Browse photographs from the Paul Dorpat Collection which documents the history of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. At this time, a small sampling of images has been digitized while the collection is actively being processed.
Marion St. east from 2nd Ave., February 5, 1982
Photograph shows remnants of the Olympic National Life Building after demolition on the northeast corner, as well as the YMCA building and the former Union Bank of California Building (later rebranded as 901 Fifth Avenue) on the corners of 4th Ave. and Marion St.
Identifier: spl_dor_00029
Date: 1982-02-05
View this itemSeattle floating bridge, August 28, 1963
This photograph was taken on the opening day of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, later the SR 520 bridge, from the west side looking east across Lake Washington towards Medina.
Identifier: spl_dor_00052
Date: 1963-08-28
View this itemAerial view of downtown Seattle east from Safeco Plaza, July 15, 1981
Views east towards First Hill and Capitol Hill.
Identifier: spl_dor_00040
Date: 1981-07-15
View this itemS. Washington St. east from 4th Ave. S., May 30, 1968
View of S. Washington St. looking east from 4th Ave. S. with the Terrace View Hotel and Astor Hotel visible in the distance. The Astor Hotel was designed by architects Thompson & Thompson and built in the Japantown section of Seattle's Chinatown-International District in 1909, featuring a 400-seat cultural and performing arts theater, the Nippon Kan Theater. The theater served as a Japanese community center until 1942, when it was boarded up during the Japanese American internment.
Identifier: spl_dor_00011
Date: 1968-05-30
View this itemMunicipal News, v. 53, no. 14, Jul. 22, 1963
Identifier: spl_mn_818362_53_14
Date: 1963-07-22
View this itemJapanese Tea Garden, Arboretum, June 11, 1967
Pond at the Seattle Japanese Garden (opened in 1960) located in the Washington Park Arboretum
Identifier: spl_dor_00042
Date: 1967-06-11
View this itemForested waterfront, Washington State, ca. 1910s
View of unknown lake or river with forested banks and a mountain in the background. Location is presumed to be Washington State.
Identifier: spl_dor_gpn_re_00230
Date: 1910; 1911; 1912; 1913; 1914; 1915; 1916; 1917; 1918; 1919
View this itemRow of colorful houses at 92nd Ave. N. and College Way N., March 31, 1997
Photograph shows a row of homes in the Northgate neighborhood, all built in the 1980s. This image was used in the March 24, 2012 Now & Then column "Row Houses on 5th." (https://pauldorpat.com/2012/03/24/seattle-now-then-row-houses-on-5th/) The caption provided was "A modern sort of row - this one near North Seattle Community College (on the byway - rather than the freeway - to Costco.)"
Identifier: spl_dor_00041
Date: 1997-03-31
View this itemDrydocked
Fay Chong was born in Canton, China in 1912. He worked primarily in printmaking and in watercolor. He and his family moved to Seattle in 1920. He attended Edison High School where he was a classmate of George Tsutakawa. Chong worked on the Public Works of Art Project in the 1930's with Robert Bruce Inverarity, Jacob Elshin and Julius Twohy. Chong taught art at Cornish College for the Arts, Seattle Community College, Washington Senior High School and Ingraham High School. He received a Bachelor's degree from the University of Washington in 1968 and an MAT from the University of Washington in 1971. He died suddenly of a stroke in 1973.
Identifier: spl_art_C455Dr
Date: n.d.
View this itemSouth Seattle from Smith Tower, ca. 1914-1919
View looking SE from Smith Tower towards the Pioneer Square and Chinatown-International District neighborhoods, with King Street Station and Union Station visible in the bottom right. Signs for the Salvation Army, Panama Hotel, Astor Hotel, Alki Hotel can also be seen.
Identifier: spl_dor_gpn_re_00155
Date: 1910; 1911; 1912; 1913; 1914; 1915; 1916; 1917; 1918; 1919
View this item