Three years ago this May, Howard House, one of Seattle's best contemporary art galleries, shut down. It had spent its peak years at 604 Second Avenue, a long, narrow place where the owner, Billy Howard, sat at a desk located between two concrete-floored, high-ceilinged rooms.

Cracks in those floors were made into icons in a monumental drawing by Amanda Manitach. That's it, at right.

Now, opening May 2, James Harris Gallery—another leading contemporary gallery—is moving into 604 Second Avenue, three blocks north of Harris's current location, where rent was rising out of his range. Will it feel like Harris is at Howard's desk for a while? Maybe. But "I'm redesigning it," Harris says. He's signed a five-year lease.