16th Avenue East, Seattle, Washington

 

I've found the perfect 1929 Seattle condo for a 1990's Meg Ryan movie. It's cute and quirky and just full of character.

Here is the common entrance, where Tom Hanks could cool his heels and wait for Meg to get her mail.

I don't know if they had keyless entry in the 90's, (apparently cars first started having it in the 80's) but we'll just go with it.

Although it bills itself as a condo, it's really the size of a studio apartment at 495 square feet. 

There's no bedroom, so the current homeowners have a murphy bed. 

And granted, a murphy bed has certainly a played a role in romantic comedies, but it doesn't seem cute enough for Meg Ryan.

This seems cute enough for Meg Ryan:

{Diane Burn}

Ok, so that would be good for 1990's Meg Ryan, but it's not edgy enough for today's set designers. 

Today's design would look more like this:

{Brian Gluckstein}

It's still quirky enough for Meg, and plays really nicely with the existing architecture.

The rest of the condo is as cute as a button and as neat as a pin:

Why there are two walk-in closets instead of one bedroom is a bit of a mystery, but romantic comedies often have someone hiding in a closet, so it all works out.

The common laundry room is also cute, and the windows look big enough for the closet-hider to scamper through before he is caught.

Here is the building's street view:

And speaking of street view, let's talk about the building itself. It's named La Flor and it's in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. It was built by an apartment developer named Samuel Anderson. You know how most apartment developers have a standard design for all their buildings? Not Samuel Anderson.

{source}

From 1928-1929 he built a wide variety of buildings along 16th and 17th Avenues. His styles ranged from Mediterranean Revival to Art Deco to French Provincial. The buildings do have some commonalities, though -- they're all 3 stories and have 14-16 units with central entrances. Other developers followed suit to make the neighborhood landmark worthy.

Word is, the best cluster for architecture buffs is on 17th, between Spring and Union streets. 

If you would like to feel like a star in a romantic comedy, the Old House Dreams listing is here.