Puyallup River

The Thea Foss Waterway, formerly the City Waterway, is a north–south inlet of Commencement Bay separating downtown Tacoma, Washington, from the Port of Tacoma.

The Working Waterfront Maritime Museum is a Maritime Museum located in Tacoma, Washington, USA. The museum sits on the Thea Foss Waterway. Along with the Discovery Wharf Children's Activity Area, the WWMM is a part of the Foss Waterway Seaport, a 501c3 non-profit organization founded in 1996. In conjunction with the Foss Waterway Development Agency, the Seaport seeks private and public funds to support its mission statement. The Working Waterfront Maritime Museum is dedicated to creating "a permanent education and activity venue on the Tacoma waterfront".

The Fireboat Station in Tacoma, Washington, built in 1928, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. It was the base for three fireboats. The station was deemed "significant for its association with the development of Tacoma's port/industrial district and the growth of the city's vital municipal services. The station is also an important local example of innovations in fire station design that followed the motorization of firefighting equipment." It was the city's smallest fire station, and a picturesque one. It was designed by architect Morton J. Nicholson, and is Craftsman in style.Built in 1928 as part of a bond-funded project that built three other stations, as well as the Fire Alarm Station. While fireboats were still housed there in 2008, the station itself was no longer staffed.

The Northern Pacific Office Building is a three-story historic office building in Tacoma, Washington that served as the headquarters of the Northern Pacific Railway's Tacoma division. Built in 1888, the brick, stucco, stone and cast iron structure stands on a high bluff overlooking the Commencement Bay harbor and extensive railroad switching yards that fan out across the tide flats below at the mouth of the Puyallup River where it flows into Puget Sound. The flats are densely developed with heavy industry that has grown up around the railroad facilities and the Port of Tacoma. The site was originally a choice location across from the Tacoma City Hall (extant and listed in the National Register) and at the north end of Pacific Avenue, the main street through the city's central business district.The building is unusual for an Italian Renaissance design. Triangular in plan to fit the street plan and the bluff. There is a four-story circular tower on the north, which widens in a series of curves and re-entrant angles to become a conventional four-story rectangular plan. The rectangular section was demolished in 1975. The remaining structure is three stories in height. A bracketed entablature continued around the tower, separating the three lower stories from the top floor and the lantern above.The foundation is ashlar stone to the first floor. There is a substantial water table with brick walls, covered by stucco. A narrow belt course divides the second and third floors from the one below. The belt rests on the capitals of pilasters that divide the wall into a series of panels.The frieze atop the third floor continues from the tower section to the four-story rectangular section. The rectangular section was demolished in 1974. The cornice, an elaborate belt course did not carry over from the tower section. The strip pilasters have a broad pediment on the second floor level. A cornice at the top of the tower conceals a gable roof. The four-story, rectangular section had a flat roof. The tower is topped with a low conical roof and lantern. There are two street level entrances. A formal entrance has a suspended canopy with double doors and a transom arch on pilasters. A second entrance is further down the street.In the early 1920s, the four-story section at the south end of the building was demolished and rebuilt for security reasons. It was demolished in 1974 to widen Pacific Avenue. A blank brick and concrete wall remains with some of the roof structure exposed.

The Old City Hall is a five-story building in Tacoma, Washington that served as the city hall in the early 20th century. The building features a ten-story clocktower on the southeast corner, facing the intersection of Pacific Avenue and S 7th Street.The building uses masonry bearing walls combined with numerous windows. The windows on the second and third floors are of equal size. The fourth story windows are arched at the top. The fifth story windows are smaller and narrower.The foundation is a local Wilkeson stone, which is light gray. The walls are eight feet thick at the base and taper to six feet at street level. They are covered with a façade of red brick faced with yellow Roman brick. These bricks are believed to have been ballast from China or Belgium or to have been imported from Italy. The tower is a freestanding masonry with a clock on each face.The building is a trapezoid in plan and reflects the Italian Villa style. Small round windows appear below the corner line; three large round windows occur below the corner on the tower.The tower's base has heavy brackets above the corner of the main structure and narrow rectangular windows on the tower body. A group of three arched windows are at the top on each side. A row of small round windows circles the tower between the arched windows and the eave line. Terra cotta decorations embellish the tower and areas of the entablature. The tower has a clock and a set of four bells. The clock and the bells were cast by the McShane Bell Foundry in Baltimore, the same company that cast the Liberty Bell. The bells is 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg) of silver bell metal. Hugh Campbell Wallace of Tacoma, who would later become the United States ambassador to France, gave the bells and chimes in memory of his daughter on Christmas Day, 1904. The pendulum of the clock, 12 feet (3.7 m) in length, is suspended on a single wire, 40 feet (12 m) in length. The mechanism is gravity run and the motors are wound electrically.

The Northwest Seaport Alliance is a port authority based in the Puget Sound region of the United States, comprising the seaports of Seattle and Tacoma in Washington state. The combined port authority is the third largest cargo port in the United States and by container volume. The two seaports, which had been rivals for most of the 20th century but lost ground to nearby ports in British Columbia, proposed a merger of marine cargo operations in 2014. A public development authority was created in 2015 and approved by the Federal Maritime Commission, resulting in the formation of The Northwest Seaport Alliance on August 4, 2015.

The Murray Morgan Bridge, also known as the 11th Street Bridge or City Waterway Bridge, is a vertical-lift bridge in Tacoma, Washington. It originally opened February 15, 1913, to replace an 1894 swing-span bridge. The bridge connects downtown with the tidal flats, it spans the Thea Foss Waterway, originally known as the City Waterway. Designed by noted bridge engineering firm Waddell & Harrington, the bridge has some unusual features: higher above the water than most lift bridges, construction on a variable grade and an overhead span designed to carry a water pipe. The bridge structure also contained a series of switchback ramps that connected what is now Cliff Street with Dock Street. According to the Department of Transportation, the towers are 207 feet 1.75 inches (63.1381 m) above the water, with the road deck 60 feet (18 m) above the water level at zero tide. It was modified and updated in 1957 and was used to route State Route 509 through the tidal flats. The bridge was bypassed in the late 1990s when State Route 509 was routed around the edge of the tidal flats (see East 21st Street Bridge). While WSDOT wanted to tear down the bridge, the City of Tacoma convinced the state to transfer ownership to the City. In the past, the bridge has been heavily used by commuters and emergency services in connecting the Port of Tacoma with downtown Tacoma.In 2007, the bridge was closed because of safety concerns and the general wear and tear that the bridge had suffered in its near 100-year lifespan. Soon afterwards, the city began a large rehabilitation project to completely overhaul all aspects of the bridge. In 2010, the bridge began periodically opening to bikes and pedestrians. In February 2013, the bridge re-opened to all traffic.

The Spanish Steps, also known as the Spanish Stairs, are stairs in Tacoma, Washington's Old City Hall Historic District, in the United States. Modeled after Rome's Piazza di Spagna, the stairs were built in 1916 to connect Broadway and Commerce. The stairs are adjacent to the Elks Temple, and have served as a fire escape for the building. Since McMenamins began operating in the building, the stairs have housed a cafe and patio.According to the Daily Journal of Commerce, "The staircase is an important east-west pedestrian connection within the north end of Tacoma's downtown. The Spanish Steps serve as an access point to transportation facilities, including those for Pierce Transit and LINK light rail, which connects with the Sounder commuter rail line."The stairs were restored in 2011. Fodor's has called the Spanish Steps "famous".

The Elks Temple in Tacoma, Washington is a historic Beaux Arts Fraternal building built in 1916 for the Fraternal Order of Elks, now housing the McMenamins Elks Temple hotel, restaurant and event space.: 14  The building is included in the Old City Hall Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Pierce County.

The Landmark Convention Center (historically known as the Masonic Temple Building, the Temple Theater, Helig's Theater, and John Hamrick's Temple Theater) in Tacoma, Washington, United States is located at 47 St. Helens Avenue. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. Ambrose J. Russell is credited as the architect of the meeting hall and theater. It is said to be in a Renaissance style and Late 19th and 20th Century Revival style, and said to have had its "period of significance" between 1925 and 1949.For many years the building served as a meeting hall for local area Masonic lodges. Today, no lodges meet in the building and it has been converted into a commercial catering and convention center.

Theater District/South 9th Street was a light rail station on Link light rail's T Line in Tacoma, Washington, United States. The station officially opened for service on August 22, 2003; it was located at the northern end of downtown and named for the several nearby performing arts venues.The station closed on August 1, 2022, as part of work to connect the T Line with its extension to the Hilltop neighborhood. In 2023, another station will open two blocks north, adjacent to the Old City Hall building.Artwork at the station reflects the Theater District: Seats at the station resemble fold-up theater seats Bronze plaques in the ground are reproductions of historical theatrical posters Projectors project theatrical scenes on screens at night

The National Bank of Tacoma Building, also known as the National Bank of Washington and as the Tacoma Art Museum, is a former bank building in downtown Tacoma, Washington, United States. It was designed by Sutton & Whitney and built in 1921. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.The bank changed its name to the National Bank of Washington in 1937. In 1970, the building ceased to be used for banking and was sold to the Tacoma Art Museum, which converted it in 1970–1971 for use as an art museum. It remained in use as the Tacoma Art Museum until 2003, when the museum moved to a new building. Already in 2002, in anticipation of its move, the art museum sold the former bank building to the Asia Pacific Cultural Center.In 2007, a business named Sound Inpatient Physicians moved into the building. Sound Physicians remained there until 2015, when the company moved to another building in downtown Tacoma. As of October 2017, the building was for sale.