Kahn & Boeing

[wood jim]

Federal Center South is located just south of downtown
Seattle between East Marginal Way and the Duwamish
River. Buildings 1201 and 1206 of the Center were
designed by Albert Kahn and built in 1930-1932 as the
Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant. A world-renown
industrial architect, Kahn is credited with
revolutionizing American factory design just as Henry
Ford is credited with revolutionizing the
manufacturing process. 

Building 1206, the Ford Factory "Oil House", was
originally a service building with underground
pipeline and tunnel connections to Building 1201, the
Main Assembly Plant. 

In the spring of 1931, inspired by this huge
construction project, the City ran "two page
advertising spreads" in the Saturday Evening Post
which told "several million people. . . that there is
a young, progressive city out west that is carrying on
despite (the) nationwide business depression."

In 1940, Ford released the plant to the US Army. It
then became the "Seattle General
Depot". Ford continued a scaled-down operation during
the mid-1940s at a Fourth Avenue South site, but by
1948 it was regional manufacturer and distributor of
parts and accessories only.


By 1943, the US Army Corps of Engineers dominated the
entire 4000 block of East Marginal Way with
warehouses, depots, offices and clinics. The Corps
remained at this location through 1956. From 1957 to
1970, the Boeing Airplane Company Missile Production
Center was located in the old Ford Plant. Renovation
plans dated 1973 indicate that the US Government
reoccupied the site after Boeing. 



Jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule�"


Zimmerman & Wood


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