George Gulacsik Space Needle Photograph Collection
Preview up to 100 items from this collection below. The Space Needle’s construction during the early 1960s was an epic feat of architecture and design. George Gulacsik chronicled the project with over 2000 photos. Browse through our timeline to see the Needle’s construction milestones.
-
View of Space Needle from fairgrounds, ca. November 7, 1961
Identifier: spl_gg_70050011
Date: 1961-11-07
View this item -
Workers removing top ring base of Space Needle derrick, ca. December 21, 1961
Identifier: spl_gg_75450010
Date: 1961-12-21
View this item -
View east from near 1st Ave. and Pine St. to regrade activity, ca. 1906
The Washington Hotel appears at the top of the hill. Although the regrade started in 1903, James Moore, the owner of the Washington Hotel, refused to clear the property until 1906 when regrading of Second and Third Avenues were well underway.
Identifier: spl_dr_027
Date: 1906
View this item -
Scaffolding at Space Needle base, ca. August 1961
Identifier: spl_gg_68910006
Date: 1961-08
View this item -
Worker balances on cable inside Space Needle, ca. November 19, 1961
Identifier: spl_gg_72700015
Date: 1961-11-19
View this item -
Workers applying concrete on Space Needle pagoda, ca. early January 1965
Identifier: spl_gg_76240022
Date: 1962-01
View this item -
Shai Shotie
Frank Asakichi Kunishige was born in Japan on June 5, 1878. He came to the United States via San Francisco in 1895. After graduating from the Illinois College of Photography, he opened a small photography studio in San Francisco. Kunishige moved to Seattle in 1917. In the same year, he married Gin Kunishige and began working in the studio of Edward S. Curtis where he became acquainted with Ella McBride who he worked for in later years. Kunishige was well known for his use of Pictorialism, a popular painterly style of photography. He developed his photographs on "textura tissue," a paper of his own creation, which allowed him to produce almost dreamlike prints. His work was featured nationally and internationally in exhibitions and publications such as Photo-Era and Seattle's Town Crier. In 1924, Kunishige became one of the founding members of the Seattle Camera Club, a group of local photographers including Kyo Koike, Yukio Morinaga, Iwao Matsushita and Fred Y. Ogasawara who gathered to share techniques and ideas, as well as their deep love of the medium. Although the group was initially solely Japanese, they soon welcomed more members including Ella McBride, their first female member. When World War II struck and the country's Japanese internment policy was put in place, Kunishige and his wife were forced to leave Seattle for Idaho where they were interned at the Minidoka camp. After their release, Kunishige spent two years working at a photography studio in Twin Falls, Idaho but eventually returned to Seattle due to his poor health. Frank Kunishige passed away on April 9, 1960.
Identifier: spl_art_367924_42
Date: 1940
View this item -
Workers rigging floats on Space Needle leg and view west, ca. September 12, 1961
Identifier: spl_gg_69670009
Date: 1961-09-12
View this item -
Workers waiting outside Space Needle elevator, ca. December 4-7, 1961
Identifier: spl_gg_73680018
Date: 1961-12-04
View this item -
Worker painting Space Needle roof Galaxy Gold, ca. late January 1962
Identifier: spl_gg_052
Date: 1962-01
View this item