Seattle Met: Room With A View

Seattle Met – July 25, 2024  By: Zoe Sayle

ROOM WITH A VIEW

Property Watch: A Penthouse Shows Seattle through the Looking Glass

Chic interior design goes toe-to-toe with some of the coolest windows in the city.

WATER LOOMS LARGE from this glass-encased downtown penthouse—and not just because of its expansive views, which span from the Seattle Art Museum to Puget Sound. Fish-adorned wallpaper swims across the walls of the centerpiece dining room, an audacious statement that lends the home an aquarium-like quality and an immediately legible sense of style. “It’s the least generic condo you’re ever going to find,” says Heritage Residential real estate agent Lance Neely.

How do you outshine the bare-bones beautiful architecture of a home built like a solarium? Interior design with a point of view. Pulp Design Studios, which prides itself on a combination of “luxury design” and “a flair for the unexpected,” makes stunning use of the space.

The condo’s eye-catching wallpaper, sleek built-ins, and pops of color would feel right at home in a chic, boutique hotel; appropriate, considering the condo’s current use as a pied-à-terre. “There’s an energy to that place that just feels good,” Neely says

“Aha” moments throughout the space lend to an overarching sense of ease and luxury. “It’s just really thoughtful,” Neely says. Wine storage hides behind the kitchen backsplash. Custom cabinets from Seattle-based Henrybuilt offer specialized storage for knives and other kitchen necessities.

More basic amenities—like two simple but well-appointed bathrooms, a stacked washer and dryer and extra storage in the butler’s pantry, and high-end kitchen appliances—mean the small space works equally well for full-time residents as it does for globetrotters looking to keep an apartment in the city.

Pocket doors throughout provide uninterrupted flow and more versatility than the condo’s 1,171 square feet might suggest: slide the doors on either side of the living room’s gas fireplace shut, and you have a second bedroom. Open them, and the space becomes an easy sitting room or library. House hunters often run into high-character extras like these in old-school complexes; in more modern condos, like this 1985 build, not so much. (The renowned architecture firm behind the building, then known as Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects, helps explain the quirk.)

Effortlessly stylish and distinctly waterfront living extends beyond the condo’s glassy walls: Pike Place Market’s fresh fish and produce, Four Seasons’ luxe seafood restaurant, and all the island destinations of the Seattle ferry terminal are just a block away.

Listing Fast Facts

98 Union Street Unit 1309, Seattle, WA 98101
Size: 1,171 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
List Price: $1,895,000
List Date: 6/13/2024
Listing Agent: Lance Neely, Heritage Residential, LLC

Photography: Alessandra Brescia alessandrabrescia.com