Written by Sarah Anne Lloyd
Cornerspotter is the Curbed Seattle feature in which we show you a historical photo taken somewhere in the city and you identify the location. Impress fellow Curbed readers with your knowledge by leaving guesses in the comments or send them to our tipline: seattle@curbed.com. We'll post the answer on Friday. And hey: no cheating!
Image: Seattle Municipal Archives
Man, they just don't make those public utilities like they used to! This building was torn down shortly after this photo was taken in 1910, but before then, as far as I can tell from my extensive Internet research, it basically housed a gigantic, horse-drawn fire extinguisher. Looking back at this structure from the future, though, it looks a lot more like a really fancy house with a pair if disproportionately-sized garages.
It's hard to tell what fate would have befallen this building had it lived longer than 20 years; while it's in a pretty historic neighborhood, the current, surrounding construction is mostly modern.