Mayflower Park Hotel

The oldest continuously operated hotel in downtown Seattle, built in 1927, a refined European-influenced property connected to Westlake Center.

The Mayflower Park Hotel at 405 Olive Way is the oldest continuously operating hotel in downtown Seattle. It was built by Stephen Berg, a prominent Seattle realtor and builder who had constructed numerous other hotels, apartments, and family homes across the city. Berg commissioned architect B. Dudley Stuart and the firm of Stuart and Wheatley, with whom he had worked on several previous projects. Construction took six months at a cost of approximately $750,000, and the hotel opened ahead of schedule on the evening of July 16, 1927, with a concert orchestra and a throng of dancers swaying across the mosaic ballroom floor. The lobby featured Oriental carpets, palm trees, mirrors, and a central goldfish fountain. With 240 rooms equipped with private bathrooms, rates ranged from $2.00 to $4.50 per night. Berg named the hotel the Bergonian, a portmanteau of his own surname and his favorite newspaper, Portland's The Oregonian.

The hotel was sold in 1933 during the Depression and renamed the Hotel Mayflower. A Bartell Drugs store occupied a ground-floor storefront from 1928 to 1946, and when the drugstore departed the hotel acquired its fourteen-stool soda fountain equipment and created the Carousel Room, Seattle's first hotel bar, decorated with a carnival theme featuring clowns and suspended carousel horses. The property gradually declined until Marie and Birney Dempcy purchased it in 1974 for $1.1 million, finding it at only twenty-five percent occupancy with an average nightly rate of $11.50. Marie became Seattle's first female hotel general manager and led a complete transformation. They renamed it the Mayflower Park Hotel and in 1976 opened Oliver's Lounge, taking advantage of Washington's legalization of visible hard alcohol service to create the city's first "daylight bar" with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the street. In the early 1980s, the hotel successfully fought Seattle's attempt to acquire the property for the Westlake Center development, winning at the state Supreme Court level and ultimately securing a covered passage connecting the hotel to the new shopping center. The hotel became a member of Historic Hotels of America in 1999 and remains one of the last locally owned and independent hotels in Seattle.

Three distinct spirits are reported to haunt the building. The most famous has been nicknamed "the Greeter," a figure in a top hat frequently seen in the lobby waving at arriving guests before vanishing completely into thin air. His identity is unknown, though his formal attire and hospitable demeanor suggest he may be connected to the hotel's earliest years of operation. Some accounts conflate him with the ghost of Room 1120.

The spirit of Room 1120 is described as an older man who occupied a room on the sixth floor during the hotel's early years as the Bergonian. Accounts differ on whether he was a long-term guest or a hotel employee who worked as a greeter welcoming visitors at the door. What the stories agree on is that he died in his room and his spirit has remained there ever since. Guests who have stayed in Room 1120 report feeling a strong unseen presence, hearing disturbing noises, and experiencing a pervasive sense of unease that prompts requests for room changes. One couple witnessed what they described as the old man's ghost floating above their bed in the middle of the night, watching them sleep. Other guests have described him as a benign presence who causes no real disturbance beyond the discomfort of knowing you are not alone.

The third entity is known as the Trickster, a mischievous spirit who takes particular delight in pranking hotel employees rather than guests. In one documented incident, a janitor mopping the floors late at night turned to dunk his mop into a bucket of water only to find it had vanished entirely. After several minutes of searching, he located the bucket on a completely different floor of the building. Staff have also reported items relocating overnight, lights behaving erratically, and the persistent feeling of being watched during graveyard shifts.

The Mayflower Park Hotel retains much of its original 1927 character, including the terra cotta exterior, a salvaged five-tier crystal chandelier originally from the Olympic Hotel, and a 1770 grandfather clock in the lobby. It continues to operate as a boutique hotel and is featured on Seattle ghost walking tours.