HistoryLink Tours

200 5th Avenue S

This hotel was one of many single-room occupancy (SRO) hotels designed in the Chinatown-International District by the local father (Charles L.) and son (C. Bennett) architectural firm of Thompson and Thompson. Built as the Alki Hotel in 1910, the building provided 86 residential rooms and three at-grade commercial storefronts. Restored in 2010 as 53 units of market-rate and rent-restricted housing and renamed as the Ascona Apartments, it retains its original character and commercial storefront bays along with a small projecting balcony feature on the fifth floor at the northwest corner of the building’s front façade. This latter feature is one typically found on buildings that have historically been owned or occupied by Chinese immigrants and signifies the importance of its interior space. Most typically, these spaces were used for functions by district, family, or tong associations. These can be projecting or recessed balconies and were a Chinese design feature that was borrowed and used in Chinese American buildings. Balconies could be part of an initial design, or retrofitted after their occupancy.

Walk east (uphill) on S Washington Street.