303 Harvard Avenue E Corner View
As well as being the name of Capitol Hill’s premier coffee house and a 1980s Goth band, Bauhaus was the name of the modern movement in architecture’s most famous design school. Perhaps the most famous, ever. The only competition for such a superlative may be for the École des Beaux-Arts, the Parisian school that is most (in)famous for its pedagogy of classical architecture, and whose pre-immanence was in fact eclipsed once the Bauhaus came into being in the early 20th Century.
The Bauhaus was justly famous as a school for painting, sculptor, dance, graphic design, but it was in the field of architecture that its legacy was — and is — strongest. Modernist icons such as Mies and Gropius both lead and taught at the institution, and both followed with highly successful and influential professional careers after the Bauhaus was disbanded by the Nazis prior to World War II. The design pedagogy taught resulted in some of the 20th Century’s best buildings, including that of the school itself, designed by Gropius and pictured below.
The Bauhaus (Source: Wikipedia)
It would be hard to underestimate the influence the Bauhaus had on design schools in the United States. After its closing many instructors came here to continue their teaching careers and professional practice. Gropius landed and Harvard, while Mies ended up at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Even tiny Black Mountain College (no longer extant) in the mountains of North Carolina landed some Bauhaus alums. The design approach taught was, in its time, at the cutting edge. So cutting edge, in fact, that it was initially a design approach typically found only in larger cities or for larger clients or more prestigious buildings. That was of course bound to change with time, but smaller markets (as Seattle at the time) were longer to embrace the Bauhaus aesthetic, especially for smaller, developer driven buildings. Education also had an influence on the Bauhaus’s dissemination into the U.S., as the Beaux-Arts tradition was what was taught at the vast majority of our universities well into the 1930s, and most likely at the U of Washington as well.
And though perhaps a bit slower to arrive at the modernists dance, Seattle’s Capitol Hill is fortunate to have several Bauhaus/International Style (similar time period and aesthetic) influenced apartments of various sizes, including the mid-sized beauty pictured above, built in 1949. Thirty years elapsed between the construction of the Bauhaus and 303 Harvard Ave E, perhaps enough time for a direct connection to be tenuous; however, the lineage is evident. Cubic massing, concentrated and expansive use of glass (with an emphasis on horizontals juxtaposed by verticals), and something missing form today’s Bauhaus prodigy: the crisp delineation of the depth between the buildings mass (in this case brick) versus its openings.
303 Harvard East Elevation
Similar to the recently profiled Boylston Court, 303 has the beloved steel window, whose effectiveness as a design element is enhanced by it being framed by the more massive feel of the brick, as well as the little horizontal projections at the window heads and sills. No corner windows here, alas, but the modernist’s next favorite trick — that of the continuous ribbon window — and here deftly used in combination with concrete spandrels on the building’s most significant facade. Nice!
303 Harvard Entrance
Even the addressing numbers have the same proto-super graphic and vertical arrangement as the Bauhaus, this time with an art-deco font. The concrete entry canopy continues the thin lines above the windows in the body of the building, and is at a bit skewed from the mass of the rest of the building. No steel frames here, the window glass is framed directly into the concrete structure, lending it further distinction from the rest of the building. Especially nice is the re-entrant corner and the lone steel post. It would be nice to have a look at the interiors of the units, hopeful that they still may have some great space-age appliances and fixtures.There are at least several other buildings of this ilk on the Hill, three of which I documented in this pamphlet: Capitol Hill Building Analysis . Each one unique, and each one worthy of providing precedent to future design projects on the Hill — all to better balance the prevalent and suffocating post-modern pastiche that is all too often referenced in the majority of our current development.
John Feit is an architect on Capitol Hill, and works at Schemata Workshop. He blogs frequently on design and urbanism, with a focus on how they relate to and effect the Capitol Hill community.
Thank you, John for your always-interesting and informative articles about classic architectural styles and how they are expressed on Capitol Hill. I’ve lived here for a long time, but you are opening my eyes anew to buildings I have not really seen. Kudos!
Thanks, John, for the article. I have always been a big fan of this building. Hopefully the interiors have retained their period design. I live in a building built in the mid-60s with great mid-century design. Unfortunately, the current owners feel that the look is dated and have “updated” much of it to a bland 80s style. But then, who knows. Perhaps in another 10-20 years we’ll be coveting everything 80s. (Somehow I doubt it, but how knows?)
Oops. That should read, “but WHO knows?”
I love these lessons on architecture with examples from the Hill! I look forward to more.
I’ve been interested in this building and its history for some time. Any idea who the architect is? I think this is a total gem on the Hill!
Maybe some kind person who lives there could post some interiors…?
Some incidental pictures of the interiors of my apartment (it’s the one with the big windows on the top floor), just ignore the big monitor stand in the foreground: http://afiler.com/i-made-a-monitor-stand/
I painted the place that particular shade of green, it was white/beige before. After painting, I found under layers of paint that it had been painted a similar color in the past.
Thanks John. I too used to wonder about this building. Although it doesn’t necessarily stand out, its beauty slowly becomes apparent the more you walk by it.
I too have always been curious about this building. I love the windows! It kind of looks like an old school building to me. Thanks for the post. Love the Cap Hill architecture lessons!
The building, dubbed the Beverly Rae Apartments upon completion, is on DOCOMOMO‘s project list for Robert L Durham.
the current owners do not feel the look is dated and have not “updated” to a bland 80’s style and in fact have resisted replacing the steel windows.
John, there’s an interesting building at the southeast corner of 16th and Denny — the entrance is on 16th — right across the street from the former Christian Science Church. It has not, to my knowledge, been renovated. International style? I doubt you’ve missed it, but it seems to me to be quite a nice example.
What is the pamphlet “Capitol Hill Building Analysis” you refer to? I’m learning a lot from your articles and it would be interesting to see some of your thoughts all together.
Probably the best of the few remaining Beaux Arts buildings in Seattle is the 400 Yesler Building (former City Hall, former Public Safety Building). But there’s only the shell left to see — description in my article on http://www.historylink.org, search 400 Yesler.
Actually, I profiled the building you speak of in the Cap Hill Analysis. It is named the Luarelton. There was supposed to be a link to it from the CHS post. If you go to our website http://www.schemataworkshop.com/blog , there is a link from our blog to the pamphlet, or stop by our office and I’ll run you a copy.
So-called styles are more of a convenience when speaking of the arts –than hard truths –but your calling the Laurelton International Style is pretty close. Closer to the mark maybe to think of it more in the vein of Adolph Loos, a late 19th C & early 20th C Viennese architect, and one of early modernism’s most original and profound thinkers and architects. Of course, I only touch upon the exteriors of the buildings, which makes my brief analyses superficial. This holds especially true for a designer such as Loos, whose interiors were where his artistry reigned, as he had an approach almost the polar opposite of the International Style designers although on the exterior the buildings had a strong similarities.
But alas, it is much easier to photograph the outside, than hang out by the front door and ask for permission to enter someone’s apartment . . . .perhaps if I get enough hutzpah, I will reach out to tenants of some of our CH gems for interior photos. Anyone want to be my host?
Four hundred Yesler is a real beauty. If I recall, it was substantially renovated within the past decade. Never been inside, but would welcome the opportunity.
Thank you for your interest and support.