Hotel Ballard

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Ballard's glittering designer hotel, which opened in May 2013, exemplifies the neighborhood’s upward rise. The seduction begins outside: Hotel Ballard has a lovely street profile, with its wrought-iron balconies blending in with the redbrick edifices of yore. Inside, it’s even more opulent (upholstered headboards, funky chandeliers, super-streamlined bathtubs), but stays faithful to the neighborhood’s Scandinavian heritage with Nordic murals.

Guests get free use of the equally fancy Olympic Athletic Club next door.

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Nearby attractions

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2. Cors & Wegener Building

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Once the offices of the early local broadsheet, Ballard News, this is still one of the most impressive historic buildings in Ballard and one of the oldest…

3. Scandinavian American Bank Building

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The second-empire-baroque–style Scandinavian American Bank Building is a nice example of the early-1900s tendency to flatter by imitation: its concrete…

4. GS Sanborn Building

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The GS Sanborn Building is Ballard’s only example of Romanesque architecture, a style that was popular on the East Coast in the 1880s. It has a sandstone…

5. Portland Building

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A great example of the decorative brickwork that graces many of the buildings along Ballard Ave, the Portland Building has housed all kinds of businesses…

6. Commemorative Bell Tower

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On the corner of Ballard Avenue NW and 22nd Ave is the original location of Ballard City Hall, sometimes called ‘Hose Hall,' which also contained the jail…

7. Bergen Place Park

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In case you forget where you are or the origin of the settlers to whom Ballard owes its existence, a quintet of flags fly over diminutive Bergen Place…

8. Ballard Building

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