ca. 1935. Photograph taken of the destroyed Tacoma Hotel after the disastrous fire on October 17, 1935. Ivy was still clinging to the lower walls despite the intense heat and in the right foreground was the Tacoma Totem Pole. The Tudor Hotel was built in 1884 from a design by Stanford White's architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White. The Tacoma landmark was widely recognized as one of the finest hotels on the Pacific Coast. It was not rebuilt after the fire and although its annex continued as the new Tacoma Hotel, it never achieved the same prominence as the original. (photograph courtesy of the Tom Stenger collection)

Fires--Tacoma--1930-1940; Hotels--Tacoma; Tacoma Hotel (Tacoma);

ca. 1935. Photograph taken of the ruined Tacoma Hotel after the disastrous fire on October 17, 1935. The hotel was totally destroyed by a fire that started out in the north end of the basement in the early morning hours. (photograph courtesy of the Tom Stenger collection)

Fires--Tacoma--1930-1940; Hotels--Tacoma; Tacoma Hotel (Tacoma);

ca. 1885. Photograph of "The Tacoma" (Hotel) shortly after it was built - before any of the later additions were added. The massive hotel, focus of much civic pride, opened on August 8, 1884. It had cost more than $250,000 to build, an enormous sum at the time, and was the design of architect Stanford White in 1881 who, according to Murray Morgan's South on the Sound, had been commissioned by the Northern Pacific Railroad and Tacoma Land Co. In subsequent years, several additions and renovations were made to further extend the hotel's reputation as "the finest west of the Mississippi and north of San Francisco." The Tacoma Hotel even boasted of having for a time a tame bear named Jack who spent time in the hotel lobby and was a drinker of beer. The elegant hostelry attracted many prominent visitors who enjoyed breathtaking views and luxurious furnishings. It was destroyed by fire on October 17, 1935 and never rebuilt.

Tacoma Hotel (Tacoma); Hotels--Tacoma--1880-1890;

ca. 1884. The Tacoma Hotel, 913 A street, with its commanding view of the Tacoma tideflats, was one of the best hotels north of San Francisco. Designed by the famous architect Stanford White, it had its official opening in August of 1884. The scaffolding at the north end of the building suggests that it was still under construction when this photograph was taken. Note the Northern Pacific Railroad tracks crossing the almost completely barren tideflats; mills and manufacturing structures had yet to be fully built. The body of water at the left is the Puyallup River as it flows unfettered into Commencement Bay. The massive Tacoma Hotel was destroyed by fire on October 17, 1935, and was never rebuilt; its annex would be remodeled and called the "new" Tacoma Hotel in January, 1936.

Tacoma Hotel (Tacoma);