Joshua Sears Building facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
|
|
Joshua Sears Building
|
|
 |
|
 Location in Washington (state)
|
|
| Location | Kirkland, Washington |
|---|---|
| Built | 1891 |
| Architectural style | Romanesque Revival, Beaux Arts |
| NRHP reference No. | 82004225 |
| Added to NRHP | August 3, 1982 |
The Joshua Sears Building is a historic building in Kirkland, Washington. It stands at the corner of Market Street and Seventh Avenue, which was once the main business area of Kirkland. This building was constructed in 1891 by a wealthy man from Boston named Joshua Sears. He was a major investor in Peter Kirk's big plan to build a steel company in Kirkland. Sears also owned a lot of land in the town.
However, a big economic crisis called the Panic of 1893 hit soon after. Because of this, the steel mill and the bank that was supposed to open in the Sears Building never did. Even so, the Sears Building is still standing today. It reminds us of the big plans and dreams people had for Kirkland long ago. The building is also an early example of a special design style called Beaux-Arts architecture in the Northwest. At that time, other styles like Victorian and Romanesque Revival were more common for business buildings. On August 3, 1982, the Joshua Sears Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places, which means it's recognized as an important historical site. In 2015, a local attorney, Simeon Osborn, and his wife, Monica Hart, bought the building. They plan to keep the businesses and people living there.
Contents
What the Building Looks Like
The Joshua Sears Building is a single, separate structure. It has an unusual shape, like an uneven polygon. The building has two full floors and a full basement. The main entrance for businesses is at the southeast corner. There's another big entrance in the middle of the east side.
Building Style and Materials
The building's design shows the influence of its builder, Joshua Sears, who was from the East Coast. It mainly uses the Beaux Arts style. This style was new and popular on the East Coast but didn't become common on the West Coast until around the year 1900. We don't know who the original architect was. Like other buildings nearby, it's made of red brick that was made locally. The bricks are laid in a pattern called stretcher bond. The foundation is also brick, but most of it is covered with stucco. This stucco helps protect it from moisture. The roof is flat and covered with tar and gravel.
Special Details and Windows
Around the east and south edges of the roof, there's a continuous decorative trim called a cornice. This cornice has brackets, dentils (small block-like shapes), and a decorated frieze (a wide horizontal band). There are also decorative bands of cast ornamental concrete at four different levels. This cast concrete is used all over the outside to look like stone.
The building has several different types of windows. For example, on the west side, some windows are rounded at the top with special brick and concrete sills. On the south side, the first floor has plain double hung windows. Above these are smaller, semi-circular windows with concrete frames and decorative metal keystones. The second floor has standard double-hung windows with shaped concrete tops and continuous concrete sills. The east side has large fixed windows with smaller windows above them called transoms. The north side originally had no windows, as they expected another building to be built next to it. But now, it has several small fixed windows and doors that lead to the parking lot.
Main Entrances
The main entrance, which was meant for a bank, is on the southeast corner. The door is set back a bit and has three granite stairs leading up to it. It originally had double doors, but now it has a single plain door. The frame around the door has brick pilasters (flat columns) with concrete bases and decorative metal Ionic capitals. There's also a rounded, decorative top piece called a pediment made of pressed metal. The window above this entrance continues the classic look with a triangular pediment over two double-hung windows. These have since been replaced by a single fixed window. Above this pediment, there's a rectangular concrete decoration called a cartouche with the name "SEARS" on it. The second entrance on the east side has many similar features, like pressed metal pediments.
Building History
The Sears Building was built in 1891 by Joshua Montgomery Sears II (1854-1905). He was a very rich man from Boston, a generous person, and an investor in Kirkland. He built it during a time when people were buying and selling land very quickly. This was because Peter Kirk had proposed building a huge steel-making city in Kirkland, hoping it would be as big as Pittsburgh.
Joshua Sears: The Man Behind the Building
Joshua Sears was born on Christmas Day in 1854 in Yarmouth, Massachusetts. His father, Joshua M. Sears I, was a successful grocer in Boston who had built the family's wealth. However, his father died when Joshua Jr. was only two years old. Young Sears received money from his father's estate each year. He also made smart investments and soon became very wealthy himself. People called him "The Boston Astor" because he was so rich. He was even said to be the biggest taxpayer in Boston. Joshua Sears loved the arts and owned valuable items, like a famous violin called the Jupiter Stradivarius. Today, he is mostly remembered because of a famous painting by John Singer Sargent of his wife, Sarah Choate Sears.
A Building of Big Dreams
The Sears Building cost $18,000 to build in 1891. That's like nearly $526,000 today! At the time, it was the most expensive building being built in Kirkland, besides the steel mill itself. The bricks used for the building were made from local clay at Peter Kirk's own brick factory.
The building was originally meant to have a bank on the corner. Sears even furnished the inside and hired some staff for the bank. But then, the Panic of 1893 happened. This was a severe economic downturn. Because of it, the bank, like the steel mill, never opened its doors.
In the years after this economic crash, the building, like many others in the area, was mostly empty. However, it, along with a lot of the original town land, remained owned by the Sears family. Over time, the corner space was used by a printing company and later a grocery store. An electric supply store occupied one of the smaller shops for more than twenty years. At one point, the upper floors, which were originally planned for offices, were divided into seven apartments.
On August 3, 1982, the Joshua Sears Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. As of 2005, the building housed a religious bookstore and a real estate office. In 2015, local attorney Sim Osborn and his wife Monica Hart bought the building. They bought it with plans to protect its historic features and beauty for future generations.
