The Transformation of the Butler Block
A historic Seattle landmark is being converted into a modern hotel, promising the latest in electric light and steam heat.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The vast majority of people who pass the Butler block, on the corner of Second and James street, hardly realize the marvelous changes taking place within. Mr. Henry Schufeldt, the wealthy Chicago distiller and owner of the Butler block, has ordered the new lessees, Messrs. Hamm & Schmitz, to not spare expense in making this a thoroughly creditable enterprise. For several weeks, seventy-five skilled mechanics have been busy remodeling this block into a magnificent hostelry. The hotel is expected to be ready for the public by July 1, operating on the European plan with rooms lighted by the hotel's own dynamos and heated by steam. To many, this may seem a hazardous enterprise at the present time, but the proprietors believe in looking forward.
“To many persons this may seem a hazardous enterprise just at the present time, but Messrs. Hamm & Schmitz believe in looking forward, and not backward.”
The Butler Hotel, once a pinnacle of downtown luxury at 2nd and James, is a lost landmark of Seattle. Its conversion from a block into a hotel highlights the cyclical nature of real estate development in Pioneer Square, where historic buildings are continuously repurposed to match the economic needs of the era.
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