Interior Design Blog

photographed by Benjamin Benschneider

THEY’VE BEEN called “castles in Seattle,” Fred Anhalt’s landmark apartment buildings and homes around town.

And that is exactly what J.D. and Shanna Kritser thought when they saw the brick Broadmoor Tudor, with its heavy, ogre-thwarting wood front door and its serious-business, brass-hammered nails. The Goldilocks-charming shake roof highlighting dormers and sweeping to the door.

“The first time we toured it, it was like a mini-castle,” says Shanna. “There’s a hidden door, and the stairs are so grand.”

The Kritsers, Belltown condo-dwellers, were in need of a family home. Daughter Harper Belle was expected shortly. they wanted for her a nice yard, a peaceful neighborhood and a home of good flow and comfort. and in mr. Anhalt’s design they found (mostly) all of that, built in 1929.

The home they bought in 2009 is known to historians as the Millard May House. it was finished a year after Anhalt’s first home in Broadmoor. according to my Northwest Living colleague Lawrence Kreisman, an expert in historical building styles and on Anhalt specifically, this home holds all that Anhalt learned about Norman Tudor styling from the construction of his apartment buildings. The door, roof, dormers and multiple-hue exterior brick all adding up to English cottage.

According to Kreisman, Anhalt thought this home to be the best of his houses. no expense was spared in the details. There is a leaded-glass window in the room over the garage. Greeting all who enter is a substantial carved-mahogany staircase. The living room is grand; arched, beamed ceiling and stout fireplace. There’s a Dutch door and oak floors, arched doorways and nooks. Anhalt also did the original landscaping here.

“We were lucky; almost everyone who lived here before us was a preservationist,” says J.D. it is a tradition the Kritsers wish to uphold. But an update was required. (“The shower hit me here,” says J.D., thumping his chest.) So it was with great care that they called upon architect Steve Hoedemaker of Bosworth Hoedemaker and interior designer Garret Cord Werner for respectful modernization.

Hoedemaker brought dated bathrooms forward with elegance and respect using marble and basalt; improved flow by clearing away a closet for a mahogany wet bar/butler’s pantry that also opened a passageway into the living room. Werner designed the living room furniture (upholstered in a gray micro-stripe Sunbrella-like fabric for spilly babies) and guided the couple in selecting other budget-minded pieces to create a subtle and rich modern tone. they also updated lighting and paint throughout.

The home, 3,130 square feet, is still Anhalt. But the improvements are Kritser, by way of Hoedemaker and Werner. The couple is now eager to show off every nook and cranny, because each is special, old and new.

“As we talked about all the things we could do, it was important to keep the integrity and make it modern yet livable,” says J.D., an investment manager. “We did that by sacrificing only a couple of closets to the bathroom gods.”

“It feels very warm and cozy,” Shanna says, holding Harper Belle, now 10 months old and on the verge of walking. “It feels like a home, a place where we could raise a family.”

So what’s next?

“Nothing,” J.D. says. “We’re finished.”

Rebecca Teagarden writes about architecture and design for Pacific Northwest magazine. Benjamin Benschneider is a magazine staff photographer.