Each Otis fits a mere seven people and has nearly all original features (except for the wiring, which, our lift operator kindly informed us, was updated “just a few years ago”). These aren’t your run-of-the-mill models these babies date back to the building’s 1914 opening.
It’s a good talking point for kids who might not understand the dire need for such secrecy. This, you’ll read, was a famous 1960s LGBTQ club in an era where LGBTQ clubs didn’t officially exist. Take a peek at the little porthole located about halfway down the wall to spy on an impressively detailed diorama of the Submarine Room. Located at the back of the Switchboard Room, you’ll see what looks like a broom closet. Each flip of a button calls up another staged telephone exchange you can move the wires around the switchboard - a nice distraction for tiny fingers. Featuring one of the most hands-on part of the tour, this room offers switchboards where you listen in on the pre-recorded conversations between Tenants of the Tower Past. But before catching a lift to the top - more on that soon - duck into the Switchboard Room. Moving on, you’ll take a flight of stairs to a bank of elevators. Also, keep an ear out the walls supposedly “whisper” with stories from the past though I couldn’t hear much with my noisy crew. Mainly, you’ll read, but the informative text is on the shorter, punchier side, making it fun and easy to read aloud. It’ll feel interactive it’s really not (though it is fairly kid-proof most of the props are fastened to their respective spots). Archival footage plays and vintage newspaper clippings line the walls.
#Smith tower chinese room series#
The Radio Room is one of several located on the ground floor in the Smith Tower’s new tour | Photo credit: Elisabeth KramerĪ series of rooms decked out with classic 1920s props set the mood. Behind the curtain, located at the store’s rear, is where the fun really starts. As easy as it is to get lost in Provisions, push through.
#Smith tower chinese room full#
Located on the ground floor, Smith Tower Provisions has all the customary tourist trappings (postcards, magnets, totes) as well more local-friendly fare (growlers, Fran’s Chocolates, Full Tilt Ice Cream soda fountain). In a surprising reversal of the amusement-park-ride-ends-in-a-gift-store trope, you start this tour in a gift store. No need to listen to a guide drone on about historic Seattle instead, you can explore the tower at your leisure. That’s perfect if you’ve got kids in tow.
The new tour - called “The Legends of Smith Tower” and opening to the public today (August 25) - is self-guided. Pioneer Square’s Smith Tower, aka “Seattle’s original skyscraper,” offers a new take on a classic tour, taking visitors back to when our beloved city was a writhing mass of rum-running cops, basement speakeasies and ne're-do-well industrialists (think Boardwalk Empire set on Elliott Bay). Time travel just got a lot more affordable. Not like other skyscraper which collect the fee at ground floor.When it opened in 1914, Smith Tower was the tallest building west of the Mississippi | Photo credit: Smith Tower Another interesting procedure here is you only pay the observation deck entrance fee when reaching the 35th floor of the building. Another good thing is that you don't even need to queue to get to the observation deck.
The price to enter the observation deck is cheaper too at USD7.50 per person as compared to USD12.00 for Space Needle.
Smith Tower is certainly better than Space Needle in term of Seattle city view as the building is located in the city centre itself on Pioneer Square. The furniture and the hand-carved ceiling in the room were gifts from the Empress of China. The observation deck on the 35th floor also house the Chinese Room. The highest floor (35th floor) of the building is the only private residence in the building. The doors are latticed, so a rider can see into each hallway and through the glass walls in front of each office on each floor. The elevators have brass surfaces which look as if its made of gold. The skyscraper is unique as they still need elevator operator. Smith Tower is the oldest skyscraper in Seattle and it was completed in 1914.
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