288 DAYSSan Francisco · 1915
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Washington State Building

A French-Renaissance hall with eagle-topped pavilions, a skylit central court and a column of apples slowly revolving in the middle.

Washington's building, by A. F. Heide of San Francisco, was French Renaissance, 80 by 192 feet. It had composite columns, semicircular porticos at the ends, and travertine eagles perched on half-globes above the east and west pavilions. Inside, the central space rose to an amber glass roof, surrounded by a second-story gallery on Doric columns. In the middle a tall column wound with spirals of apples turned slowly. Motion-picture lectures promoted the state.

Washington held a run of special days: Salmon Day (March 12), Spokane Day (May 25), Walla Walla Day (September 30), Washington State Day (October 1, when a Douglas fir was planted) and Seattle and Tacoma Day (October 2). The Official Guide calls the building one of the handsomest on the grounds and says it was finished months before opening.

At a glance

  • 80 by 192 feet; building about $50,000; appropriation $175,000.
  • Dedicated March 4, 1915.
  • Designed by A. F. Heide of San Francisco.

Afterward

Not recorded; presumably auctioned and wrecked.

Where it stood

Washington State Building stood at about 37.80420 N, 122.45541 W on today's map. The whole fairground over the city →

Sources