page_title: Old City Hall Historic District
section_title: Commerce Street
hierarchical_section_title: Old City Hall Historic District / Significant Buildings / Commerce Street
caption_attribution_description: English: Spanish Steps, Tacoma, Washington This is an image of a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America. Its reference number is 77001352
context_page_description: The Old City Hall Historic District is located on a bluff at the north end of Tacoma's business district, overlooking Commencement Bay. The Old City Hall and the Northern Pacific Office Building stabilize the northern boundary of the district and the Pantages Theatre/Jones Building just south of the district boundary, complements the Winthrop Hotel.
  All blocks are laid out so that major building entrances face the streets, which run north and south, and the buildings are constructed with common walls, which cover the entire depth of the block, deleting any need for alleys. Thus, with the exception of Pacific Avenue, where business fronts face each other, business fronts tend to be located on the east. The western exposures represent the back of the structures. From the bluff to Pacific Avenue the land is level, but Commerce and Broadway form terraces on the steep hillside. As a result, a facade which appears as a single story on the west side of the street is scaled a full three stories on the east.
  The pivotal structures dominate the District skyline. As a result, there are a number of vistas that rise and conclude within the boundaries.
context_section_description: Old City Hall
  The utilitarian brick and glass facades of the garage buildings along Commerce and Broadway represent an important type of structure. Some of the structures approach the Commercial style although none as fully as the Motoramp Garage (741-47 Commerce); the Morris Motors Building (711 Broadway) has Commercial elements as does the Colonial Hotel (701 Commerce).
  Spanish Steps
  Of even greater significance at this time, when the proximity of a residential neighborhood to the north of the Elks Temple is understood, is the Spanish Steps to the south of this edifice. Were these not to exist, pedestrian access to the City Hall from Broadway would have constituted a lengthy detour around business blocks. These stairs were built to satisfy city fire code requirements for a second story exit from the Elks Temple, and it is unknown if pedestrian access was noted as a determining factor of their design. However, in 1936, when the Elks Club attempted to close the stairs to the public, city officials intervened as legal owners of the dedicated street, thus emphasizing the importance of the steps to foot traffic.
caption: Spanish Steps, Tacoma, Washington
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