Washington Building. View of the Washington Building, 1019 Pacific Ave., believed to have been photographed from the top of the Perkins Building in August of 1970. From this angle, the distant Art-Deco styled Medical Arts Building (now Municipal Building) can be seen along the right-center edge. The Rust Building, another well known Tacoma landmark, is slightly up the hill at 950 Pacific. Seldens furniture store is in the right lower corner. A small section of the Bank of California, whose large red neon sign rested on top of the Washington Building, can be spotted at the lower right edge. Photograph ordered by the Washington Building.

Washington Building (Tacoma); Medical Arts Building (Tacoma); Rust Building (Tacoma); Seldens, Inc. (Tacoma); Business districts--Tacoma--1970-1980; Commercial streets--Tacoma--1970-1980; Electric signs--Tacoma--1970-1980;

The "Women's Lounge" at the new Tacoma Club on the top floor of the Washington Building. The Grand Opening for the new club, Tacoma' s most exclusive, was held the evening of May 10, 1937. J. P. Weyerhaeuser, Jr. was the club's first President. Corner lounge with sofa, upholstered chairs, tables and lamps. (WSHS) (T. Times 5/10/1937, pg. 1)

Tacoma Club (Tacoma); Clubs--Tacoma--1930-1940;

Interior of new facilities for The Tacoma Club on the 17th Floor of the Washington Building. The Club, for business and professional men, opened in May of 1937. John P. Weyerhaeuser, Jr. was president. Bar with glass block wall shown in photograph. (WSHS)

Tacoma Club (Tacoma); Clubs--Tacoma--1930-1940; Bars (Furniture)--Tacoma--1930-1940;

Sam Perkins, right, receives a toast from an unidentified friend on his 73rd birthday at a party given in his honor at the Tacoma Club.

Tacoma Club (Tacoma); Perkins, S.A.--Commemoration; Birthday parties--Tacoma--1930-1940;

ca. 1925. The 17 story Washington Building near completion. The building was officially opened at the end of June, 1925. The ground floor was occupied by the Brotherhood Cooperative Bank, Theodore Knutson's cigar store, Henrietta McNerthney's Purity Pharmacy and the "Orange Bower," the first orange mill in Tacoma. The orange mill's specialty was fresh squeezed orange juice, that you could watch being processed by a machine. (TNT 6/30/1925, pg. 13)(WSHS)

Washington Building (Tacoma);

ca. 1925. Washington Building as completed. Started 1919 by the Scandinavian-American Bank, unfinished when bank failed. The steel framework was completed by a group established for that purpose, the Washington-California Co. Frederick Webber, Original Architect; Doyle and Merriam, Architects for completion. The Washington Building opened at the end of June in 1925. (WSHS & Argentum)

Washington Building (Tacoma);

ca. 1925. The Washington Building, 1019 Pacific Ave., under construction. This modern structure was originally designed by Frederick Webber in the style of the Chicago School for the Scandinavian American Bank. Construction began in 1919 and halted when the bank failed. It was completed in 1925 when the Washington-California Co. purchased the steel skeleton and completed the building. At 17 stories, it was the second tallest building in the Northwest. When it opened, it contained 350 office suites, including its main occupant, the Brotherhood Co-Operative National Bank. (WSHS) (TDL 6/28/1925, pg. 2B)

Washington Building (Tacoma); Business districts--Tacoma--1920-1930;

Washington Building under construction in April of 1925. Started 1919 by the Scandinavian-American Bank and left unfinished when the bank failed, the building was completed and opened in June of 1925. At 17 stories, it was one of the skycrapers changing the skyline of Tacoma. The building is of steel framework, completed with glazed white terra cotta. The investment in the building was 1 1/2 million dollars. (filed with Argentum)

Washington Building (Tacoma); Office buildings--Tacoma--1920-1930; Building construction--Tacoma--1920-1930;

ca. 1934. Washington Building. 17 story steel framed office building started by Scandinavian-American Bank in 1919, left unfinished when bank failed. Completed in 1925. Frederick Webber, Original Architect; Doyle and Merriam, Architects for Completion. (filed with Argentum)

Washington Building (Tacoma);

Dining room w/many tables set, believed to be in the Tacoma Club. (filed with Argentum)

Tacoma Club (Tacoma);

Art Exhibit in Washington Building. Melvin O. Kohler and Kathryn King Youell discuss the hanging of a painting by Ruth Clark in preparation for National Art Week, November 25-December 1, 1940. The public was invited to attend the art exhibit held at the Washington Building. (T.Times 11/23/1940 p.1)

Art exhibitions--Tacoma--1940-1950; Exhibitions--Tacoma--1940-1950; Washington Building (Tacoma); Paintings; Kohler, Melvin O.; Youell, Kathryn King;

Condon Co. was an advertising company, Roscoe A. Smith is the President and Victor Kaufman is the Vice-President. The Condon Co. was working on an advertising campaign for Mobilgas. Close-up view of neon Mobilgas sign on Washington Building. TPL-8460

Electric signs--Tacoma--1940-1950; Business districts--Tacoma--1940-1950; Office buildings--Tacoma--1940-1950; Condon Co., Inc. (Tacoma); Washington Building (Tacoma); Petroleum industry; Advertisements;

Electrical Products Consolidated manufactured signs. They also manufactured street lights in the downtown Tacoma area. View of Mobilgas sign above the Washington Building, Pacific Avenue and street lights can be seen on right side.

Electric signs--Tacoma--1940-1950; Street lights--Tacoma; Electrical Products Consolidated (Tacoma); Mobilgas;

The Internal Revenue Department was sorting and checking through the U. S. income tax return forms and payments that were submitted, meeting the March 15th deadline. Employees had to separate the payments from the return forms and check over all forms submitted. Citizen meeting the deadline would not be subject to government penalties. View of U. S. Internal Revenue Staff in Tacoma (T. Times, 3/17/47, p. 9).

Correspondence; Income taxes--Tacoma; Civil service--Tacoma; Government employees--Tacoma; Internal Revenue Service (Tacoma);

Informal group of eight men dining at the Tacoma Club on November 27, 1950. Ordered by Henry Foss, far right. Others in photograph were not identified.

Foss, Henry O., 1891-1986; Tacoma Club (Tacoma);

In May of 1943, Frederick E. Sexton of the Internal Revenue Service modeled his modern new green eyeshade, his first in twenty years, purchased to celebrate his move to new office quarters in the Washington Building. Twenty eight years ago, he had reported to the second floor of the Federal building to fill a temporary position working with the new income tax. The year was 1915 and extra help was needed to work with the new experimental tax. The tax rate at that time was 1 % of income. That "temporary" position extended to 28 years, during which time he never moved off the second floor of the Federal building. Mr. Sexton began as a clerk and has risen to the Chief of the Assessment and Control section and an assistant Comptroller. (T.Times 5/19/1943, pg. 18)

Sexton, Frederick E.; Internal Revenue Service (Tacoma)--1940-1950;

Ruth Zdillae (right), home on furlough, dropped into the Army Recruiting Office in the Washington Building on February 25, 1943 to talk about her love for the Army life. She was stationed as a cook at Fort Sam Houston in Texas. Jean Hunnewell (left), in charge of WAAC recruiting here, was on duty. Miss Pauline Gregoryk, who had stopped in for information, was so impressed that she signed up for duty. (T.Times, 2/26/1943, p.4)

World War, 1939-1945--Women--Tacoma; World War, 1939-1945--Recruiting & enlistment--Tacoma; Zdillae, Ruth; Hunnewell, Jean; Gregoryk, Pauline;

The actual use of a collapsible shipping crate is demonstrated by an unidentified employee of Pacific Forest Industries on July 26, 1950. The crate is constructed to break down flat to maximize storage space. Pacific Forest Industries is an exporting business located in the Washington Building at 1019 Pacific Avenue.

Pacific Forest Industries (Tacoma); Crates--Tacoma;