The Old City Hall Historic District is located on a bluff at the north end of Tacoma's business district, overlooking Commencement Bay. The Old City Hall and the Northern Pacific Office Building stabilize the northern boundary of the district and the Pantages Theatre/Jones Building just south of the district boundary, complements the Winthrop Hotel.
All blocks are laid out so that major building entrances face the streets, which run north and south, and the buildings are constructed with common walls, which cover the entire depth of the block, deleting any need for alleys. Thus, with the exception of Pacific Avenue, where business fronts face each other, business fronts tend to be located on the east. The western exposures represent the back of the structures. From the bluff to Pacific Avenue the land is level, but Commerce and Broadway form terraces on the steep hillside. As a result, a facade which appears as a single story on the west side of the street is scaled a full three stories on the east. The pivotal structures dominate the District skyline. As a result, there are a number of vistas that rise and conclude within the boundaries. Views north along Broadway, Commerce and Pacific conclude with the Elks Temple, Old City Hall and Northern Pacific Office Building. Similarly, sight lines from the eastern portion of the district terminate with the last two buildings mentioned. Views to the south along Broadway are distinctly terminated by the Winthrop and Bostwick Hotels as they are on Commerce by virtue of the dominance of the Winthrop Hotel and the Motoramp Garage.
There are only three exceptions to the structural density in the District. There is an open parking lot immediately to the north of the Tacoma Motoramp Garage. Fire destroyed the original structure on this site, a business block stylistically cohesive with those to its north along the western side of Pacific. The second exception was noted above, the parking lots in the 802 block. The third consists of lots on Commerce Street to the north and south of the Morris Motors (Wright) building (south of the Spanish Stairs). There is some indication that these spaces were never developed.
Significant Buildings
Pacific Ave. Street Frontage
The bulk of the structures exhibit Italianate or eclectic treatments of many different kinds. The most uniform collection of facades exists between 726 and 736 Pacific Avenue. The Weeks Building (734–6 Pacific) and the Davie Building (732 Pacific) retain unmodified first floor storefronts. In the rest, segmented arch window openings predominate, occasionally with hood ornaments (711-17 Pacific).
Northern Pacific Bldg
Tacoma was designated the Northern Pacific terminus and headquarters in 1873. Transportation has dominated Old City Hall Historic District ever since. Tacoma was chosen for its natural deep-water port, and its trade to the Far East Trade. The railroad wharfs were located in the plains below the hill where the Northern Pacific Headquarters building sited. The shipping docks and the Municipal Dock were the Tacoma Hotel. Here people would congregate upon arrival in the city. Their need for housing supported the hotels, boarding houses and furnished rooms in this area.
Commerce Street
Old City Hall and Spanish Steps
The utilitarian brick and glass facades of the garage buildings along Commerce and Broadway represent an important type of structure. Some of the structures approach the Commercial style although none as fully as the Motoramp Garage (741-47 Commerce); the Morris Motors Building (711 Broadway) has Commercial elements as does the Colonial Hotel (701 Commerce).
Of even greater significance at this time, when the proximity of a residential neighborhood to the north of the Elks Temple is understood, is the Spanish Steps to the south of this edifice. Were these not to exist, pedestrian access to the City Hall from Broadway would have constituted a lengthy detour around business blocks. These stairs were built to satisfy city fire code requirements for a second story exit from the Elks Temple, and it is unknown if pedestrian access was noted as a determining factor of their design. However, in 1936, when the Elks Club attempted to close the stairs to the public, city officials intervened as legal owners of the dedicated street, thus emphasizing the importance of the steps to foot traffic.