Victor Steinbrueck Park, Urban park next to Pike Place Market, Seattle, United States.
Victor Steinbrueck Park is a small urban park next to Pike Place Market along Seattle's waterfront, overlooking Elliott Bay. The open lawn area has benches facing the water and two tall cedar totem poles that serve as the main focal points of the space.
The land once held the Washington National Guard Armory, built in 1909 and destroyed by fire in 1962. After years of sitting vacant, the city turned it into a public park, keeping the waterfront open to everyone.
The two cedar totem poles were designed by Marvin Oliver and carved by James Bender, and were installed in March 1984. They carry no meaning for local tribes, and calls to remove them emerged in the 2010s; a 2023 plan to replace them with Suquamish and Muckleshoot welcome sculptures was rejected by the Pike Place Market Historical Commission. The poles are currently not in the park.
The park reopened on March 14, 2025, after a renovation that replaced furnishings, the pavilion and lighting and repaired the leaking membrane above the parking garage below. It sits between Western Avenue and Alaskan Way at the foot of Virginia Street, just northwest of Pike Place Market. The two cedar totem poles were not reinstalled at reopening.
The two cedar totem poles were designed by Marvin Oliver and carved by James Bender, and were installed in March 1984. They carry no meaning for local tribes, and calls to remove them emerged in the 2010s. A December 2023 plan to replace them with Suquamish and Muckleshoot welcome sculptures was rejected by the Pike Place Market Historical Commission, which required the poles' restoration. They were stored at Fort Lawton and remained uninstalled when the park reopened on March 14, 2025.
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