Our Story

Sunset Glass has been a family-owned and -operated business since 1954. We deeply appreciate the 65+ years of support we have received from the Seattle and Greater Eastside communities.

Early in 1954, Tom Cowdin started Sunset Glass in an unused hangar in the old Bellevue airfield, which was on the north side of Sunset Highway (now known as I-90) across from Eastgate, thus the name.

By 1957, the hangar was moving so much glass that the facility became too small, so Tom relocated to an old feed store with rail siding, so he could buy glass by the boxcar, on the south side of NE 8th St in Bellevue (where Burger King is now located).

Shortly after in 1959, Sunset Glass Company was incorporated with the Secretary of State for the State of Washington. Two years later in 1961, Sunset Glass moved once more to the north side of NE 8th St, just across from where it was and where it remained historically for over five decades.

Tom Cowdin passed away in 1989 and left the family business to his children, who still run it to this day. Sunset Glass has come to focus on custom work, from cutting custom glass for shelving and tabletops to installation of custom estate shower enclosures and mirrored walls.

As the business has grown, Sunset Glass has become a major glass installer for schools, churches, apartment homes, businesses, and family residences of Seattle and the Greater Eastside.

We have provided steady employment for many glaziers from the Glaziers and Glassworkers Union. We are a proud union shop because we believe our technicians deserve fair pay and benefits.

In 2015, Sound Transit purchased the land Tom Cowdin bought just outside Downtown Bellevue to become the future home of the Wilburton Station as part of the East Link Extension. Sunset Glass then moved to 130th Ave NE in Bellevue’s up-and-coming Spring District.

Three years later in the summer of 2020, Sunset Glass moved one more time to NE 21st St, where we hope to stay for many years to come.