When it opened in 1914, the 42-story neoclassical Smith Tower was Seattle's first skyscraper and the fourth tallest building in the world. The building was designed by architects Edwin Hall Gaggin and Thomas Walker Gaggin, Sr., for Lyman Cornelius Smith (1850-1910) and his son, Burns Lyman Smith (1880-1941), who spent about $1.5 million to build a landmark that would serve to advertise the Smith's business enterprises, including the Smith-Corona Typewriter Company. The Smith Tower remained the tallest building on the West Coast for nearly half a century until the Space Needle overtook it in 1962. The building continues to house office and commercial space, and as a designated Seattle landmark the building offers a self-guided visitor tour. As of 2019, a speakeasy-themed restaurant and bar occupy the Observatory floor where the famed Chinese Room was once located.

The brochure pictured here advertises the Observatory at Smith Tower, and the sights visible from its heights.

Caption information source: "Smith Tower officially opens in Seattle on July 4, 1914," by Alan J. Stein, HistoryLink.org Essay 5370
Caption information source: http://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/4149