Seattle Historical Sites

Summary for 1710 E Denny WAY E / Parcel ID 808090-0095 / Inv #

Historic Name: La Quinta Common Name: La Quinta Style: Spanish - Eclectic Neighborhood: Capitol Hill Built By: Year Built: 1927   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 the most elaborate of the city's Mediterranean Revival courtyard apartment buildings. It was designed in 1927 by William H. Whiteley for Frederick Anhalt's Western Building & Leasing Company. Whitely designed many of Anhalt's buildings, as well as doing projects for other owners. The landscaped courtyard was initially designed by John Dofsen. This is a notable example of the many apartment buildings constructed in the 1920s, when Seattle experienced a major construction boom. The city's population had increased dramatically in previous decades, and prosperity encouraged developers to meet the pent-up demand for housing. Apartments, ranging from basic housing to luxury units, were a significant factor in meeting this need, and became a major element of the streetscape in many Seattle neighborhoods, especially Capitol Hill. This is also a good example of the building forms and detailing that helped these larger structures blend into single-family neighborhoods. It was a fairly luxurious building, with only 13 apartments; most had five or six rooms with the bedrooms upstairs, a rear service entrance and a balcony. A concrete garage building was added in 1950. Anhalt was Seattle's most prominent apartment developer, 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 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 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. The firm cooridnated design, construction and management of the buidlings. 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.   Appearance This two-story 13-unit building has a U-shaped plan, with a heavily landscaped courtyard measuring 63 by 64 feet. The hipped roof is clad with red clay tile, with a similar pent roof between the two stories. Special features include the two round turrets at the rear corners of the courtyard. Cladding is white stucco, with large arched brick-and-tile ornamentation at the street end of the west wing. Each unit has a a seprate entry off the courtyard and a secondary entry on the rear elevations. The primary windows are twelve-light casement sash (with zinc munitins), either in pairs or flanking large fixed-pane windows. The second floor has bands of nine-light sash, with six-over-one sash on the exterior elevations.

Detail for 1710 E Denny WAY E / Parcel ID 808090-0095 / Inv #

Status: Yes - Inventory Classication: Building District Status: 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 Windows: Intact Changes to Plan: 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 1710 E Denny WAY E / Parcel ID 808090-0095 / Inv #

Photo taken Mar 31, 2006 Photo taken Mar 31, 2006