The beautiful brass doors in the lobby that for the elevator that goes up to the 33rd floor. The marble was quarried from Tokeen on Marble Island in southeast Alaska.
I had to report back at the Superior Court today for jury duty, but spent all morning in the jury pool without getting selected to actually serve on a jury. We were dismissed early afternoon. ‘Just don’t knock me down and run me over!’ joked the bailiff as she announced that we were free to go.
So since I was just a block away from Smith Tower, with another beautiful blue sky summer day here in the city, I decided to go up to the observation deck. The elevator on the 33rd floor opens into the Chinese Room, a large room decorated with Chinese artwork, wall and ceiling paneling and furniture. Legend has it that the room was furnished by the last Empress of China as a gift to Mr. Smith. (New York tycoon Lyman Cornelius Smith).
Here is Smith Tower viewed from 3rd Avenue, looking north.Here’s a view looking northwest from the 33rd floor observation deck. The black building on the far right, only partly shown, is Columbia Tower, Seattle’s tallest building with 73 floors. The street below in the middle of the picture is 3rd Avenue. Follow it all the way up to see the Space Needle ‘squeezed in’ between the buildings in the distance... and here is a view looking west, with cranes from the Port of Seattle and a ferry (the Bainbridge Island ferry, I think). At the left edge of the picture on the horizon is a ghostly mid-day view of Mount Rainier (elevation 14,410 feet/ 4,392 m) , still with snow on.Some of the colorful wallpaper in the Chinese room on the 33rd floor.
