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Smith Tower celebrates its 100th anniversary

As one of the world's first skyscrapers and the tallest building on the West Coast until the Space Needle was built. (Getty Images) In recognition of the iconic structure's 100th birthday, the Smith Tower's exterior will light up in patriotic red, white and blue colors on Independence Day. The unprecedented celebratory lighting will illuminate the building during the evening hours on July 4th. Smith Tower welcomes the general public to visit and host private events in the Chinese Room (above) and Observation Deck. It is also home to one resident in the pyramid apartment at the top of the building. The 462-foot Smith Tower was often pictured in full-page spreads, comparing its height with the Great Pyramid of Giza (476 feet), the Washington Monument (555 feet), the Woolworth Building (792 feet) and the 984-foot Eiffel Tower. Here, it's seen from the yard of a home in Yesler Terrace in 1960. In a 1958 photo from the Seattle Municipal Archive, the 42-story building is seen towering above other buildings in Pioneer Square. Today, it provides office and retail space for more than 40 local companies, and welcomes the general public to visit and host private events. To a turn-of-the-century nation just being introduced to such 20th Century wonders as aspirin, crossword puzzles and neon signs, the newly minted skyscraper was a regular media darling. Smith Tower is seen from the deck of a Washington State Ferry in 1952. Roughly 4,000 Seattle dignitaries and residents celebrated opening day of the building on July 4th, 1914, and rode the elevator to the 35th floor to gape at the Emerald City from below its observation deck. A view from the observation deck looks out over the city in 1937. Smith Tower is seen at the end of the road looking out at a street of congested traffic in Seattle's Pioneer Square in 1929. Visitors to The Smith Tower on July 4-6, 2014 will also get to go back in time with their pocketbooks... accessing the Chinese Room & Observation Deck for just 25 cents, the same amount that was charged opening day in 1914. A view from Smith Tower looking out over Seattle's Pioneer Square in 1929. It opened on July 4, 1914, as one of the world's first skyscrapers and the tallest building west of the Mississippi. It kept the honor of tallest building on the West Coast until the Space Needle was built in 1962. Smith Tower was named for New York tycoon Lyman Cornelius Smith, who owned $4M worth of Seattle property when the tower was built. It originally cost just $1.5 million to build. It was constructed of eight million pounds of steel, 67,735 sq. ft. of plate glass, 47,800 barrels of cement, 1.5 million bricks and 1.5 million feet of lumber. The 462-foot Smith Tower is shown during construction, when steel beams were ready to be encased in concrete. This year, July 4th marks the 100th anniversary of the iconic building that first put Seattle on the map.
Smith Tower celebrates its 100th anniversary