Smith Tower

Seattle, United States

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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Smith Tower, a 38-story neoclassical skyscraper in Seattle's Pioneer Square neighborhood, was completed in 1914 by the architectural firm Gaggin & Gaggin. Rising 462 feet, it was among the tallest buildings outside New York City upon completion and held the distinction of being the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River until 1931. Named after firearm and typewriter magnate Lyman Cornelius Smith, though constructed largely under the direction of his son Burns Lyman Smith following his father's death in 1910, the tower remained the tallest building on the U.S. West Coast for nearly fifty years before being surpassed by the Space Needle in 1962. The building was designated a Seattle landmark in 1984.