Downtown Seattle

Downtown Seattle

Downtown is the central business district of Seattle, Washington. It is fairly compact compared to other city centers on the West Coast because of its geographical situation: hemmed in on the north and east by hills, on the west by the Elliott Bay, and on the south by reclaimed land that was once tidal flats. It is bounded on the north by Denny Way, beyond which are Lower Queen Anne (sometimes known as "Uptown"), Seattle Center, and South Lake Union; on the east by Broadway Avenue, beyond which is the Central District; on the south by Dearborn Avenue, beyond which is Sodo; and on the west by Elliott Bay. Belltown, the Denny Triangle, Pioneer Square, Chinatown, the West Edge, and the western flank of First Hill are sub-neighborhoods of Downtown. Near the center of Downtown is the Metropolitan Tract, owned by the University of Washington, the location of the university's pre-1895 campus. Downtown is Seattle's main financial district, waterfront, and shopping area (surrounding Westlake Center and connected to Seattle Center by way of a monorail), which make up the bulk of Downtown. It is also home to the landmark Pike Place Market.

Downtown Seattle's Columbia Center has a greater number of floors than any other building west of the Mississippi River, at 76, though there are taller buildings in Texas and California by height. (Smith Tower, in the older section of Downtown near the waterfront, once held the title of tallest American building west of the Mississippi.) Other notable buildings are the Washington Mutual Tower, Two Union Square, Nordstrom’s flagship store, Benaroya Hall, the new Seattle Central Library designed by Rem Koolhaas, and the main building of the Seattle Art Museum (built 1991, expanded 2007), the main facade of which was designed by Robert Venturi. Downtown parks include Westlake Park, Freeway Park, and Victor Steinbrueck Park. The Olympic Sculpture Park was completed on the Belltown waterfront in January 2007.