A Grand New Hotel Rises on Port Townsend's Waterfront
A three-story block with a saloon, reading room, and thirty sleeping rooms opens at Water and Washington streets—a brick-and-mortar bet on the town's future.
NEW BUILDING.—Pursuant to notice last week, we visited this magnificent building, which, in its construction, has done honor not only upon the proprietors, Messrs. Pugh and Smith, but upon the mechanics and artisans employed upon it—Messrs. Bowers and Roberts. It is three stories in height, fronting on Water and Washington streets, covering 75x30 feet on the latter and 60x32 feet on the former, with a temple portico on both, and surmounted by a French roof. The lower floor, on Water street, is occupied by a spacious saloon, handsomely fitted up, and a reading room, in the rear of which is the main dining room and kitchen. The other portion facing on Washington street comprises, besides quarters for Miller's Jewelry store, a private dining-room, the main entrance, and a portion of the saloon. The second floor, reached from the hall connected with the Washington-street entrance by an amplified stairway, contains, besides a large parlor and drawing-room, thirteen commodious sleeping rooms, accessible through spacious and pleasant halls. The third story contains seventeen sleeping rooms, all well-lighted and commanding the finest and grandest views over and around the bay and the islands and peninsula beyond imaginable. Taken altogether, the structure is one of which the town as well as the proprietors may justly be proud.
“Taken altogether the structure is one of which the town as well as the proprietors may justly be proud.”
In 1878, a three-story hotel with a saloon and thirty sleeping rooms was a civic statement: Port Townsend was betting on steamships, visitors, and waterfront trade. The building is long gone, but the same corner now asks the same question—what is the waterfront for, and who gets to profit from it? The hotel also reminds us that boarding houses and hotels were once a core part of the local housing supply.
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