This photograph of the modern, Art-deco style Mottau Building was taken for Safeway Stores one year after the building opened. At its opening, the Tacoma News Tribune wrote: "The K street district may well be proud of this new addition to the several modern buildings erected there in the past two or three years." Russell & Lance, architects, designed the aluminum- and Virolite-clad (polished green and black glass) building for Pauline Mottau. It replaced an early 1880s structure, a two-story, Queen Anne-style wooden building with five stores on the first floor and apartments above. Mottau's husband, Robert, built two of Tacoma's first hotels in the early 1880s--the St. Charles and the Villard--and later built several apartment buildings in Tacoma. In 2000, the Mottau Building was razed for construction of another new building in the district where other older structures are being replaced with new additions. (T.N.T., 10/6/1933, p. 13).

Commercial buildings--Tacoma--1940-1950; Business districts--Tacoma; Grocery stores--Tacoma--1940-1950; Appliance stores--Tacoma; Paulson's Radios & Appliances (Tacoma); Mottau Building (Tacoma); Safeway Stores, Inc. (Tacoma);

Interior of Safeway Store on South K Street.

Safeway Stores, Inc. (Tacoma); Grocery stores--Tacoma--1940-1950;

Interior of Safeway Store on South K Street.

Safeway Stores, Inc. (Tacoma); Grocery stores--Tacoma--1940-1950;

Interior of Safeway Store on South K Street.

Safeway Stores, Inc. (Tacoma); Grocery stores--Tacoma--1940-1950;

Safeway Store at 1108 South K Street in Mottau Building, Russell and Lance, Architects, 1934. Elaborate Art Deco style building with Virolite detailing.

Safeway Stores, Inc. (Tacoma); Grocery stores--Tacoma--1940-1950;