German House, commercial building in Seattle, Washington
The German House is a two-story brick building in First Hill with Romanesque Revival and Beaux-Arts styling completed in 1893, originally designed with shops on the ground floor and a public hall above. It features solid brickwork, large windows, and historic vaults on the south side that recall its former function as a gold assay operation.
The building was completed in 1893 and leased to the federal assay office in 1898 to test and process Yukon gold into bars, making Seattle the nation's leading gold processing center at that time. After gold production declined in the 1930s, it became the Deutsches Haus in 1935, a social center for the German community.
Since 1935, the building has served as a gathering place for Seattle's German-speaking community and housed various German organizations and cultural societies. Today it continues as a venue for concerts, dances, and cultural events run by the German Heritage Society.
The building is located in First Hill, a central urban area with good accessibility and nearby shops, restaurants, and public transportation. Visitors should check ahead for scheduled events or cultural activities, as programming varies throughout the year.
The building played a central role in the gold rush and processed more gold in 1899 than any other office in the nation, before its vaults were later repurposed to store German beer for the social club. This unexpected transformation from gold storage to beer vault reveals the building's adaptability across more than a century.
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