Today I will be taking you on a tour of my block: the plat of land between the streets of 12th Ave NE and Brooklyn Ave NE with the cross streets NE 45th and NE 43rd St. My block has historically been a space for business offices and that tradition has continued to the present day.

After the initial land development in the late 1880s the first building of significance was the eight story Brooklyn Building designed and built by architect Howard H. Riley in 1929. This building was an important development for the time as it was the district's first tall office building. In the Seattle Municipal News 1928 newspaper, the building raised quite a stir with the striking headline “University District to get First ‘Skyscraper’”. (Seattle Municipal News 2) Ironically, this building was only 8 stories tall, small when compared to the 22 floors of the future Safeco tower. In 1936 the homegrown insurance insurance company Safeco moved into the Brooklyn Building, a signaling a period of commercial growth in the U-District.

Looking at maps from 1946, we can see that the block is significantly less developed than it is today with only a few residential buildings along with the Brooklyn Building. At this period in time, while the Brooklyn Building was a prominent feature in the district, the block was not entirely covered by a commercial compex like it is today. From the 1958 photograph taken from Terry Hall the Brooklyn Building can be seen off in the distance, dominating the U-District skyline.

Fast forwarding to 1970 the Brooklyn Building and the rest of the block was leveled to make way for Safeco’s eponymous tower and complex. This construction continued the legacy of this block as a place for enterprise. Since this block has always been a place for office space it has has a continued impact on the University District by bringing jobs and residents to the community.