Who is Madame Lou?

Dorothea Georgine Emile Ohben aka Madame Lou (February 9, 1857 – March 11, 1903), is a Seattle icon, albeit a lesser known one. In the late 1800s, Madame Lou was the purveyor of the most refined brothels in Seattle. It’s written that more business happened inside the walls of Madame Lou’s than city hall and "No young businessman was really considered a man about town until he could discuss with ease the interior decorations of Lou's establishment...and some of the finer points of the distinguished young ladies…”

Madame Lou has been credited with financing the rebuilding of Seattle after the great fire in 1889 and keeping Seattle’s banks and businessmen afloat on more than one occasion. She was also a pioneer in LGBTQ+ rights employing queer people in her brothels and was rumored to have been in a long-term same-sex partnership. 

You can learn more about Madame Lou on Seattle’s Underground tour or by visiting a plaque on the building that once housed her brothel that is now Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission at 221 S. Washington Street.