The Edgewater (Seattle)

The Edgewater
Map
General information
TypeHotel
Town or citySeattle, Washington
CountryUnited States
Technical details
Floor count4

The Edgewater (formerly the Edgewater Inn and, briefly when first constructed in 1962, the Camelot) is a four-story, 232-room hotel in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is located on the Central Waterfront on a pier over Elliott Bay (a bay of Puget Sound) and is the only over-water, and water-front hotel in the Seattle area. Shortly after it was built, shoreline zoning changes precluded the construction of further hotels on piers.[1] In its early years, the hotel advertised on its north elevation that you could "fish from your room."[1][2]

The hotel is particularly famous for hosting The Beatles when they visited Seattle in 1964 at the height of Beatlemania.[1] Because of the Beatles' connection to the hotel, there is a Beatles-themed suite and the hotel has hosted several Beatles-related events and tributes in recent years.[3][4] Other famous guests have included Led Zeppelin (who were banned from the hotel after their second infamous stay there),[2] the Rolling Stones,[1] Frank Zappa,[1] Kurt Cobain, Black Sabbath and U.S. president Bill Clinton.[1] The Edgewater is also a filming location in the 1992 season 3 episode "It Happened in Juneau" of Northern Exposure.[5]

The hotel sits on the site of the onetime Galbraith-Bacon Pier, renamed Pier 67 during World War II. It also incorporates part of the area of the former Pier 68 (the Booth Fisheries Pier). Both old piers were demolished to build the hotel. The hotel was originally intended to open in time for the Century 21 Exposition, Seattle's 1962 world's fair. Originally named the Camelot, it soon became the Edgewater Inn (more recently, just The Edgewater).[1][6]

The Edgewater sits partly on state-owned land. A lease from the state was renewed in 1988 and is good through 2018. As of 2008, it pays the state a rent of $330,000 a year or 3 percent of the hotel's gross receipts, whichever is greater. The lease requires the hotel owners to spend a minimum of $2 million on maintenance and refurbishing every five years.[7]

The original architects were John Graham & Co. There have been two significant remodels: one in 1969 by James Barrington (Arcadia, California) and another in 1990 by Seattle's Callison Partnership.[1]

The Edgewater is owned by Noble House Hotels & Resorts. The company also owned the Hotel Deca (formerly Edmond Meany Hotel, University Tower Hotel) in Seattle's University District.[8]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Elenga, Maureen R. (2007). Seattle Architecture: A Walking Guide to Downtown. Seattle, WA: Seattle Architecture Foundation. p. 180. ISBN 9780615141299. OCLC 191674522.
  2. ^ a b Patrick MacDonald, Two Zeppelin tributes to tide you over till fall Archived 2010-09-09 at the Wayback Machine, Seattle Times, February 17, 2008. Accessed online 29 October 2008.
  3. ^ Lily Eng, John, Paul, Ringo, George - And Dave -- Beatles Display A Ticket To Ride Into Band's Era -- Fans Share Memories And Memorabilia , Seattle Times, December 13, 1993. Accessed online 30 October 2008.
  4. ^ Mark Yuasa, Outdoors notes: Fishing for a Yellow Submarine , Seattle Times, June 10, 2004. Accessed online 30 October 2008.
  5. ^ 'Northern Exposure' Episode Based in Juneau - Sort of Archived 2018-07-17 at the Wayback Machine, Associated Press, May 1, 1992 (retrieved from AP News Archive, April 8, 2013)
  6. ^ Summary for 2411 Alaskan WAY / Parcel ID 7666202317 Archived 2022-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. Accessed online 14 August 2019. This is the source of the name "Camelot".
  7. ^ Jim Erickson, 230-room Edgewater Inn is sold; Owners will spend $2 million on hotel, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 1, 1988. Accessed online 30 October 2008.
  8. ^ Jeff Meisner, University Tower given new identity: Hotel Deca Archived 2006-06-27 at the Wayback Machine, Puget Sound Business Journal, June 2, 2006. Accessed online 29 October 2008