The city of Seattle burned in 1889. Burned to the ground. What was left was char and rodent carcasses. There is a lot to be said about the fire elsewhere, but the tl/dr of it is that a series of unfortunate circumstances - including the explosion of massive quantities of alcohol (perhaps the most critical fatality) - led to the business district burning itself to the ground.
In the truest entrepreneurial spirit, however (to the magnitude that "making lemonade of lemons" look quaint), the city not only rebuilt, but rebuilt higher. Literally. The business district raised itself 20 feet so it would quit flooding when the ocean tide came in. One would have thought that someone would have thought of that earlier, but apparently making lemonade only comes to mind when one's lemon's explode and burn.
After the fire was over and the rebuilding process began, city planners decided that the time was right to fix the flooding issue as well. Literally, the buildings in the business district were built with two things in mind: 1. They needed a main floor immediately to conduct business, and 2. they needed a second main floor 20 feet higher to conduct business when the new streets were constructed 20 feet higher as well.
Wikipedia has a good article here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Underground - it can do a better job describing the "under ground" and "above ground" than I can.
I went on a tour of the Seattle Underground last week. I place this into Market Friday because these buildings used to actually be a market. When originally built they were above ground and at street level. Now they're beneath ground and somewhat ugly.
These would have been windows that looked out onto the street.
People would have sat at this bar looking out of the window onto the street.
People would have used this toilet after sitting at the bar looking out the windows onto the street.
And someone would have climbed these stairs at some point.
Honestly, the beginning of the tour dragged a little and I was tempted to leave and find my hotel. I'm glad I stayed, though, as it really turned out to be fascinating. A lot of what was once residential and business belongings still reside beneath the street, such as this plough, and the remnants of an elevator motor which was designed by Nicholas Tesla.
If you ever find yourself in Seattle, I do recommend going on a tour of the underground. If nothing else, you'll leave with a good appreciation of modern plumbing.
(c) All images and photographs, unless otherwise specified, are created and owned by me.
(c) Victor Wiebe
About Me
Sometimes photographer. Wannabe author. Game designer. Nerd.
General all around problem-solver and creative type.
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