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the historic Larson Building of Yakima, Washington

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Early Builder in Yakima — A. E. Larson
By Robert E. Pace <www.yakimamemory.org/cdm4/article03.php>;

One of the early builders of note in the new town of North Yakima was A. E. Larson. Born in Minnesota in 1862, he came west in 1884 and spent his early years in the timber business on the Washington and Oregon coast. He came to Yakima in 1891 and purchased the Scott Lumber Yard as his first business venture. Eight years later he built the Yakima Avenue theater building and in 1900 the Larson Theater. Ten years later he had the Donnelly Hotel built and be became owner of the Ford franchise with another businessman, Grover Burrows.

However, his greatest achievement, and one that he will always be remembered, is the A. E. Larson Building located at the corner of 2nd Street and Yakima Avenue. It was a bold gamble to start construction of such a project in the midst of the great depression, but Larson wanted to do something for the city of Yakima that would both help the city as well as serve as a landmark.

The plan was to build a modern eleven story office building by consulting with the best architects from around the country and using the best materials available, creating a building that "will stand as a sentinel of the Yakima Valley, beautiful in the perfect harmony of architecture and decoration."

The building, as planned, was completed in the summer of 1931. On September 26, 1931 the building was open to the public for viewing for the first time. And what a structure to behold, there was nothing like it — anywhere.

According to the handout pamphlet on the opening day the building offered the following amenities:

The building was 188 feet high — to the top of the flagpole, and was divided into 225 offices. It was of "Class A" fireproof construction throughout. The spacious main lobby with walls of black and red Italian Marble with cast plasters ceiling ornamented in modern style of the

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