While Fisher's designs were predominantly Richardsonian, the Bell Building is less so, with several Gothic elements thrown into the mix.

cast iron columns support the small arch and a decorative wooden panel also appears above the doorway.

Columns of pillowed granite blocks on either side of the doorway and storefront continue for the first story only and then are extended by brick pilasters to the full height of the building.

Windows occur in sets of three above the commercial section of the ground floor in pairs on either side of bordering pilasters.

This is the scar remaining from a large cornice made of pressed tin originally painted to match the stone, that was removed from the building after a 1913 fire, harming its architectural integrity greatly.

His land claim, adjacent to those of the Denny and Boren families, developed into the community of Belltown, which would later be absorbed by Seattle.

Fed up with the instability of the area, the Bell family removed to California, where they remained for several years.

[8] Following the death of William Bell's wife in 1870, the family moved back to Seattle, now much more built up then when they had left.

Austin was living and working in Seattle as a printer at the Puget Sound Dispatch when he was severely injured in a fireworks explosion on July 4, 1872.

He had spent most of his life in San Francisco and many years traveling to seek medical treatment to restore his health, while retaining a real estate office in Seattle.

Upon returning to Seattle at the beginning of 1889, he began making plans to erect a large brick building on the property he inherited just south of his father's hotel, since renamed the Bellevue House.

On April 23, 1889, Bell took his nephew, William M. Coffman, on a buggy ride to share his plans for the first time.

A suicide note to Eva was discovered stating that he did not consider life with poor health worth living and expressed sorrow that he must take this way out.

[6] In 1937, for $9,800, the building was added to bargain real estate tycoon (and later Samis Foundation founder) Sam Israel's stock of low-maintenance properties.

Like most of Israel's property, he kept the roof fixed, rented the retail space for cheap, and left the upper floors vacant.

Bell Associates L.L.C., bought the gutted and boarded up building and an adjoining parking area from the Samis Foundation in 1997 for $1 million.

[7][15] Under the supervision of architect Chris Snell, all but the facade and the south wall of the building was demolished and a new 52-unit condominium structure with underground parking and 6,600 square feet (610 m2) of retail space was built in its shell while a new connecting building sympathetic in design to its neighbors was built on the parking lot.