Urban Playground -- Pike Place Tour Leads To Families Living Downtown

MICHAEL JUDKINS FRANKLY wasn't sure he'd LIKE living downtown. After all, he'd grown up in the suburbs, and that's where he'd always thought his kids would grow up. His wife, architect Diane Jacobsen, was intrigued with the idea of "letting go of the car, except for special occasions," to live within walking distance of her office.

So with some trepidation, they moved to the Pike Place neighborhood. That was six years ago. They liked it, so three years ago, after daughter Katie was born, they bought a condominium in Hillclimb Court. "It's the best of both worlds," says Jacobsen now. "There's a sense of neighborhood here, we're a small community in a large urban landscape. We probably know people better than we ever would in the suburbs, because we live closer together."

Jacobsen likes walking through the Market each morning with time to stop for coffee, and coming back through each night to pick up fresh produce or fish.

"And Katie's day care - we think it's the best in the city - is right across the street."

The 4-year-old's day care, the Pike Market Child Care Center, has asked the Jacobsen-Judkins family, and several of their neighbors, to be part of the Spaces for Urban Living Tour next Sunday.

Downtown turned out to be the right move for the Jacobsen-Judkins family, but there was a price to pay when the family moved first into a 600-square-foot studio, and then into their 861-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath unit. The junk had to go.

"We will never have the space of a big house," Judkins says. "We pared down our belongings and we're very careful what we buy. We keep bikes on the balcony. But we couldn't give up the canoe."

So they turned the canoe, which Judkins built a decade ago during an extended illness, into a treasured piece of art hanging from hooks in the hall. It does get hoisted down and over the balcony about once a year for a cruise. The rest of the time, it's a conversation piece.

Actually, the tiny condo is filled with conversation pieces: shiny glass art platters and concrete fish by artist Bob Lucas, a hanging metal fish by Buster Simpson (a relic of the days when Jacobsen helped redesign Larry's Markets), a collection of antique painting torches, paper wall sconces by Doug Varey and paintings by Katie.

Art comes naturally to Katie, whose colorful bedroom, a large alcove off the front hall, is filled with toys and artwork. Judkins is a commercial painter by trade, and his craftwork is found on the unusual mottled and faux-painted walls throughout the condo.

Of particular interest are the elegant green and gray kitchen cabinets, which began as ordinary white Eurostyle laminates. Judkins sprayed the doors with a metallic Hammerite finish in his company's shop. "It was much cheaper than new cabinets, we hated the white, but the cabinets were fine," says Jacobsen. The east wall of the kitchen is open to the living room and the tall glass doors that overlook the courtyard.

Living-room furniture had to be small-scale. The modular couch, a hand-me-down from Michael's family, fits comfortably alongside a wall of built-in-like cabinets for books, stereo and keepsakes. The family found an iron and glass table and chair set that seats six but looks airy. That's important because it's next to a full wall of mirrors - which means you see it twice.

The condo complex, just west of Pike Place Market, has a number of amenities outside the units. Through the gated entry is a vast landscaped courtyard, "The yardwork is done for us," says Jacobsen happily. Katie and her friends often ride bikes, play ball or otherwise amuse themselves there. The location and fenced perimeter mean parents can watch the kids safely from their balconies.

The units all face the courtyard, which buffers them from the noisy Alaskan Way viaduct to the west and from city sounds to the east. To an outsider the sound level still seems almost overwhelming. But residents say it's like white noise that they quickly got used to.

"I sleep better because of it," says Jonathon Ballard, a hotel consultant whose two-story townhouse unit in the complex is also part of the home tour.

"Contrary to popular opinion, downtown is a great place to raise kids - right up there with the farm, and way ahead of the suburbs," he says. Ballard shares custody of his son Graham, 6, who eagerly looks forward to his days and nights downtown.

The outside walkways, which have room for lounge chairs and potted plants, run within a stone's throw of the viaduct, meaning there are beautiful views through the cars and concrete to Elliott Bay and the waterfront.

Hillclimb Court was built by Olsen Walker Architects in 1983. It was the first new construction in the Market area, and was considered by some to be "overbuilt" with its New York-style concrete design. It has won several prestigious design awards, including one from the American Institute of Architects.

Jacobsen first learned of the building while she was an architecture student at the University of Washington, studying under Gordon Walker.

"I loved the building the first time I saw it, but condos then were very expensive, relative to other things on the market," she says. "By the time we were looking to buy, it was more in line, price-wise. Also, living in the city means we don't do things like yard work, much house maintenance or even have to buy a swing set, so we save that way.

"It might not be for everyone, but it's the right lifestyle for us."

CATHY REINER IS A REPORTER FOR THE SEATTLE TIMES NEWSFEATURES SECTIONS. GREG GILBERT IS A TIMES STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER.

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The Pike Place Child Care Center's Spaces for Urban Living Tour next Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., offers an inside peek at downtown living.

The annual walking tour, which raises scholarship money for low-income children, will take visitors into nine homes in several buildings, including the newly opened Newmark Building, on the site of the old J.C. Penney store, Hillclimb Court below the market and the new Florentine Building, near the Kingdome.

Tickets are $10 in advance, call 625-0917, or $12 on Sunday from a table under the Pike Place Market clock.