Belltown Alleys and Courtyards

The SIFF Cinema Downtown occupies the former grand entrance of the old Fifth Avenue Theatre. Its most distinct feature is the restored marquee that glows with an Art Deco aesthetic, reaching out over the sidewalk. This space spent decades…

Bell Street Park occupies a street that once carried thousands of cars daily between the Denny Triangle and the waterfront. In twenty twelve, the city converted this stretch into a curbless, woonerf-style boulevard where pedestrians take…

The entrance to Bathtub Gin and Company is a narrow, nondescript door tucked into a brick alleyway in Belltown. Inside, the space operates within what was once a basement boiler room for the Humphrey Apartments building, constructed in…

The Jewelbox Theater sits tucked behind a plain brick facade on Second Avenue, identifiable by a small, unassuming marquee that hints at the vintage grit within. This space began its life as a screening room for film industry professionals…

The First and Battery Portal Porch features a series of layered, translucent glass panels that glow with an amber hue against the gray concrete of the surrounding transit tunnel entrance. Commissioned for the arrival of light rail in…

The terra cotta facade of eighty-one Vine Lofts features a repetitive pattern of arched windows and deep brick detailing that separates it from the neighboring glass towers. Built in nineteen thirteen, the structure originally functioned…

The Belltown Cottage Park is a small patch of green squeezed between towering apartment blocks, defined by the two tiny, weathered wooden houses sitting near the center. These buildings are remnants of the early nineteen hundreds when this…