Lyon Building

Seattle, United States

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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Located at 607 Third Avenue in Downtown Seattle, the Lyon Building is a 1910 Chicago School office building designed by the firm Graham & Myers and constructed by Stone & Webster. Named after the French city of Lyon to honor its owners' heritage, the building was nearly destroyed in 1910 when union activist James B. McNamara bombed it in protest of the firm's non-union labor practices—a attack that occurred just one month before McNamara's deadly bombing of the Los Angeles Times. The building's robust construction saved it from destruction, and after completion in 1911, it became a prestigious address for lawyers and judges, benefiting from its proximity to Seattle's public safety complex and King County Courthouse. The Lyon Building served as a founding location for foreign consulates, social and political clubs, and the City University of Seattle. Its basement now provides access to the Pioneer Square station of the Seattle Transit Tunnel. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995 and designated a Seattle landmark in 1996, the building was converted in 1997 to residential use as a shelter and services center for the homeless and at-risk, operated by the Downtown Emergency Service Center.