For as long as most Seattleites can remember, the Seattle Center Armory has been a community version of a mall: We think of the gyro spot and the Frankfurter stand, the Children’s Museum, and all the little cultural festivals. Old-timers might also think of the saltwater taffy machine that was, until recently, perpetually twirling next to the northwestern entrance, or the crusty old Pizza Haven from back in the day, where Skillet is now. Some may even think of being in high school, as the Center School has been operating out of the upstairs floors since 2001. Maybe they think of taking a class in the spaces rented out by the Theatre of Puget Sound.
However, there are perhaps few locals left living who think of not pizza or CroatiaFest but military tanks and artillery shells—which are what the the Armory was originally built to house.
After eight years of lobbying and negotiating, the Seattle Field Artillery Armory was constructed in 1939 by the Washington National Guard for use by the 146th Field Artillery, the 66th Field Artillery Brigade and the Washington Headquarters of the 41st Division of the National Guard. The other Washington National Guard divisions continued to use the smaller armory near the north end of Pike Place Market, which stood where Victor Steinbrueck Park is today. British-American architect and civil engineer Arrigo Mazzacuto Young—who also designed a handful of buildings on the University of Washington’s campus as well as the Tacoma Pantages Theatre and Longview, Washington’s centerpiece Monticello Hotel—was hired to design the four-story facility.
The final bill for the project came to $1.25 million, and the thing was massive: At 129,000 square feet, it took up an entire block donated by the city, bordered by Thomas, Nob Hill, and Harrison Streets and Third Avenue N, with no park surrounding it at the time, as there is today. Upon completion, the armory was called the most modern one in the nation, using cutting-edge tech for the era, such as poured-in-place concrete with plywood forms to form its feet-thick walls—considered to be basically impenetrable.
The smooth, newfangled-for-the-age concrete facade includes such Streamline Moderne stylistic details such as rounded corners, banded windows, and curved walls at the entrances. On the north facade, which was originally the main Harrison Street entrance, two huge ornamental concrete eagles frame the blunt corners of the opening. Three fluted pilasters within the recessed entrance outline two inset multi-paned windows, and a pair of ornate brick-and-concrete piers with acriform light fixtures flanking the stairs between the doors and the sidewalk.
In addition to providing tank storage, the Armory had a shooting range down in the basement, which is still intact down there, although it’s not accessible to the general public. The basement walls are even still pockmarked with bullet holes. Next to the shooting range is the remains of a swimming pool that was built for recruits but scrapped and partially filled in with dirt before it was finished. Its bones are still visible, though. The whole basement is now used as storage (but not for tanks).
An opening ceremony was held on April 17, 1939, with a principal address from Major General John F. O’Ryan of New York, who had commanded the 27th Division overseas during World War I. The festivities extended into the following day when a bit of a scandal occurred, as Reverend Louis E. Scholl crashed the stage, took the mic, and gave a speech that included an anti-war prayer, to the chagrin of the crowd.
When the U.S. entered World War II, despite Reverend Scholl’s prayer, the armory was refurbished to provide lodging for visiting serviceman, adding 500 beds, air conditioning, and additional restrooms and showers. It was also used as a training facility for the Women’s Ambulance Corps and civilian medical units, and the Civilian Protection unit, which acted as a report center for enemy-aircraft warning information, based its headquarters out of the armory. This HQ would issue region-wide alerts when unknown aircraft were spotted in the Puget Sound area.
Not only was it a training and storage facility for the National Guard, the armory also served as a community meeting and event space. It was a popular venue for dances and scouting events; the University of Washington hosted its 1941 junior prom there, with Duke Ellington and his band performing on the main stage. And speaking of the University, the armory was also the scene of the 5-day Albert Canwell Committee hearings on un-American activities in Washington State in 1948, which resulted in six tenured UW faculty members facing sanctions from the University and three being fired for communist activities.
In the mid-1950s, property surrounding the armory was chosen to be the future site of the Century 21 Exposition, also known as the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. Because it was more or less at the center of the 74-acre fairgrounds, the building was not demolished, like most of the others on the property, and was instead turned into the 52-stand Food Circus, designed to showcase cuisine from around the world. Fairgoers could buy hot food and view exhibits about culinary traditions, while various specialty shops sold edible products from different countries. It’s been called the first vertical shopping mall.
Along with the concession booths, new lighting and seating areas were installed, as well as huge banners to hide the unsightly ceiling. Local bakery Van De Kamp’s Holland Dutch Bakers created a colossal layer cake to de displayed in the Food Circus armory. It stood 23 feet high, had a 60-foot circumference, and weighed 12 and a half tons.
After the Century 21 Exposition was finished, the Food Circus continued to operate, as part of a local amusement park and tourism, arts, cultural center, in conjunction with the Pacific Science Center, the Space Needle, and other fair attractions. The Bubbleator, an elevator in the form of a large clear plastic bubble, was moved to the Food Circus from the Coliseum (now known as Key Arena), and was used to move patrons between the basement, main floor, and mezzanine until 1980, when the building was renovated. The City of Seattle acquired the armory from the National Guard, and it began to take on new tenants, such as the Children’s Museum, which moved into the first floor of the building in October 1985, and several different theater groups.
The Food Circus name was nixed in the early 1970s and the building was restyled as the Center House, as its purpose was no longer strictly food-related and the focus had shifted to public arts programming, free family entertainment, and cultural events, such as kids’ amusement park Whirligig! and the Festál series, which hosts 24 different ethnic cultural festivals per year and celebrated its 22nd anniversary this year. The Center House has always, of course, been a major player in the Bumbershoot international arts and music festival every Labor Day weekend.
The Kennedy Center designated the Center House Stage as an Imagination Celebration National Site in December of 2000, the fifth location in the U.S. to receive the honor. In 2010, it was awarded landmark status by the City of Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board as the Center House.
But just two years later, the building went through yet another identity crisis and its name and interior were changed again. In 2012, for the 50th anniversary of the World’s Fair, the beloved Center House got back to its roots and became the Seattle Center Armory. Its innards were stripped down to the bare concrete, and most of the crusty old food stalls were scrapped and replaced with fancy, hip eateries like Mod Pizza, Pie, and Eltana Wood-Fired Bagels. Seattle Fudge and its mesmerizing taffy machine got to stay, along with burger joint Quincy’s and a Starbucks, but we lost Cafe Beignet, the Frankfurter, Michaelangelo’s, and Orange Julius, among others. (For those still mourning it, there are still Orange Julius locations inside Alderwood Mall and Everett Mall.)
The upstairs tenants were largely left alone: The Center School is still up there, and Theatre of Puget Sound still rents out their little piano rooms. Thanks to a limited budget, the overhaul didn’t get to realize some of its more fantastic plans, like as a glass aviary roof and a recreation of the Bubbleator, which would’ve gone all the way to the rooftop to reach a view-worthy destination restaurant.
The good news is that, 80 years after it was constructed, the Armory is as hoppin’ as ever. It’s still used every single day as a community meeting place and event center and is the scene of a staggering 3,000 public performances per year. Considering its military origins and how sturdily it was built—that is, it would probably need a neutron bomb to take it down—it’s easy to imagine that it’s got at least 80 more years of life left.
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