Charles Smith Wines Jet City

Originally constructed to house a Dr. Pepper bottling plant and later a recycling center, the design of the new Charles Smith Wines Jet City preserves much of the buildings hard-won industrial patina, while opening up the facade to the surrounding Georgetown neighborhood, Boeing Field, and Mt. Rainier. Nearly seven-foot-tall letters wrap the top of the building in billboard fashion, announcing “Charles Smith Wines Jet City.”

The former 32,000 square foot building is composed of two structures, a two-floor office building and a contiguous open-structure steel truss warehouse. Together, they provide space for everything from grape crush, barrel storage and bottling to tasting rooms and sales space. The transformation of this 1960s-era building involved the removal of a portion of the exterior street-side façade replacing it with a span of 19-foot-by-60-foot windows, opening the building to the neighborhood and views.

Once through the twenty-foot-tall steel entry door, visitors have the choice of two tasting rooms. The rustic, entry-level lounge features polished concrete floors, exposed wood joists, sliding black steel wall panels, wood cocktail tables made from laminated salvaged 6 x 6’s, and a bar made of stacked, salvaged wood.
A plate-steel staircase inserted into the original structure connects the first-floor lounge to the expansive second-floor tasting room. The winery’s second story effectively captures an early 1960s aviation vibe with its original wood floor planks, white tuck-and-roll upholstered perimeter seating, and center stage powder-blue Lucite-topped bar on wheels. This tasting room overlooks the runways of Boeing Field and provides dramatic views of Mt. Rainier, while a second set of interior windows allows guests to view the winemaking process.

Originally constructed to house a Dr. Pepper bottling plant and later a recycling center, the design of the new Charles Smith Wines Jet City preserves much of the buildings hard-won industrial patina, while opening up the facade to the surrounding Georgetown neighborhood, Boeing Field, and Mt. Rainier. Nearly seven-foot-tall letters wrap the top of the building in billboard fashion, announcing “Charles Smith Wines Jet City.”

The former 32,000 square foot building is composed of two structures, a two-floor office building and a contiguous open-structure steel truss warehouse. Together, they provide space for everything from grape crush, barrel storage and bottling to tasting rooms and sales space. The transformation of this 1960s-era building involved the removal of a portion of the exterior street-side façade replacing it with a span of 19-foot-by-60-foot windows, opening the building to the neighborhood and views.