National Register of Historic Places
Colman Automotive Building
Seattle, King County, Washington
The record
- Listed
- February 13, 2013
- Type
- Building
- Address
- 401 E. Pine St., Seattle
- County
- King
- State
- Washington
- Contributing resources
- 1 building
- Coordinates
- 47.61485, -122.32646
- Reference number
- 13000017
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesHistorical map archives, georeferenced via Allmaps
The story
Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com
The Colman Automotive Building is a commercial building at 401 E. Pine St. in Seattle, built in 1916 in the Commercial Style.
Why it's listed
It was listed under criteria A and C, with local significance in commerce and architecture from 1916 to 1944, reflecting its 1916 construction.
Physical character
The walls are solid brick masonry on a poured in place concrete foundation, with a concrete slab on grade. The structure is heavy timber, with cast iron columns and steel I sections. The exterior has brick piers with plastered concrete caps, tempered glass storefront units, galvanized metal panels, an entablature and scroll brackets. Skylights shown in the 1916 drawings were never installed, and a drive-through gas pump area had been added by 1937.
Historical context
The building opened in 1916 as an automobile showroom and garage. Gallagher Motors Auto Dealers occupied it in 1948-1949, Allen Copper Coil was there by 1951, and a U.S. Post Office used it for storage by 1953. It stood vacant in 1954, and Raffs Shoes Company was there in 1955. A General Petroleum Museum of the 1990s was discontinued in 2003, and Colman Automotive Building LLC bought the building in 2012.