Safeco Plaza Building

The Safeco Plaza Building is an International Style skyscraper designed by Naramore, Bain, Bray, and Johanson, and built between 1966 and 1969, for a reported $32.0 million dollars, in Seattle, WA.

Safeco Plaza Building is not the only name you might know this building by though. It is common for companies to want to attach their names to iconic buildings when they move in, or for the general public to come up with nicknames, and this one is no exception. The building has changed names several times over the years, and is also known as:

• Seafirst Headquarters between 1969 and 1983.
• 1001 Fourth Avenue Plaza between 1983 and 2006.

Its precise street address is 1001 Fourth Avenue, Seattle, WA. You can also find it on the map here.

The Safeco Plaza Building has received multiple architecture awards for its architectural design since 1969. The following is a list of such prizes and awards:

• AIA Honor Award in 1970
• NLB Tesla Awards™ Special Citation in 2024
• Gloria Koch Leonidas IES Illumination Award in 2024

The building has been restored 2 times over the years to ensure its conservation and adaptation to the pass of time. The main restoration works happened in 2005 and 2023.

Naramore, Bain, Bray, and Johanson was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.

That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but here is a list of the people we do know also played their part in making the Safeco Plaza Building a reality:

• Skilling, Helle, Christiansen, Robertson in charge of Structural Engineering
• Howard S. Wright Construction Company as the Main Contractor
• Gerald D Hines Interests as the Main Developer
• Henry Moore as the collaborating Artist

The Safeco Plaza Building can be categorized as an International Style building.

The Safeco Plaza Building was completed in 1969. By 1969 the International Style movement had already left its early days behind and could be considered a mature movement, which does not mean it was loved and accepted by everyone, on the contrary. The International Style was accepted by the architecture community way before it was by the general public, and it is therefore likely that the Safeco Plaza Building was not well received by everyone at the time.

The Safeco Plaza Building uses a frame structure made of steel columns and concrete and steel slabs.

A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.

The facade of the building however, is load bearing. This doesn't imply that it is a traditional load-bearing wall. Rather, it means that the structure's exterior pillars have been pushed to the very edges, becoming integrated with the facade, and therefore, technically, a part of it.

The facade is an integral part of the structure. The mullions and spandrels of the four curtain walls on each side are welded together to form a Vierendeel truss, which connects to the corner columns. These columns taper outward as the building loads progressively increase toward the base. Thanks to this design, each floor of the tower remains entirely column-free, including the spacious two-story main lobby, which opens onto Fourth Avenue Plaza.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features an anodized aluminum structure and dark bronze-colored glass, forming a regular pattern with horizontal metal bands wrapping around the facade. The building has four technical floors.

At street level, the building is set back from the street, as it is common in many international style skyscrapers.