Living Above The Shop -- Inventive Condos Make Space For An Old World Dream

TIRED OF THE DAILY commute? Many people work out of home offices, and growing numbers of artists have taken over old warehouse spaces for residences and studios.

Now an award-winning new building on Western Avenue has made it possible for one person to achieve his dream of living above his shop, as people did traditionally for thousands of years. And Joseph Turner Helton wouldn't have it any other way.

Turner Helton Antiques and Interior Design occupies the corner of the building at Western Avenue and Vine Street, commonly known as The Banner Building. It was conceived by Koryn Rolstad, a local artist whose firm, Bannerworks Inc. (now Koryn Rolstad Studios) creates design installations for theaters, shopping centers, exhibition halls, embassies, military facilities and office towers worldwide.

Rolstad envisioned a community of mutual learning and support where established and beginning artists could live and work together. The owners would carve individualized living and working spaces out of raw concrete shells. High ceilings, mezzanines and expansive west-facing windows would borrow from traditional warehouse-loft elements.

Architect Ed Weinstein of Weinstein Copeland Architects realized Rolstad's vision in concrete and corrugated-metal siding. The owner and general contractor is Hadley Holding Corp.

Units range in price from $145,000 (for a 1,100-square-foot live/work space) to $285,000 (for 1,800-square-foot condominiums

that include a 600-square-foot mezzanine). Penthouses, approximately 3,000 square feet, are $625,000 to $710,000. Homeowners design or contract for the design of all interior improvements, including kitchens and bathrooms, and condominium dues are $125 to $325 a month.

All told, it can be an expensive move - a far cry from Rudolfo's rooftop loft in Puccini's "La Boheme." That accounts for the variety of professions now represented in the units.

For Helton, an interior designer and antiques dealer since 1989, it was worth it. With his lease on an East Pike Street storefront ending, he wanted to buy a site where he could expand his business, yet live as well as work. For years he had spent most of his waking hours at the shop.

Seattle has few places zoned to permit living and working in the same space. Artist studios are an exception because they are not considered a retail use. Helton was intrigued by the condominium spaces in the Banner Building and assumed it wouldn't be difficult to buy one for both residence and shop. But it wasn't all that easy.

It took almost a year, from the time Helton first looked at the units in the fall of 1994 to finally signing papers in the summer of 1995. Because the project was a build-out of a concrete shell, there were fewer sources of loans than for typical home mortgages and construction. And though artists would be permitted to set up working studios in their residential units, existing codes did not permit residential uses in the condominium retail spaces. Ultimately, it required a request to the city for change of use to residential to proceed with the project.

"There were times I was so discouraged," Helton says, "I was ready to throw my hands up and say, `It's not going to happen,' right down to two weeks before I signed the papers."

But Helton finally opened the door to his 2,100-square-foot empty stage and started to plan the sets that have shaped what he calls "an old new world." His inspiration came from a long-held dream.

"I lived in Europe for several years, and always had a dream that I would stay in Europe - in Spain, Portugal or France - and have a wonderful little business on the ground floor with an equally wonderful apartment above it."

The vision is evident from the minute one steps into his antique store filled with polished wood, brass, crystal and tapestries. Concrete walls have been painted in warm green and chartreuse. The concrete floors were transformed with chemicals that react with concrete to form different colors, then were incised with cut lines that form a pattern akin to decorative stone pavers. At the rear, the open mezzanine has been enclosed with a wall of balconies and French windows that evoke a Mediterranean street facade. Balustrades were crafted by metal sculptor Ross Bendixen from Helton's design sketches. The French windows, like real French windows, don't actually reach to the floor, but are set about 6 inches above it.

Behind the wall and the French windows is a 600-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment that Helton reaches through a door off the Vine Street lobby. Designed to his specifications, it includes an entrance hall that also serves as his dressing room; a kitchen with dark-green tile and cherry cabinetry; a living area that functions as media room, library and guest room all in one; a bedroom, and bath. Helton is already planning a remodel to expand the bedroom wall and balcony outward to accommodate a small sitting area.

All the work did not come cheaply. Helton paid $295,000 for the unit. He took a construction loan for $94,000 and had additional out-of-pocket costs plus his own labor for painting and finish work, including the floor treatment (estimated at $10,000 had it been farmed out). In the end, it's been worth it.

"I worked very hard to make this happen. I like my shop, like being here at night with the lights turned low and with the music on. Looking at my things gives me pleasure. Now when I go up the back stairs to the apartment, I can look back through the chandeliers and the antiques across the shop and see ferries going across at the water. To me this is my biggest dream come true. This is my retirement."

Lawrence Kreisman is author of six publications on regional architecture and historic preservation. He writes regularly for Pacific Magazine. Benjamin Benschneider is a Seattle Times photographer.