With its turn-of-the-century roots, Seattle’s Westland Building—once a plumbing parts wholesaler, a steam-supply warehouse, and a parka-producing textile mill—perfectly captures the industrial spirit of the city’s oldest neighborhood. Built in Pioneer Square in 1907, the six-story brick construction now houses Populus Seattle, a 120-room hotel from Denver-based real estate developer Urban Villages and Chicago-based operator Aparium.
Vibrant artwork adds a jolt of color to the reception area
Spearheaded by local architecture firm Miller Hull and Chicago-based design firm Curioso, the adaptive reuse project also features a robust art program, the neighborhood’s first rooftop bar, and sustainability initiatives that lower energy use like the addition of new windows and increasing natural light. In fact, it is the second outpost of the carbon-positive brand (the first opened in Denver last fall).
“Pioneer Square has a lot of history,” says Carlos Herrera, studio design leader at Curioso, who describes the approach to the interiors as a balance between opposites, with design elements that reference the city’s gritty past and nod to its abundant natural beauty. “Hundreds of years ago, at the exact location of the hotel, there was a very early settlement in Seattle. Back then, there was a lot of greenery and water, so we loved the idea of taking the colors of the natural elements and complementing this man-made, brick-and-timber building.”
Part of the RailSpur micro-district, comprising three repurposed warehouses and their intersecting alleyways, Populus Seattle needed intense retrofitting to transform it from drab offices into a design destination for travelers and locals alike. Working with JTM Construction, the team peeled back decades of architectural add-ons, revealing original timber joists, which they repurposed to frame areas like the entrance hall and lobby. “The columns, beams, and joists were all cut of large logs at a mill down the street,” says Miller Hull principal Mike Jobes.
An exposed ceiling nods to the building’s industrial past in the private dining room at Salt Harvest
Working under the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program (which gives tax credits to private developers who rehabilitate historic buildings), the design team couldn’t change the original brick exterior or windows, but they had some leeway with fresh additions, including the new 5,000-square-foot penthouse and rooftop bar.
“The entry canopy, vestibule, and dining enclosure in the back didn’t have to mimic something old because they weren’t there before,” Jobes says. “[We] made it of its time, but with a compatible character [to the original building].” In this case, they used lots of glass and steel, as well as textures that imitate wood grain to point to the area’s industrial past.
As guests enter the hotel, they’re greeted by two old-growth nurse logs, which are watered through a built-in misting system so that over time, “plants are going to start to populate the sides,” Jobes says. Once inside, guests take a long, flora-lined stairwell up to farm-to-table restaurant Salt Harvest. Here, green tones—a jade-colored marble bar and tabletops, deep green chairs and bar stools—punctuate a rich palette of wood and leather, while large-format paintings curated by local art consulting studio ARTXIV underscore Seattle’s creative culture.
The first in the neighborhood, rooftop bar Firn overlooks the skyline and Puget Sound
The hotel’s color scheme evolves as you travel upwards. “We went from the Columbia Basin to the mountaintops,” Herrera says. “As you get up to the rooftop, you still have those neutral, warm tones, but you’ll see a bit more color.” The rooftop bar, Firn, boasts sweeping views of Puget Sound and the city, and its furniture’s rusty red and orange tones capture the vibrant hues of a summer sunset.
Outfitted in green and blue hues, wooden cabinetry, and original artwork, guestrooms proved challenging—each one has a slightly different layout, so tweaks to furniture or closet placement were necessary. “There were a lot of times where we would design something and the client would ask us to strip it back again, just so that the building itself was the hero,” says Herrera.
While it would have been easier to tear down the aging structure and start from scratch, Populus Seattle feels refreshingly authentic to the city—the original details and quirky exposed elements only add to its charm. “That’s the beauty of an adaptive reuse project,” Herrera says. “You find nuggets of cool everywhere.” During renovation, the contractors often sent him pictures of uncovered structural hardware and asked what they should do with it. Herrera’s response was usually the same: “Leave it. It’s historic.”
Built in Pioneer Square in 1907, the six-story brick building is now home to the 120-room hotel, an adaptive reuse project that reduces its embodied carbon footprint by 36 percent
Salt Harvest restaurant boasts green tones that juxtapose a wood and leather palette
Plants suspend from the ceiling in Salt Harvest’s glass-enclosed solarium
This article originally appeared in HD’s July 2025 issue.
