A Sense of Space

We trundled the usual spots, like the famous Pike Place Fish Market where the guys in orange Helly Hansen overalls hurl salmon filets. We’re both in the business of houses — he’s easily one of the best, most knowledgeable builders of homes there is on this planet — so no conversation strayed far from the buildings surrounding us.

We walked through Pioneer Square an area of commercial buildings built around 1900. The mill building we spotted on the way in was detailed with brick arches and copper cornice that was so beautiful — ON A FACTORY, imagine that today! — that it made your heart ache. Then, in the main square, we saw an ornamental iron train station entrance copied after those in Paris (Paris, as a city, by the way is in tact and a link to pre-WWII architectural history because the French surrendered to Hitler he tells me; London, not so much). Then, building after façade after storefront was dripping with individual detail and artistry. Stone, brick, masonry, copper, metal — cornices, crown, window heads, doors — it just couldn’t get prettier. I mean even the fire station that was run down was a work of art.

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