Explore Seattle

The Seattle Central Library is the main building of the Seattle Public Library, opened in 2004 and designed by Rem Koolhaas and Joshua Prince-Ramus of OMA with LMN Architects. Its 11 levels sit behind a diagonal net of steel and glass; inside, visitors can walk the Books Spiral, a continuous ramp through the nonfiction collection, and see the Red Floor.

St. James Cathedral is the Catholic cathedral of the Archdiocese of Seattle, on Ninth Avenue in the First Hill neighborhood, dedicated in 1907. Its central dome collapsed under heavy snow in 1916 and was never rebuilt; two bell towers frame the west front, and inside are stained-glass windows by Charles Connick and several pipe organs.

Pike Place Market is a public market on the edge of downtown Seattle, above the Elliott Bay waterfront. It opened on 17 August 1907, when farmers sold produce from wagons on Pike Place. Under the red Public Market sign and clock, its arcades and lower floors hold fish and produce stalls, crafts tables, bakeries, small shops and restaurants.

Gas Works Park is a 7.7-hectare park on the north shore of Lake Union, on the site of a coal gasification plant that ran from 1906 to 1956. Landscape architect Richard Haag kept the rusting towers and pipework when the park opened in 1975; around them are lawns, a play barn and a grassy hill with views across the lake to downtown Seattle.

The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, known as the Ballard Locks, carry boats between the Lake Washington Ship Canal and Puget Sound at the west end of Salmon Bay, between Ballard and Magnolia. Opened in 1917 and run by the US Army Corps of Engineers, they include a fish ladder with underwater viewing windows and the Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Garden.