Kuhn Building

Kuhn Building. Begun in 1892 by Port Townsend pioneer Joseph A. Kuhn, this building represented the latest ideas of the time in architecture. Construction was directed by Jonas Guise, then the best known contractor in the area. Bricks came from the yards of Eisenbeis & Tucker near Point Wilson. . . Port Townsend’s boom days were already on the wane when construction began. Although work was hurried along until four stories were roughed in, financial unrest in the U.S. economy halted the project in 1893. . . Since that time, the building has housed tenants as diverse as automobile dealerships (Whippet, Chrysler), tire stores, a bowling alley, and, in its leanest times, thousands of pigeons. (There is a claim the building made Ripley’s Believe It or Not as the world’s largest pigeon coop.) In 1928, a Seattle consortium announced plans to spend $250,000 to convert the building into an apartment-hotel, to meet the housing challenge presented by the arrival of workers for the new Crown Zellerbach mill, but financial difficulties interfered once again. . . The two top floors were removed in the mid 1940’s; the bricks were barged out to Port Townsend Bay and thrown overboard. . . The building was acquired by Barney and Judy Sabo in 1979 and restoration began.