Preview up to 100 items from this collection below. The Space Needle’s construction during the early 1960s was an epic feat of architecture and design. George Gulacsik chronicled the project with over 2000 photos. Browse through our timeline to see the Needle’s construction milestones.
Worker guiding steel plate into place on Space Needle, ca. November 8, 1961
Identifier: spl_gg_70070020
Date: 1961-11-08
View this itemSouvenir Taft Day official program, September 30, 1909
"Official Daily Programme" for 30 September 1909. Schedule for Taft Day, Sacramento Day, Live Stock Day, and Ellery Band performance. Illustration on cover of William H. Taft, 16 pages.
Identifier: mohai_ayp_2006.3.34.2
Date: 1909-09-30
View this itemChild on rock at unidentified coastal beach, ca. August 1961
Identifier: spl_gg_68840028
Date: 1961-08
View this itemLowman Building, 1907
Transcribed from photograph: "Buildings. Lowman building. First Ave. and Cherry St. 1907. 1. Alaska building. 2. Railway Exchange building."
Identifier: spl_shp_14659
Date: 1907
View this itemView north from 1st Ave. and Cherry, 1870
Transcribed from front of photograph: "Streets. Front Street [1st Ave.]. 1870. Looking North from Cherry Street. 1. Intelligencer building. 2. L. A. Treen shoe store. 3. S. L. Benjamin book store." Transcribed from back of photo: "F. W. Wald, hardware. Reinig store (agent for Singer sewing machines). Over Reinig's, Puget Sound Business College. Left side: Intelligencer building. Treen & Co. shoe store. S.L. Benjamin book store."
Identifier: spl_shp_5174
Date: 1870
View this itemWorkers on Space Needle construction float, ca. late September 1961
Identifier: spl_gg_69690004
Date: 1961-09
View this itemJohn J. McGilvra house, 1870
Transcribed from photograph: "Seattle Houses. McGilvra, John J. Exterior. Laurel Shade Road. Built 1864; destroyed by fire 1933. 1870." Laurel Shade Road can be seen in the 1905 and 1912 Baist Atlases. It runs along the present-day path of 43rd Ave. E.
Identifier: spl_shp_22913
Date: 1870
View this itemWorkers atop Space Needle, ca. early December 1961
Identifier: spl_gg_73670002
Date: 1961-12
View this itemMedical Dental Building, ca. 1925
The Medical Dental Building was constructed in 1925 and expanded in 1950. Initial plans for expansion during the 1930s were put on hold due to the Great Depression. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006
Identifier: spl_pc_00901
Date: 1925?
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