Many people we’ve talked to remember the Quarter Horse mounted above the storefront of the old Duncan Building on 2nd Avenue S between S Main Street and S Jackson Street, in the Pioneer Square Historic District. The building was occupied by Duncan & Sons, saddle makers, from from 1920 to 1970. The company mounted a full-size horse (Number 1) above their entry in 1962, but removed the original when they sold the building and moved to 1st Avenue. They hung the original horse on the side of their new building. The Duncan family later removed that horse when they went out of business.
The new owners of the Duncan building replaced the horse with a replica (Number 2), but the second horse was removed sometime after the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake.
Jeff Schoenfeld recently purchased the Duncan Building and requested our assistance in replacing the horse. It turned out that all the horses were made from fiberglass in Mexico—so the third horse to grace the building is almost identical to the original 1960s horse. Swenson Say Faget handled the engineering, and we prepared the permit package.
Congratulations Jeff. You’ve given the District a great gift.
Duncan Building ca. 1937
Original horse at Duncan & Sons on 1st Avenue
Duncan Horse Number 2, ca. 2001
The Duncan Horse Returns
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