The Fairmont Olympic
      Seattle, Washington

Ever since 1924 when Seattle’s citizens stepped up to buy the bonds that funded their grand hotel, The Olympic (now the Fairmont Olympic) has been Seattle society’s see-and-be-seen milieu. With two entrances, a lobby on several levels—none out of view of the others—and two broad staircases there are a multitude of ways one can make an entrance—a grand entrance.

My niece and I, not formally fitted out, made our Saturday night entrance from the elevator to find the lobby filled with Washington’s hotelkeepers on a kind of busman’s holiday—dining and definitely wining at the Olympic. Dressed to the nines, the men were in tuxedos or silk brocade smoking jackets and the women with dresses worth watching. This is exactly what we did. We sat on a tassel-trimmed brocade sofa beneath a flower arrangement so large it nearly tickled the crystal chandelier. Discreetly, we stared at the glam as one can imagine people have done since 1924.

Tearing ourselves away from the show, we headed for our own dinner. Up the marble steps, across the Aubusson carpet, through ornately-carved ormolu columns to make our entrance to The Georgian, the hotel’s formal dining room.

Post dinner, I do love to be able to retire to my room and the recently redecorated, Executive Suite was just perfect. The bedroom is separated from the living room by draped French doors. The small living room has traditional French-style furniture and is enlivened by the terrific turquoise, red and cream chintz of the drapes and pillows. The old world meets new with flatscreen TVs in each room and antique prints. I loved the print over the loveseat of Seattle’s harbor circa 1880.

Historically and today, the straightforward and creative appeal of the Fairmont Olympic Hotel is true to Seattle’s character. The city’s history was kicked off not by a tacky gold rush, but with a University. Ten acres smack in what is now downtown central was donated for the first University buildings. It awarded its first degree to a woman in 1876.

By 1889 when Washington became a state, expansion moved the University of Washington to its present location along Lake Washington. In an inspired decision, the regents decided to lease the property long term, thus becoming players as well as beneficiaries in Seattle’s development.

By the time Seattle recovered from World War I, it had UW, it had the Metropolitan Theatre based on the Palace of Doges in Venice and it even had an ice arena, but it did not have a grand hotel. And everyone, it seemed, wanted one, but the ever careful regents—first in the nation in urban real-estate revenues—were not about to cut a bad deal. Ultimately, they got the lease revisions they asked for and the developer’s plan for them to bear half the cost and for the other 50% to come from local citizens who would buy bonds in the hotel. This quintessentially Seattle idea brought 4,500 Seattleites out to bankroll their new hotel. Completed in 1924, the Olympic has been Seattle’s grand dame ever since.

 Kate Crawford      May 2009

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The Fairmont Olympic on the web.