OCAW Harbor Towne Mall

This building was originally constructed in 1929 as the Olympic Motorcoach Terminal later becoming the Greyhound Bus Station.  It later housed Lincoln Welding Company and is currently known as the Harbor Towne Mall.  A continuous highly decorative parapet in a blend of Art Deco with Spanish Colonial Revival influence remains on the main east facade.  It contains original terracotta volutes, obelisk finials and art deco-inspired end and center medallions.

The building was constructed in the heydays of downtown's fourth phase of development.  Which is most visible today. It was a period of rapid commercial expansion framed by the Great War and the Great Depression.  Older wood frame buildings were being replaced by larger more substantial structures.  The railroad was now a permanent feature across the waterfront where Lincoln, Laurel and Oak Streets reached out to expand the downtown north with an orthogonal web of docks.  They seamlessly merged dry land with the numerous wharfs reaching out into the harbor.  The once formidable and restrictive bluff across Lincoln Street had been sluiced away, ultimately allowing direct access to this site and far better access to the waterfront. 

The Olympic Motorcoach Terminal was connected to a larger regional bus system and brought visitors to Port Angeles from around Puget Sound.  It was located a block from where Highway 101, newly completed/upgraded all the way to Olympia, entered the downtown area and adjacent to the ferry docks where travelers left for Victoria and other Puget Sound ports.  Buses initially supplemented boat and train service, allowing greater access to tourist areas of the Olympic Peninsula, hitherto, inaccessible by train.  The rapid increase in vehicular modes of transportation, which this bus terminal supported, were beginning to transform the way people moved a round the sound, usurping and ultimately decimating the inter-sound ferry traffic.  This building served as a visual gateway, a point of arrival to Port Angeles.  it operated as a bus station into the 1950's.  

Immediately to the south of this site is the new Gateway Transit Center housing a multi-modal transit center for Clallam Transit and pavilion.  We have come full circle in 80 years!

The building prep work was started on May 23 by dry brushing the stucco and completed on June 5, with the help of 47 people donating 217.5 hrs.