Downtown Seattle- Seattle, WA - VirtualTourist.com

When it was built, the Space Needle was certainly the dominant feature of the Seattle skyline. However, over the past 40 years, many newer and very tall buildings have been built in Seattle.

The tallest structure in Seattle today, and at one time the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River, is located on the southern end of downtown, but still right in the core of Seattle. When it was first completed, it was called the "Columbia Center" and that is the name that is still used on a number of maps. It went through a period where it was known as the "Seafirst Center" when Seafirst Bank owned it, and there was some effort to refer to it as the Bank of America Tower when that bank took over Seafirst. Bank Of America Tower created the nickname "BOAT". Giving up in defeat, Bank of America determined they would go back to the original Columbia Center name, which is what many in Seattle never stopped calling it.

"Skyview" refers to the observation deck on the 73rd floor of the building. It costs $5 to get in. There is also a "Sky Lobby" which is actually a Starbucks coffee house located on the 40th floor. Don't get confused with where the signs are telling you to go! The view from the "Sky Lobby" is quite terrible!

In the center of the building are a set of elevators that go to the 40th floor. If you take those up to the 40th floor, you need to follow the signs to elevators that continue on to the 73rd floor. There is no set of public elevators that serve all floors.

It is possilble to see east, south, and west from here, and to a limited extent the northwest, but there is no full 360 degree view as offices on the north side of the floor block that part of the building. However, it is possible to see Mount Rainer, the Olympic Peninsula and Olypmic Mountians, and much of downtown Seattle as well as parts of the Cascades.

This is a much less expensive view point than the top of the Space Needle, and provides views that are not possible in the Space Needle today due to the size of the buildings downtown. Watch the hours! The Skyview doesn't open until mid-morning.

In the main lobby of the building, be sure to take a look at the two odd modern art sculptures that are located there, if you have an interest in art.

I have put a few more photos from the Columbia Center Skyview into a Seattle Travelogue so that you can see what you missed, should you visit on a cloudy or hazy or smoggy day.

Downtown Seattle, Seattle

Seattle Hotels

Downtown Seattle, Seattle

Visiting Seattle?

Visiting Seattle?

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