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American Pacific Whaling Fleet Buildings 9905 NE Lake Washington Boulevard
These are the remaining buildings of the American Pacific Whaling Company's winter headquarters on Meydenbauer Bay. The original Pacific Whaling Company business was started in Canada, and an affiliated business, the American Pacific Whaling Company, was opened in Westport in about 1911 or 1912. William Schupp bought the American Pacific Whaling Company in about 1916 or 1917. The company's fleet included 7 boats and it employed 200-250 people at its peak and brought in 250 whales in Alaska during the season. William Schupp bought the property in Bellevue in 1919 as a winter headquarters for the fleet, where the boats could be moored and repaired in a freshwater location and would be less likely to deteriorate. The original pier buildings were constructed in 1919. The buildings were burned in about 1930 and rebuilt soon after. The last year the whaling fleet went to Alaska for the summer season was in 1941. In 1942, the US Navy cancelled the company's whaling permit because of World War II, though there was considerable demand for whaling oil. During War World II, the dock was used by the US Coast Guard and Army as a base for the inshore patrol. The whaling business never got off the ground again, and the boats were scrapped in about 1948. The buildings were converted to the Meydenbauer Bay Marina between 1956 and 1958. The pier and garage buildings are the remnants of the American Pacific Whaling Company's winter headquarters. They represent an earlier era for the Bellevue waterfront and a particularly unusual business in the area. In addition to the study unit theme of architecture, they are associated with manufacturing and industry. |