When Seattle’s King Street Station opened its doors in 1906, it stood as a bold symbol of the city’s newfound prominence as the region’s primary shipping port—a position the Emerald City holds to this day.
Designed by architects Charles A. Reed (1858-1911) and Allen H. Stem (1856-1931), most noted for their work on New York’s Grand Central Terminal, King Street Station was the centerpiece of a massive enterprise that shifted the city’s main rail lines from the waterfront to the central business district, thanks to the construction of a 5,245-foot tunnel beneath the city. The L-shaped, 62,400-sf terminus quickly became the busiest train station in the Northwest, earning it the nickname “Gateway to the West.”
The Italianate depot features a distinctive, 242-foot-tall clock tower, the second-tallest such structure on the West Coast; it was modeled after the Campanile di San Marco in Venice. At the time of its completion, the station was the tallest structure in Seattle. Inside, bright-white plaster and marble decorated the walls and ceiling of the waiting areas.
The depot was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, but by that time it had lost much of its grandeur. Poorly conceived modernizations in the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s led to the removal of large sections of the plaster and marble walls and glass mosaic tile accents. The magnificent plaster ceiling was covered with acoustical tiles. The roof was crumbling. The staircase on Jackson Street was boarded up. The four tower clocks were right only twice a day.
PLATINUM AWARD WINNER
King Street Station
SeattleBuilding Team
Submitting firm: ZGF Architects (architect)
Owner: Seattle Department of Transportation
Structural/MEP engineer: Arup
Construction manager: Shiels Obletz Johnsen
General contractor: Sellen ConstructionGeneral Information
Construction time: Sept. 2009 to April 2013
Size: 62,400 sf
Delivery method: CM at risk
Cost: $55 million
The demise of train travel in the mid-20th century, coupled with a falloff in funding for maintenance, saw the station fall even further into a state of disrepair. Most urgently in need of shoring up were the unreinforced masonry walls—inspections showed that the structure was in no shape to withstand a major seismic event.
As rail ridership began to pick up in the 2000s, the city of Seattle decided it was time to upgrade and restore its landmark rail station. In February 2008, the city purchased the building from the Burlington Northern Railway Company for $10 and then went about rounding up the $55 million needed for a complete rehab and modernization (60% of funding came from federal sources; the balance was split between state and local sources).
The project scope encompassed full seismic retrofit and structural upgrade work, rehabilitation of the clock tower, full MEP/FP upgrades, and repair and restoration of the 45-foot-high ornamental plaster ceilings and walls, the terrazzo and mosaic tile floors, and the operable windows—all while striving for LEED Platinum certification. Complicating matters was a requirement from the city that the station remain fully operational during the project—a goal the team achieved by dividing the work into multiple phases.
INSERTING A NEW STRUCTURE
Half the budget was allocated for the structural repair and seismic retrofit work—a tedious, meticulous process that involved inserting a new steel frame structure inside the existing masonry walls with surgical precision so as not to disturb the historical elements. The Building Team cut 35-foot-high slots into the brick perimeter and inserted steel columns and high-strength grout alongside the existing columns.
New shear walls were created for the 8,000-sf waiting room. Steel floor plates were added on levels two and three for additional strengthening. The 12-story clock tower was cross-braced; new columns were added on all four corners. A total 1,345 tons of steel was installed to support the interior spaces.
A system of geothermal wells was bored underneath the downtown plaza; it is designed to cover 100% of the 62,400-sf building’s heating and cooling needs. The clock tower rises 242 feet to its peak. ZGF Architects led the Building Team for the client, the Seattle Department of Transportation. Photo: Benjamin Benschneider Photography
While not as costly as the structural work, the rehabilitation of the historic interior elements was no less difficult. To replicate damaged and missing elements of the ornamental plaster walls and ceiling, matching molds were painstakingly created using the original ornate pieces and the same casting methods craftsmen employed more than a century ago. The molds were filled with casting plaster and inlaid with hemp and burlap during the casting process to create the final pieces. The castings were then stripped out of the molds, reinstalled, and attached to the structure.
The Building Team removed all of the sashes and trims from the original windows and refinished and reinstalled them using all remaining original glass. In all, the team restored 74 window openings and 199 sashes and replicated 15 window openings and 33 new sashes.
Significant care was taken to protect the floors during the structural steel installation and helical pile drilling. Areas of the marble inlaid terrazzo floors were catalogued, removed, and reinstalled after the new buried structure was installed. Where the original tile flooring was missing, the team repurposed existing pieces of marble to replicate the floor elements.
In honoring King Street Station with a Platinum Award, the Reconstruction Awards jury commended the Building Team on its technical precision in executing both heavy construction work—structural steel reinforcing and geothermal installation—and extremely delicate and often tedious historic restoration work—all while the station remained operational.
“The fact that they were able to execute all of this work while achieving LEED Platinum certification through features like geothermal makes the project even more impressive,” said judge Krista Gnatt, LEED AP, Preconstruction and Business Development Manager with Bulley & Andrews, Chicago.
Related Stories
| Jan 2, 2015
Illustrations of classic architecture bring in the new year with style
New York-based designer Xinran Ma has illustrated a New Year's greeting card that assembles pieces of various brutalist and modernist architecture.
| Jan 2, 2015
Construction put in place enjoyed healthy gains in 2014
Construction consultant FMI foresees—with some caveats—continuing growth in the office, lodging, and manufacturing sectors. But funding uncertainties raise red flags in education and healthcare.
| Dec 30, 2014
A simplified arena concept for NBA’s Warriors creates interest
The Golden State Warriors, currently the team with the best record in the National Basketball Association, looks like it could finally get a new arena.
| Dec 30, 2014
The future of healthcare facilities: new products, changing delivery models, and strategic relationships
Healthcare continues to shift toward Madison Avenue and Silicon Valley as it revamps business practices to focus on consumerism and efficiency, writes CBRE Healthcare's Patrick Duke.
| Dec 29, 2014
High-strength aluminum footbridge designed to withstand deep-ocean movement, high wind speeds [BD+C's 2014 Great Solutions Report]
The metal’s flexibility makes the difference in an oil rig footbridge connecting platforms in the West Philippine Sea. The design solution was named a 2014 Great Solution by the editors of Building Design+Construction.
| Dec 29, 2014
HDR and Hill International to turn three floors of a jail into a modern, secure healthcare center [BD+C's 2014 Great Solutions Report]
By bringing healthcare services in house, Dallas County Jail will greatly minimize the security risk and added cost of transferring ill or injured prisoners to a nearby hospital. The project was named a 2014 Great Solution by the editors of Building Design+Construction.
| Dec 29, 2014
New mobile unit takes the worry out of equipment sterilization during healthcare construction [BD+C's 2014 Great Solutions Report]
Infection control, a constant worry for hospital administrators and clinical staffs, is heightened when the hospital is undergoing a major construction project. Mobile Sterilization Solutions, a mobile sterile-processing department, is designed to simplify the task. The technology was named a 2014 Great Solution by the editors of Building Design+Construction.
| Dec 29, 2014
Startup Solarbox London turns phone booths into quick-charge stations [BD+C's 2014 Great Solutions Report]
About 8,000 of London’s famous red telephone boxes sit unused in warehouses, orphans of the digital age. Two entrepreneurs plan to convert them into charging stations for mobile devices. Their invention was named a 2014 Great Solution by the editors of Building Design+Construction.
| Dec 29, 2014
Spherical reflectors help spread daylight throughout a college library in Portland, Ore. [BD+C's 2014 Great Solutions Report]
The 40,000-sf library is equipped with four “cones of light,” spherical reflectors made from extruded aluminum that distribute daylight from the library’s third floor to illuminate the second. The innovation was named a 2014 Great Solution by the editors of Building Design+Construction.
| Dec 29, 2014
Hard hat equipped with smartglass technology could enhance job site management [BD+C's 2014 Great Solutions Report]
Smart Helmet is equipped with an array of cameras that provides 360-degree vision through its glass visor, even in low light. It was named a 2014 Great Solution by the editors of Building Design+Construction.
