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Developed by Wright Runstad
& Company, this 55-story, classically designed tower has commanding views
of Elliott Bay, Lake Union, and the Cascade and Olympic mountains. The granite and emerald-green-glass
building features a pedestrian plaza with three levels of shops, services and a public atrium
overlooking the plaza.
The building was designed by Kohn Pederson Fox and The McKinley Architects and has received
numerous awards and recognition as one of the most beautiful high rise buildings ever built. The
New York Times named Washington Mutual Tower one of the nation's three best new office buildings
in 1988. Walter McQuade, Architecture Magazine, May 1989, wrote "Washington Mutual Tower in Seattle
is arguably Kohn Pedersen Fox's best recent work and perhaps the best recent addition to any U.S. skyline."
Seven years were spent acquiring the land, developing the plans and securing the permits to build
Washington Mutual Tower. Finally, on Sunday morning, August 31, a nine-block area between 1st Avenue
and 4th Avenue and Union and Spring was blocked off for the implosion of the 12-story Savoy Hotel.
At the start of construction, crews excavated seven stories below street level. Some 100,000 square
feet of earth was hauled from the site. The crane that was used was the tallest crane ever created,
measuring 895 feet, 8 inches tall. Construction of the Tower was completed in 18 months. The first
tenants to move in were Perkins Coie and KPFF.
In 1990, the plaza sculpture "New Archtypes" was installed on the Second Avenue Plaza. This beautiful
piece was sculpted by Anne and Patrick Poirier, renowned French sculptors, specifically for Washington
Mutual Tower. It is considered a significant piece of public art in the city, often photographed by the
public.
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