Fred Anhalt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fred Anhalt (1896 in Minnesota - 1996)^[1] was an architect who constructed many distinguished apartment buildings in Capitol Hill, Seattle, Washington in the 1920s and early 1930s. In 1993, the Seattle Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) awarded Anhalt an honorary membership.

After a career as a salesman, Anhalt and partner Jerome B. Hardcastle, a former butcher, built the Western Building & Leasing Company in 1925, though he had no training as an architect.^[2]

He was known for constructing bungalow-style apartments and giving them luxurious architectural touches, such as Tudor stylings. They are often oriented around a central courtyard.

During the Great Depression, he declared bankruptcy. After the Depression, his firm went bankrupt and Anhalt was forced to design smaller scale projects. He ultimately left the field in 1942.^[3]

From Lawrence Kreisman's booklet, Apartments by Anhalt:

"What made Anhalt's buildings succeed is not their particular style or size, or complexity. It is the style of living encouraged therein -- the creation, through design, of an enclosed community that, while it relates to the street and neighborhood, also provides a common green, an outdoor living room that is the sole province of the tenants."

[edit] Buildings in Seattle

Anhalt Arms
Twin Gables
Belmont Court
Oak Manor^[4]
"Ten-O-Five", which featured Seattle's first underground parking deck for an apartment building^[5]
East Roy Street (1929-1930)