Seattle Historical Sites

Summary for 1405 E John ST E / Parcel ID 6003001795 / Inv #

Historic Name: Anhalt Arms Common Name: Anhalt Arms Style: French - French Eclectic Neighborhood: Capitol Hill Built By: Year Built: 1928   Significance In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places. In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance. This is one of several buildings on Capitol Hill developed by Frederick Anhalt, Seattle's most prominent apartment developer of the 1920s. It is a good example of the French Norman style that he favored, and is highly intact. His projects brought a distinctive sense of style to multifamily design, and promoted high-quality apartments as an alternative to single-family homes. His buildings are the best known of the city's numerous pre-war multifamily buildings, and set the standard for such projects. Anhalt combined the development, design, construction, landscaping, marketing and management functions in one firm. He moved to Seattle about 1924 after working in various trades in the Midwest, and in 1924 formed the Western Building & Leasing Company with partner Jerome B. Hardcastle, Jr. The company quickly began to centralize design and construction with the firm, and in 1928 Anhalt bought Hardcastle's interest. The firm built bungalow courts, apartment courts and commercial buildings on Capitol Hill, Queen Anne, West Seattle, Beacon Hill and Ballard, usually drawing from English Tudor or Mediterranean Revival precedents. In late 1928, the firm (now known as the Anhalt Company) built five larger-scale luxury apartment buildings on Capitol Hill, based on Medieval English and Norman French prototypes. Although the apartment business failed during the Depression, Anhalt continued to building single-family homes until 1942, when he turned to his nursery business. Edwin E. Dofsen, the designer, had been a draftsman for Seattle architects Arthur Loveless and William J. Bain before joining Anhalt in 1927. He designed fourteen of Anhalt's apartment buildings, as well as projects for other developers. He later went on to design more than forty residences in the Seattle area. His father, John Dofsen, was Anhalt's primary landscape gardener, and designed the Twin Gables courtyard.   Appearance This distinctive building is U-shaped, built around a shallow courtyard with extensive landscaping and fountains, typical of Anhalt projects. The building is two stories, with a daylight basement at the rear. It has a hipped roof, with the northern wing topped by a square Norman French turret. A round turret with a conical top is located at the west end of the courtyard. Cladding is clinker brick, with decorative brickwork of darker bricks in diamond patterns ornamenting the exterior walls and some of those facing the courtyard. Arched recessed entries to the apartments open off of the courtyard. Some units also have small wooden balconies. Second story units have rear entries onto wooden porches with stairways. Windows are 8-light leaded wood casements, arranged mostly in groups of two or three.

Detail for 1405 E John ST E / Parcel ID 6003001795 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory Classication: Building District Status: Cladding(s): Brick - Clinker Foundation(s): Concrete - Poured Roof Type(s): Hip Roof Material(s): Wood - Shake Building Type: Domestic - Multiple Family Plan: U-Shape Structural System: Balloon Frame/Platform Frame No. of Stories: two Unit Theme(s): Architecture/Landscape Architecture Integrity Changes to Plan: Intact Changes to Windows: Intact Changes to Original Cladding: Intact Major Bibliographic References Kreisman, Lawrence. Apartments by Anhalt. Seattle: Kreisman Exhibit Design, 1978. Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Historical Guide to the Architects. Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, ed. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994. King County Tax Assessor Records, ca. 1932-1972. City of Seattle, Department of Planning and Development, Microfilm Records.

Photo collection for 1405 E John ST E / Parcel ID 6003001795 / Inv #

Photo taken Aug 15, 2006 Photo taken Aug 15, 2006