The former Commodore Hotel at Second and Virginia was finally razed on Feb. 24-25, more than one year after the property's owners announced plans for a new, larger structure on the corner site. The final demolition permits were issued in December, after the city's Landmarks Preservation Board chose not to designate it for preservation.

The Commodore was originally built in 1908 by W.P. White, before the Denny Regrade leveled the blocks to its north and east. It was billed in tourist guides as "a family-owned, European style hotel." By the 1980s its small, under-maintained rooms had become known hangouts for hookers, drug sellers/buyers, and down-and-outers. (The city had never classified it as a "housing" site, which would have made it eligible for rehabilitation funds.) In its last years, it rented out spaces for performance art events by the Maureen Whiting dance company and the Seattle Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

One of the Commodore's two storefront retail spaces had been occupied from 1937 to 1992 by Orrin F. Drew Fine Printing, a letterpress print shop. For five years after that, the shop was run as the Living Museum of Letterpress Printing by Kay and Jeronimo Squires (who now operate it in Anacortes). The space later housed 2nd Avenue Pizza and, finally, the Nexxus Caffe. The Commodore's other storefront, last used by a teriyaki stand, had previously housed the Howard House Gallery (now at 604 2nd Ave.).

For now, the ex-Commodore real estate will serve as an expansion of the adjacent corner parking lot, while the owners continue to put a deal together for a new high-rise.

-CH

Photos by Clark

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