Downtown Polson Building Is Heavily Damaged By Fire

The site of one of Seattle's most famous fires burned again yesterday, this time destroying much of the top two floors of the Polson Building near the waterfront.

The six-story wood and concrete building at 71 Columbia St., which now houses Antique Importers and several artists' studios, was the scene of the spectacular June 1974 fire in the Ace Novelty company.

When firefighters answered yesterday's 3:59 a.m. alarm, flames were shooting from the top of the building, said Georgia Taylor, a Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman.

More than 90 firefighters were called to the fire, which generated such large clouds of smoke that downtown residents more than a mile away called 911 to report smelling it.

Crews were still mopping up at the scene more than 8 hours after the first alarm.

Firefighters' efforts were hindered by the collapse of a main staircase, but there were no injuries to firefighters or occupants. Four people were believed to have been in the building when the fire started, and all were accounted for, said Taylor.

The building was equipped with sprinklers from the first through fourth floors, but the top two floors had no such protection and most of the damage was centered there.

The top floor was largely vacant.

Throughout the morning, occupants of the building came to the scene to try to learn how much damage had been done, telling of expensive artwork, graphic-arts computer equipment and other

materials in the building.

"Everything in my life is in there," said Jenny Pohlman, co-owner of a glass studio, as she watched water from fire hoses cascade down the side of the building where her studio had been.

The cause of yesterday's fire is not yet known, fire officials said.

The 1974 fire at the same building led to years of investigation, with no resolution. Investigators finally determined that fire had been caused by arson, but no arrests were made.

Internal fire-department documents obtained by reporters years after the fire indicated the most plausible theory was that the blaze had been set by pull-tab manufacturers from Chicago who were fighting with building owner Benjamin Mayers for control of the Seattle-area pull-tab gambling market.

After the 1974 fire, Mayers moved Ace Novelty to Bellevue. The company was sold last week to a Texas corporation for $44 million.

In the past two decades, the downtown building had been developed into art studios and small shops, with an antique store, grocery and snowboard shop on the first floor. By the late 1980s, newspaper articles were describing the building as being the site of one of the largest artists' colonies on the West Coast.

No damage estimates were available. The property is valued at $1.4 million, according to public records, with the building structure itself estimated as being worth $643,000.