Page 155 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Pacific Northwest

SEA T TLE CENTER AND BELL T OWN  153

Combining Richardsonian, workers, and the right through hottest art bar, with rotating
Gothic, and Italianate design the Prohibition period (1920–33), exhibits by local artists adorning
elements, the handsome when it served as a cardroom the walls. Each exhibition
four-story brick structure was and lunch spot. is displayed for two months
commissioned in 1888 by Austin In the 1970s, the pub began at a time.
Americus Bell, the wealthy son to attract an arty clientele, who The pub is a good place to
of Seattle pioneer William M. Bell, joined the old-timers at the sample a local microbrew from
for whom Belltown is named. long elegant bar. Over time the of the 16 beers on tap (or even
It was to be an apartment local community has changed try one from its good selection
building and the young Bell’s as low-income housing of Belgian beers). It also has an
first major building project in was replaced by upmarket excellent wine list and specialty
the city. However, the 35-year- condominiums, and the cocktails. The brick-and-tile
old entrepreneur did not live to clientele altered accordingly. Virginia Inn has something of
see his building completed. The Virginia Inn has now a European feel to it – without
Suffering from ill-health and become known as Seattle’s the cigarette fumes.
depression, Bell took his own life
in 1889. His wife saw the project
through to completion, and had
Bell’s name etched into the top
of the building’s façade. Its
interior was destroyed by fire in
1981, but the exterior survived
relatively unscathed.
Listed on the National
Register of Historic Places, the
Austin A. Bell Building now
houses pricey condominiums
on its upper three floors and
a coffee shop at street level.

A café-cum-laundry, one of Belltown’s many eclectic businesses
Belltown History
With its broad avenues lined with hip clubs, chic restaurants,
and eclectic shops, Belltown has been compared to Manhattan’s
Upper West Side. What Belltown conspicuously lacks is the one
thing for which the rest of the city is famous: hills. This was not
always the case. Originally home to a very steep slope, the area
took on a new identity between 1905 and 1930,
when Denny Hill was regraded and washed
into Elliott Bay. In all, more than 50 city blocks
were lowered by as much as 100 ft (30 m),
turning Denny Hill into the Denny Regrade, a
lackluster name for an unremarkable area of
town inhabited by labor union halls, car lots,
inexpensive apartments, and sailors’ taverns.
The European-style Virginia Inn, a favorite (Ironically, the intent of the regrade project
pub among Belltown locals was to encourage business development
0 Virginia Inn by making the area easier to navigate.)
For decades, the area’s identity was its very
1937 1st Ave. Map 3 B1. lack thereof. This began to change in the 1970s, Belltown coffee
Tel (206) 728-1937. @ 15, 18, 21, 22, when artists, attracted by cheap rents and shop sign
56. Open 11:30am–midnight Sun– abundant studio space, started moving to the
Thu, 11:30am–2am Fri & Sat. 7 0 Regrade. It was also during the 1970s that a neighborhood
∑ virginiainnseattle.com association renamed the area Belltown, after William M. Bell,
one of the area’s pioneers. By the 1980s, as Seattleites and
Located on the southern suburbanites began taking an interest in cosmopolitan urban living,
boundary of Belltown, the condominiums began appearing on Belltown’s periphery. Fueled
Virginia Inn has been a popular by the software boom of the 1990s, the area experienced a huge
watering hole since before the building boom, attracting well-paid high-tech types to its amenity-
area came to be called Belltown. rich towers. Although today Belltown bears little resemblance to its
Established in 1903, it has early days, a few original structures remain; among them, the Virginia
operated continuously, first Inn and the Austin A. Bell Building.
as a beer parlor for waterfront

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