Queen Anne Exchange

The Queen Anne Exchange in Seattle is a historic building that originally served as West Queen Anne School and is now known as an upscale residential complex. Built in the popular Richardsonian Romanesque style, the schoolhouse was designed by architects Warren P. Skillings and James M. Corner starting in 1895 and opened in the fall of 1896. Over the decades, the structure was expanded several times, including the addition of more classrooms and an auditorium in the 1900s and 1910s. After enrollment declined in the 1970s, a local initiative succeeded in getting the building landmark protection before it closed in 1981. In the early 1980s, the property was renovated and converted into 49 condominiums, a project regarded as a pioneering example of adaptive reuse of school buildings in the Pacific Northwest. Today, you can admire the historic facade, while inside, historic photographs on the walls document the school's past.