Historic Name: |
Seville Court |
Common Name: |
Seville Court |
Style: |
Spanish - Eclectic |
Neighborhood: |
Queen Anne |
Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1927 |
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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. |
In the opinion of the survey, this property is located in a potential historic districe (National and/or local). |
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Seville Court is one of several Mediterranean-style apartment courts developed by Frederick Anhalt and Jerome B. Hardcastle in the 1920s. The architect was William H. Whiteley, who designed many of Anhalt's projects. Three of the Spansh style complexes are located on Queen Anne, including Barcelona Court (2205 Bigelow Avenue N.) and another one at 1108 W. Olympic Way. Plantings in the large courtyard make it difficult to see the building. The property is currently owned by a trust.
Frederick Anhalt was Seattle’s best-known apartment developers, bringing a distinctive sense of style and promoting high-quality apartments as an alternative to single-family homes. His buildings are the best known of the city’s numerous pre-war apartment buildings, and set the standard for such projects. Anhalt combined the development, design, construction, landscaping, marketing and management functions in one firm. Anhalt moved to Seattle about 1924 after working in various trades in the Midwest, and in 1925 formed the Western Building & Leasing Company with partner Jerome B. Hardcastle, Jr. The company quickly began to centralize design and construction within 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, using English Tudor or Mediterranean Revival styles. In late 1928, the firm designed and constructed apartment buildings for The Borchert Company. The following year 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 build single-family homes until 1942, when he turned to his nursery business.
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Appearance |
This Spanish Revival apartment building has 16 units arranged around a central courtyard with a stone patio and pond; a very large tree and shrubs make it difficult to see the building. Cladding is tan stucco with red clay tile roofs. The complex has four sections to accommodate the sloping site. At the rear is a two-story side-gable section. The north wing is two stories at the rear and one story on the front half. On the south side is another two-story gabled wing, with a flat-roofed extension in front, at a lower level. A continuous balcony runs along the second floor, with another balcony along the exterior on the south side. The upper units open onto this balcony, with original oak doors. Other units open onto arched entryways in the lower corners or have shed roofs over their entries. Windows have all been replaced with newer fixed-pane sash and 10-light casement windows; those on the west are shaded by retractable metal awnings. The front windows at the southwest corner have plaster ornamentation in floral and shield motifs above the windows. A row of twelve individual garages (added in 1951) is located along the south side of the property. |
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Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
Classication: |
Building |
District Status: |
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Cladding(s): |
Stucco |
Foundation(s): |
Concrete - Poured |
Roof Type(s): |
Gable |
Roof Material(s): |
Clay Tile |
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 Original Cladding: |
Intact |
Changes to Windows: |
Moderate |
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Major Bibliographic References |
City of Seattle DCLU Microfilm Records.
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King County Property Record Card (c. 1938-1972), Washington State Archives.
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Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, ed. Shaping Seattle Architecture, A Historical Guide to the Architects. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.
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Kreisman, Lawrence. Apartments by Anhalt. Seattle: Kreisman Exhibit Design, 1978.
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