Seattle Great Wheel on Pier 57
— — a slow wheel of light over cold salt water.
Not only on a wall.
“The wheel stands at the end of Pier 57, 175 feet above Elliott Bay, with a view that runs from the downtown skyline to the Olympics on the far side of the water. The gondolas turn slowly, three times around for a single ride, glassed-in and quiet. After dark it changes colour for whatever the city is marking that week. From across the bay it reads as a single steady ring above the ferries. from the studio
Seattle Great Wheel on Pier 57, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The Seattle Great Wheel sits at the end of Pier 57 on the Elliott Bay waterfront, between Pike Place Market and the downtown ferry terminal. It opened in June 2012 and rises 175 feet above the water, making it one of the tallest observation wheels on the United States west coast at the time it was built. The wheel carries forty-two enclosed climate-controlled gondolas, each seating up to eight, and a standard ride is three full rotations. The pier itself, owned by the Griffith family, has hosted a public attraction since the early twentieth century.
The wheel is wrapped in a programmable LED system installed by the operator, capable of running animated colour shows along its spokes and rim. It changes pattern for holidays, sports finals, and civic causes, so the view from Alki Beach across the bay is rarely the same two weeks running. On clear winter evenings the lit ring sits above the silhouette of the downtown towers, with the green-and-white state ferries crossing in the foreground toward Bainbridge and Bremerton. The light reads cleanest after blue hour, against the dark water.
Pier 57 is a short walk from Pike Place Market and the Seattle Aquarium, on Alaskan Way along the rebuilt waterfront promenade. The wheel runs year-round in standard weather and timed tickets are sold at the pier kiosk and online. A ride is three rotations, roughly twelve to fifteen minutes depending on loading. The pier also holds Miners Landing, a carousel, and a handful of seafood counters, so the wheel is usually one stop on a longer waterfront walk that ends at the market or at the Olympic Sculpture Park to the north.