Skip to content

Blueprints of Broadway Market

Almost a year ago I wrote a long history of Broadway Market in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, which ran in Capitol Hill Seattle blog. Because of its length I decided not to include a number of scans of 1927 blueprints by architect Charles Haynes that I found at the Seattle Department of Planning and Development (since renamed Department of Construction and Inspections). Here they are for your enjoyment.

Broadway market

Here’s what I had to say about Haynes and his market design:

Towards the end of 1927, [Arthur] Gerbel hired architect Charles Haynes to draw up plans for the market. In mid-January 1928 Gerbel formed Broadway Central Market, Inc., with R. M. Kinnear and Henry A. Beck as officers.

The three signed a 99-year lease with [property owners Claude] Jensen and [John] von Herberg at the end of February and Haynes began overseeing construction of Broadway Central Market.

Charles Haynes designed so many Seattle buildings in the first few decades of the 1900s that the new edition of Shaping Seattle Architecture gives up and says “many revival style houses, apartment buildings, and commercial projects, including more than one hundred houses in Mount Baker.” Major projects around Capitol Hill included the Roy Vue Apartments, Butterworth Mortuary (now the Pine Box), a building with showroom for Mack Truck at the SE corner of Pike and Broadway (now Frame Central), and Dunlap Apartments (now Emerald Arms), but basically the list is so long that no one has put it together yet. Haynes worked with Gerbel on many projects including the Mack Truck building.

Here are the plans; click through for download and manipulation on Flickr:

Broadway Market, Broadway elevation, 1927

 

Broadway Market, rear elevation, 1927

 

Broadway Market, main floor, 1927

 

Broadway Market, architectural details, 1927

 

Broadway Market, cross section, 1927

 

Broadway Market, basement plans, 1927

The market has gone through many changes over the years, to adjust to different retail climates and to the continually evolving needs of grocery stores in particular. In the article I chronicled six different unique configurations and eras for the building. How many more will there be?

More groceries

I’ve been writing a surprising amount over the last couple of years about Seattle’s early 1900s groceries. Here’s a list of links:

2 Comments

  1. Steve Dichter

    Both of my In Laws families had businesses at the Broadway Market. I cannot recall the name of the businesses. I am wondering if you have any information or pictures? Ezra Israel had a fruit stand, and Victor Levy had a fish market at the Broadway Market/ my guess is that the both of them started out at the market in the late 20’s to early 30’s into the 40’s and early 50’s.

    • Rob Ketcherside

      Steve, thank you for the comment!

      I’ve sent you an email with what I found about Ezra Israel and Victor Levy. As I said, I would love to hear any stories that your family has to share.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.