Built between 1904 and 1906 by the
Great Northern Railway and
Northern Pacific Railway, the station replaced an antiquated station on Railroad Avenue, today's
Alaskan Way. Designed by the firm of
Reed and Stem of
St. Paul, Minnesota, who acted as associate architects for the design of
Grand Central Terminal in
New York City, the station was part of a larger project to bypass the congested railyards along the waterfront by diverting mainline traffic into a planned
tunnel under downtown. The depot's tower was modeled after the recently collapsed
Campanile di San Marco in
Venice,
Italy, making it the tallest building in Seattle at the time of its construction. This tower contained four huge mechanical clock faces built by
E. Howard & Co. of
Boston,
Massachusetts, offering the time to each of the four cardinal directions. At the time of installation it was said to be the second largest timepiece on the
Pacific Coast, second only to the
Ferry Building in
San Francisco,
California. Later, this tower also served as a microwave tower for the
Burlington Northern Railroad, the successor of both the
Great Northern and
Northern Pacific railways, whose offices occupied the second and third floors of the station. King Street Station was Seattle's primary train terminal until the construction of the adjacent Oregon & Washington Depot, later named
Union Station, in 1911; the ''1912 Baist's
Real Estate Atlas of
Seattle'' still refers to King Street Station as "Union Passenger Depot". After the end of
World War II, as passenger rail travel began to decline across the United States, steps were taken to gradually modernize King Street Station. The ticket counters, once located directly to the east of the compass room, were expanded outward into the waiting room. In the late 1940s a set of "
electric stairs" and a new side entrance to the second floor railroad offices were built over the open stairwell to Jackson Street, narrowing them by half. Over the next two decades, as train ridership and the station's number of employees dwindled, the station was further remodeled to reduce maintenance and heating costs. In the late 1950s the station's original high-back benches, made of
yellow oak, were replaced by modern chrome and plastic seats. The final blow to the station's character occurred in late 1967 when, under the direction of Northern Pacific architect A.C. Cayou, a new drop ceiling of plastic and metal was installed in the waiting room ten feet below the original, concealing the hand-carved
coffered ceiling to just below the
balcony and second level
arcade. Hundreds of holes had to be punched through the plaster to attach the ceiling's support wires to the steel frame of the building. The new ceiling held new
fluorescent lights and
heat lamps, replacing the original brass
chandeliers and
sconces. Below the new ceiling, plaster
reliefs, marble panels, glass tile
mosaics and other original fixtures were sheared from the walls and replaced with
sheet rock and
Formica paneling. The dedicated women's waiting room at the southwest corner of the building was converted into employee offices; its own architectural details suffering the same damage. The only original remaining features left visible in the main waiting area were the terrazzo tile floor and the clock on the west wall above the restrooms. Despite the attempted modernization, the station continued to deteriorate. Following the creation of
Amtrak in 1971 to take over the money-losing passenger service from the railroad companies, hundreds of routes were eliminated and service across the country was cut in half. Amtrak consolidated all of its Seattle service at King Street Station, resulting in the closure of
Union Station, which formerly served
Union Pacific (the
Milwaukee Road had moved out a decade earlier). To further cut costs the station's restaurant, lunch counter, and gift shop were immediately closed and vending machines installed. Eventually even the escalators stopped running and without the funds or passenger volume to justify repairing them, were permanently walled off. Today, the station has been fully restored and is part of a group of transportation facilities in the southern portion of Downtown Seattle. King Street Station is located a block away from the
International District/Chinatown station of the
Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel serving the
Link Light Rail 1 Line. Many
King County Metro and
Sound Transit Express bus routes serve the area, and the
First Hill line of the
Seattle Streetcar network stops nearby. After many years, the original upper entrance off of Jackson Street has been reopened. The station entrance located on the first floor off King Street now also has a passenger drop-off loop for vehicles, instead of a small parking lot.
Restoration Plans to restore the entire building to its former prominence, including cosmetic renovations to both the station interior and exterior, began in 2003. As part of these renovations the Compass Room and restrooms were refurbished, and the exterior awnings were replaced. New mahogany entry doors and wood framed windows were installed in the waiting room and Compass Room. New brass door hardware and reproduction period light fixtures and plaster decorative work were included to reproduce the former character of the station's interior. In November 2006, the Office of Seattle Mayor
Greg Nickels announced a preliminary agreement between the City of Seattle and
BNSF Railway to purchase the station for $1. The
Seattle City Council formalized the agreement by passing legislation in December 2006. The deal, revised to $10, was signed March 5, 2008. The purchase by the city freed up US$19 million of state and federal funds that was used for further restoration of the station. The city earmarked a further US$10 million for the restoration as part of a passed local transportation levy. In 2008, the clocks in the clock tower were repaired, and the old radio microwave antennas were removed. Repair work to the exterior continued as of June 2010. Phase two of the project began in May 2010, when demolition work commenced on the second and third floors, previously used by Burlington Northern for division offices. Work on modernizing the baggage area, originally used as a restaurant, were also undertaken during this time. During June 2010, work also began on demolition of a 1950s addition to the building that housed the escalators and part of the Jackson Street Plaza. Demolition work was completed by September 2010. A surprise development during this phase was the removal of the suspended ceilings in early July. Crews worked over several nights while the station was mostly empty removing the over 1,600 acoustic tiles and their framing. The modern light fixtures and remaining suspended wires remained until enough funding became available to complete restoration. The final phase of the project focused on the rebuilding of the Jackson Plaza. Thirty-six
geothermic wells reaching into the ground were drilled to eventually heat and cool the station. A new concrete floor was poured including seismic wall supports and space for an elevator and new ticketing and baggage areas. The restoration project was completed and the station was officially rededicated on April 24, 2013. ==Architecture==