The Diller Hotel

The Diller Hotel is a former hotel building in downtown Seattle, Washington. In the early 1900s, it was known as one of Seattle's few luxury hotels. This historic building is located at the corner of First Avenue and University Street, across from the Seattle Art Museum, and is one of the few remaining buildings left from the 1890s, a period of reconstruction and commercial development after the area was destroyed by the fire of 1889. The hotel was owned by Leonard Diller and family and was designed by architect Louis L. Mendel. The building is now home to The Diller Room, a craft cocktail bar housed in the former hotel lobby.

In January 1887 pioneer Seattle merchant Leonard Diller, who previously traded as a butcher operating the City Market, entered the hotel trade when he leased the old Brunswick Hotel in Pioneer Square from Watson C. Squire. His plans for a new hotel at Front and University Streets, then a largely residential area on the opposite end of downtown, were first announced in February of 1889. Though largely resembling what would eventually be built, the earliest plans called for the building to have a complete iron front, which would have been a first for Seattle had it been realized.

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