May 8, 2026

Sparkling waters and lush evergreen forests surround the largest city in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle’s shimmering skyline and contemporary design delight with touches of old-world charm.

There is a creative energy in Seattle that I will talk about in a moment, but that same energy is reflected in the city’s dynamic
architecture. The 1962 Seattle World’s Fair was designed to show us a future built on cheap hydropower.  It was the world of the future from the Space Needle to the Monorail. Dominating the cityscape, the 605-foot-tall Space Needle was officially opened on the first day of the World’s Fair in 1962. At the time of its completion, it was the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River. The “futuristic style” delighted all that gazed upon it and the observation deck and revolving restaurant, the first of its kind in the world, still afford spectacular views over the city.

Many old world’s fair sites look like the past’s idea of a future that turned out quite differently. An example that I am very familiar with that was the opposite of that was the 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair whose theme was “Peace through Understanding.” Today, remnants still remain in Flushing Meadows, especially the Unisphere, which became a symbol of Queens and New York City. The Seattle site has fared better than most.  The Space Needle is iconic and while monorails never caught on light rail has. 

But the sparkling gem of Seattle architecture is the Museum of Pop Culture inspired by the “other” Microsoft founder Paul Allen and designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry.

Gehry does his trademark wavy titanium type of building that reflects the sights of the Seattle Center and frames the Space Needle in some intriguing ways.  The monorail passes through the building, allowing the future as we imagined it in the 1960s to intersect with the future that is today.  For me that concept works. To be clear, any inkling I have toward architecture is because of my brother Brian who is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of The Collage Companies a design build firm that he founded in 1982. When you have a brother who has such passion for design, I guess a wee bit of it passes on. I will share with you some of his iconic buildings at the end of this blog.

That creative energy that I talked about in the beginning of this blog is reflected in the business climate of Seattle. Boeing, UPS, Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks and Costco are just some of the major U.S. companies founded in Seattle. Locals say that “Seattle is a city built by nerds.” One of those nerds is Bill Gates whose magnificent home is nestled on the east shore of Lake Washington in the town of Medina. Designed by architect James Cutler, it’s a modest abode covering approximately 66,000 square feet!

But Seattle is a city of many firsts. Here are some fun facts that I found for you:

Seattle was the first city in the United States to play a Beatles song on the radio.

It was also the first city to pipe “Muzak” into stores, elevators and offices.

The very first Starbucks store opened in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market in 1971. (Today, Starbucks has expanded more than
11,000 locations in the United States and almost 17,000 locations worldwide.)

Seattle was the first American city to put police on bicycles. (Now Seattle has the highest percentage of people riding bikes to work
compared to other U.S. cities its size.)

Seattle sells more sunglasses per capita than any other major city in the nation. And you thought it rained a lot in Seattle!

And having once lived on a houseboat I was interested to learn that Seattle’s houseboat population is the country’s largest at almost 500 houseboats!

In Alaska, the street musicians usually played a simple guitar. In Seattle, even the street musicians are creative. Here’s an example:

And here are some of my Brother Brian’s designs. I am so proud of him!

Thanks for traveling with us.