2 Million Bricks

This site at 7th and Madison housed four different school buildings over a 75 year period, concluding with this impressive edifice. Seattle's Central School was opened in 1889 and was almost immediately overcrowded, forcing the district to rent annex space from a number of nearby churches. As the 20th century unfolded the school had the opposite problem as downtown residences were replaced with office buildings. After surviving social and economic shifts and several earthquakes, the school was demolished in 1953. The lot was leased for parking until the site gave way to the construction of Interstate 5 in the early 1960s.