few remaining Queen Anne style houses on the hill. The North Queen Anne Drive Bridge , built in 1936 across Wolf Creek, is a parabolic steel arch bridge , declared
1763-732: The north. On the south side of the hill, the 1927 completion of a Civic Center (with auditorium, ice arena and football field) on David Denny's Potlach Meadows land brought residents from all over the city to Queen Anne for concerts and sporting events. The first television broadcast in the Pacific Northwest originated from the hill in November 1948, when KRSC-TV (now KING-TV ) signed-on from its transmitting tower at Third Avenue North and Galer Street. KOMO-TV installed its own tower nearby, on Galer Street and Orange Place North, and began operations from there in December 1953, and KIRO-TV went on
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1806-450: The upper floors were used as working class apartments, home to the likes of cooks, stenographers, ship captains, and clerks and owners of the downstairs businesses. One of the building's earliest retail tenants was the Barnes & Co. Pharmacy; drug stores under various names would operate in the corner store for most of the early 20th century. The lack of commercial development in Belltown after
1849-492: Was essentially unchanged in 1948: 19 entries under "Motion Picture Distributors and Film Exchanges", 15 of them in this same two blocks, and two of the others elsewhere in Belltown. Nothing remains of the FEB. Universal Pictures was the last film business to pull out, in 1980. The building closed in 1991 and was demolished in 1992. Immediately south, the block of Second Avenue on the other side of Battery still contains many remnants of
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