Safeco Plaza

About

Safeco Plaza (formerly known as 1001 Fourth Avenue Plaza, the Seafirst Building, and the Seattle-First National Bank Building) is a 50-story skyscraper in Downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. Designed by the Naramore, Bain, Brady, and Johanson (NBBJ) firm, it was completed in 1969 by the Howard S. Wright Construction Company for Seattle First National Bank (later known as Seafirst Bank), which relocated from its previous headquarters at the nearby Dexter Horton Building.

Standing at a height of 630 feet (192 m), Safeco Plaza was, upon completion, the tallest building (and structure) in Seattle, and the second-tallest building west of Mississippi River, behind 555 California Street in San Francisco. It dwarfed Smith Tower, which had been the tallest building since 1914, and edged out the Space Needle, the tallest structure since 1962, by 25 ft (7.6 m); the latter led locals to refer to the building as "The Box the Space Needle Came In". The building was surpassed by the Columbia Center in 1984; as of 2022, it is the seventh-tallest building in Seattle.