Ford McKay Building and Pacific McKay Building

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601-615 Westlake Avenue N

Architect: Warren H. Milner, 1922, and Pacific McKay Building, Harlan Thomas and Clyde Grainger, 1925.

William Osborne McKay opened his business in 1922, catering to the ever-growing desire for personal automobile ownership among Seattle residents. Three years later McKay built a glamorous terra-cotta-clad showroom with vaulted ceiling and an interior terra-cotta fountain at the corner of Westlake and Mercer next to his original building. Westlake Avenue was a Seattle urban "auto row" -- by 1939 some 40 automobile-related businesses could be found on the 12-block stretch of Westlake near South Lake Union.

McKay, an active civic booster and one of the founders of Seafair, was a major property owner in the South Lake Union neighborhood. Architects Thomas and Granger also designed Harborview Hospital, the Sorrento Hotel, and the Corner Market Building at Pike Place Market. In 2006 the exteriors of both Pacific McKay and Ford McKay and portions of their interiors were designated city landmarks by the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board.

As of 2011 the Ford McKay building has been disassembled and its parts have been stored. Re-assembly is planned.

By Paula Becker, September 25, 2012

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Ford McKay (Warren H. Milner, 1922), Seattle, 1949
Courtesy Ford McKay