Seattle architect James H. Schack, Jr., (1871-1933) designed the Normandie Apartments, one of many apartment blocks built just before and after the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (AYPE) to house the city's surging population. This apartment had the unusual touch of having a bridge connecting its fourth floor to a hillside nearby at University Street and 9th Avenue.

A classified advertisement mentioned the building's upcoming opening on 04/01/1910, and listed its amenities for prospective tenants: ""The Normandie--9th and University, ready for occupancy April 1st [1910]; absolutely fireproof, all outside rooms, roof garden, all woodwork 1/4 sawed oak, disappearing bed with combination bookcase and writing desk, elevator system, vacuum cleaning system; free Sunset telephone, separate devlivery entrance to kitchen, porcelain refrigerator, gas range; divided in 2 and 3 rm. apts. Rent $22.50 to $45. Easy walking distance." (See "The Normandie," Seattle Times, 03/15/1910, p. 17.) The Normandie contained 84 apartment units when built. All of the most current labor-saving devices were included--porcelain refrigerator and gas range, telephone, central vacuum system, elevators--and the ad was careful to note how "absolutely fireproof" the Normandie was, in an age of periodic and deadly apartment fires.

Demolished.

PCAD id: 19416