Joshua Sears Building

About

The Joshua Sears Building is a historic building in Kirkland, Washington, located at the northwest corner of Market Street and Seventh Avenue, Kirkland's historic commercial core. It was built in 1891 by Boston philanthropist and capitalist, Joshua Sears, who was heavily invested in Peter Kirk's Great Western Iron and Steel Company and was the town site's largest landowner. As a result of the Panic of 1893, the steel mill and the bank intended to occupy this building never opened but the Sears building survives today as a reminder of what might have been in Kirkland. It is an early example of Beaux-Arts architecture in the Northwest, where Victorian and Romanesque Revival styles were still predominant in commercial buildings. On August 3, 1982, it was added the National Register of Historic Places. In December 2015 the building was purchased by local attorney Simeon Osborn and his wife Monica Hart, who stated they plan to keep the current business and residential tenants.