Anhalt Apartments – 1320 Queen Anne Ave

Frederick Anhalt, Seattle's best-known apartment builder, designed 1320 Queen Anne Avenue in his more typical Tudor style. Anhalt aimed to be different from other developers by creating large individualized units that people could consider permanent homes. He particularly wanted to avoid the long hallways that he said reminded him of tenements. His "apartment homes" were refuges distinguished by their size, quality detailing, landscaping and charm, built for people who did not want to own property but could afford the best.

His most typical styles were Tudor and Norman French courtyard apartments, which became very popular. They featured such details as leaded or stained glass, turrets, fireplaces, beamed ceilings, and elaborate brickwork. Anhalt considered a nice view important, home, so he developed attractive courtyards as a practical way to achieve this pleasant outlook: "I could make things look the way I wanted them to, that way, which is hard to do when you're dealing with a view of Mount Rainier or Puget Sound." The typical approach was through a landscaped courtyard, with entrances leading to two or three units. The plantings and privacy make going home a pleasant transition from the outside world.

1320 Queen Anne Avenue is in an English Tudor style of brick and stucco, with steeply pitched roofs, and half timbering. Built in 1927, it has only nine units, with more than 1,100 square feet each; they feature fireplaces and leaded glass windows. The building fits into a long narrow site beneath a steep ridge, so the entry courtyards are very small.

Note:  Anhalt also designed Barcelona Court , Seville Court, & Villa Franca on Queen Anne

Source:  Frances Amelia Sheridan, "Apartment House Development on Queen Anne Hill", Master's Thesis from the University of Washington, 1994.