Safeco Plaza

Description

Safeco Plaza, previously 1001 Fourth Avenue Plaza and the Seattle-First National Bank Building, is a 50-story, 630ft skyscraper in downtown Seattle, Washington. The building is referred to by locals as "The Box the Space Needle Came In". When the tower was completed in 1969 by the by the Howard S. Wright Construction Company for Seattle First National Bank, it dwarfed Smith Tower, which had reigned as downtown's tallest building since 1914, and edged out the Space Needle (built in 1962) in Seattle Center by 25ft to become the tallest structure in the city until 1985 with the completion of the Columbia Center.Design and amenitiesThe bronze-colored aluminum and glass structure was the first modern class-A office building in Seattle and is the first skyscraper in the world to feature a Vierendeel space frame. The structure includes a two-story lobby as well as a five story subterranean garage. Other amenities include 15,000 square feet of ground-floor retail featuring a fitness center, a bank, some restaurants, a medical center and a post office. The property also houses a sculpture titled Three Piece Sculpture: Vertebrae 1968 by Henry Moore which is owned by the Seattle Art Museum.