Teetering through the piles of plaster and framing debris now lying on its timber floors, visitors can still get a sense of what life in the building was like from its construction in 1889, until February 28, 2001 when the Nisqually Earthquake hit. Rehabilitation plans for the building will incorporate much of what's left of the historic fabric into the interior scheme for the new Klondike Gold Rush Museum.

Entering from the east side of the building now requires maneuvering past the chain link fence separating the building from the sidewalk. Double doors once opening down into the Fenix Underground, now housed in the newly rehabilitated Buttnick Building, still maintain the silhouette of the nightclub's mythical namesake.

Air in the dark basement is dense with mold and dust. The low ceiling remains festooned with Mardi Gras decorations, colorful yet doleful reminders of the tragic festivities that preceded the earthquake by less than twelve hours. The Fenix moved most all of its belongings out soon after the quake, though Rick Wyatt, the nightclub's owner, gave Historic Seattle a 1920s photograph of the building that once hung behind the bar.

The vaguely Flemish-style parapet that rises on the Second Avenue side of the building in this picture provides some insight into what happened to many Pioneer Square buildings over the past century of earthquakes. After a 1949 earthquake, many buildings lost their decorative cornices and parapets, or these were removed as a precaution. Most Pioneer Square cornices looked shaved for this reason.

Remnants of historic efforts to repair the Cadillac, and prepare it for future quakes, are evidenced in the basement along the outer edge of the building in the form of rusting metal ties that protrude from the sloping concrete sidewall foundations. This method of keeping masonry buildings together was used prior to reinforced concrete masonry construction. The latter incorporates steel ties throughout the framing. Decorated ties -- often in rosette form -- are extremely common on the exteriors of older East Coast brick buildings.

The expanded Klondike Gold Rush Museum will include an exhibit area taking up approximately one quarter of the space. The rest of the basement will provide office and workspace for curators and other National Park Service staff.

Adjacent areaways that run under Jackson Street and Second Avenue South will be reinforced with new steel members, and new concrete topping at the sidewalk. Reinforcement of the areaways that extend throughout Pioneer Square is critical for the long-term life of its many unreinforced masonry buildings. The City of Seattle's Department of Transportation is leading an effort to repair, reinforce, and in some cases, restore this underground system. Part of the seismic work at the Cadillac will involve stabilization of adjacent areaways.

The First Floor

The primary, street-level door leading up to the single room occupancy apartments on the Cadillac's upper levels is located on the Jackson Street side, on the south elevation of the building. A narrow wooden stair leads from the basement up to the first floor. Currently the first floor dips considerably at the east end of the building, which will be the primary exhibit area and the public's first impression of the new space. The stair is creaky, but the original rails and woodwork remain in the rehabilitation scheme.

Leveling the floor is one of many engineering fixes that figure into the reuse plan. The floor will include new support beams that will be visible throughout the mostly open space. New stair framing will be added to the north side of the building on all levels, as will completely new sets of stairs. The framing for these will help support the building, and provide a safe exit in case of emergencies.

As of now (September 2003), an 88 seat auditorium will be located on the alley side (the west side) of the building. Seats will be oriented toward the south, and are removable. A narrow exhibit area is planned for the space between the central stairs and the auditorium.

The office lobby for the museum will be located at the base of the stair originally leading up to the second and third floor rooms. A new wooden storefront entry will be added to the Jackson Street side to provide direct access into the lobby.

The Second Floor

A light layer of white dust covers the stair leading up to the second floor, evidence of the plaster particulates that floated down during shoring efforts. As a result of these measures, most of the lathe and framing of interior walls is exposed. Light streams down from an overhead skylight so that the details of the turned railing around the stairwell, and most the building's interior framing are visible without a flashlight.

As a part of the rehabilitation plan, the light well, and the central stair will remain, but with its wood detailing restored.

The south side of the building facing Jackson street is a riot of framing, made up of original beams and lathe, and diagonal shoring members added last year.

Structural support on the east side of the building is "soft" above the area where, on the first level, the floor sinks nearly a foot at its worst point.

New steel posts and glulam (a very strong material reinforced by fusing several pieces of wood together) beams will provide support throughout all floors, and will be visible on this level which will contain offices for visitor's services.

Interior configuration of offices, and the location of systems is actually aided by the current conditions. Because the building is already gutted, upgraded structural elements, HVAC and other systems, and office configurations, will be relatively easy to accommodate. Historic Seattle is seeking federal tax credits for work on the project; these credits require adhering to federal standards for the rehabilitation of historic buildings. This generally means minimal alteration of character-defining features.

Large and small piles of building debris, comprised of plaster-encrusted chunks of wallpaper, miscellaneous rubble and planks, a workman's glove, and an occasional dead pigeon, lie throughout the floor, in the halls and in the husks of rooms around the perimeter of the central circulation space.

For those interested in the history of interior design, the piles provide a window into the building's wall coverings since the 1890s. Between the late nineteenth century and the 1950s, the Cadillac's tiny rooms saw six different kinds of wallpaper. The oldest is a sage green leaf pattern, with an orange striped background. Subsequent wallpapers reflect trends from the early 20th century, including exotic bamboo and colorful Asian-inspired flowers from the late 1930s and 40s, to more staid classical revival prints popular in the 1950s and early 60s.

The Third Floor

Up another creaky flight of stairs, the third floor looks a lot like the second, but is slightly better lit. A sad sink and a lonely toilet are the building's sole conveniences, and are located on this floor.

Facilities in the new Klondike Gold Rush Museum, and its associated offices, will be much, much better, of course, and ADA compliant. Plans include a central elevator, and a new skylight (there were originally two) over the west side of the building.

As of now, the third floor is a bit drafty thanks to a few gaping holes on the southeast corner and southwest corner of the building. These are currently covered with blue tarp, but the masonry will be rebuilt with some of the original bricks which are being stored off site.

Many of the original wooden window sashes will be restored and reinstalled. Where the windows were substantially damaged, these will be replaced with new wooden windows.

Up on the Roof

Right now, the roof of the Cadillac is a flat expanse edged by loose brick and blue tarp. The brick in some of these piles is still attached to mortar -- a situation that demonstrated the strength of much of the unreinforced structural system to Historic Seattle's engineers who disputed original claims that the mortar was unsafe because it crumbled to the touch.

Though the bricks and mortar needed to be reinforced by an interior steel and glulam framing system, the existing structure was sound enough to retain the building's third floor walls. Original shoring plans called for their removal.

How the story of the earthquake, and the building's history will be incorporated into the interpretative program at the Klondike Gold Rush Museum is still unknown, but the rehabilitation will preserve the building in such a way that allows the many chapters of its history to be told.

View last month's Techniques & Technology article

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