who's this random-assed motherfucker, Fred Anhalt, you ask? he was a prolific and distinctive Seattle architect from the days of goddamn Prohibition, and you will recognize most of these if you slink about this city!
12th & John. yeah, it's this guy. his designs all involve brick, turrets, Tudor beams- but what was especially innovative about him at the time (1920s-30s) was his employment of courtyards and landscaping. no one had ever bothered with foliage around rental properties before; hell, (luxuriant) rental properties themselves were very novel things. people were suddenly moving to the cities and wanting, like, Murphy beds and wall-in radios.
so a lot of these photos are hideous and taken from shitty angles, because the lusciously verdant courtyards also work as a big ol' fuck you.
which is oddly fine.
if a new building walled itself off this way, it would indicate gentrified hostility.
721 Belmont E. with the landscaping, he was scrupulous about using only local flora. this was also the building he lived in for years.
15th & Republican. the post-coital smoking porches! the lanterns to add greater evocative vibes on foggy nights! the leaded glass!
14th & John? I'm gonna have to edit the locations of these later... tried to take a photo through a gruffly-situated courtyard-tree. dig that fancy brickwork! he used a lot of "imperfect" bricks to specifically achieve that mottled patina... the light hits the facade differently throughout the day and changes the texture of the building.
13th & Republican. I Thomas Kinkade'd the fuck out of this one because oh my god, seriously? my nerdy 7-year-old wishing-I-had-long-blonde-hair-and-was-named-Traci self would have held her breath until she passed out for this place.
okay, this one, at 17th and Denny, is significant because it was his jarring foray into stucco. I used to live on 17th, and then on 15th, both within a 2 block radius of this place, but I rarely walked around the back, so I never noticed this badass courtyard.
but I've walked past the front more times than I can quantitate. I've written in this very blauuahhg about this epic hedge and its potentially swarthy sun-shunning inhabitants. holy shit! it's this building!
16th & John.
1005 and 1014 E Roy. I walk by these two every day on my way to work. the apartments on the left currently rent for up to $3500/month. that building was also the first structure in Seattle to have an underground parking garage, accessed by a spiral staircase and with room for 24 vehicles.
1005 E Roy. I fill-lighted the fuck out of this. 
and this house, 616 15th E and one of my all-time fucking favorites in this city, is another that he didn't design but where he actually lived for a while.
it was a strangely satisfying odyssey!
1005 E Roy. I fill-lighted the fuck out of this. anyway, that's what I did today.
what passes for a Seattle garbage can.
didja know? it's Buy-Yourself-Weird-Prehistoric-Looking-Flowers Day.
