Queen Anne

By Jamie Friddle

Were Queen Anne a woman - OK, she was, but we're talking about the Seattle neighborhood -- she might frequently hike up her hoop skirt to dip a porcelain foot into chilly Puget Sound. She'd do this after taking in spectacular views of the city at Kerry Park, one of many pocket parks dotting the area. Or before nourishing at one of its many restaurants and cafés or dallying at one of its many independent boutiques along densely commercialized Queen Anne Avenue North. Her juxtaposition of form and function might alarm some people, but Queen Anne is just being herself: casually sophisticated.

A grand dame of Seattle's residential districts, Queen Anne is divided into "Upper" and "Lower" by an eponymous hill rising 456 feet above Puget Sound. At one time, early residents ascended the hill on a counterweighted trolley system; today, they conquer it in German or Japanese luxury sedans and gleaming SUVs. But defiant pedestrians should fret not: There are many staircases cut into the famous hill, suitable for strolls in any season.

As one may expect of any hilly neighborhood with panoramic views of its city, finding an affordable house on Queen Anne can be a contentious affair. "Whether it's a nice courtyard or nicely landscaped yard," says Windermere's Wendy Saddler, "it's pretty competitive these days. Depending on the price range, things can escalate into the 10 percent range if it's really a hot property."

Flanked by views of the Olympic Mountains to the west and the Cascade Mountains to the east, Upper Queen Anne boasts some of Seattle's finest Craftsman bungalows, Victorian four-squares and, of course, Queen Annes. According to Saddler, two-bedroom, two-bath homes start around $500,000 and may peak near $1 million. Condominiums and townhomes of similar configuration, more popular in Lower Queen Anne, aren't much less: $350,000 and $450,000, are respective starters. A two-bedroom apartment, Upper or Lower, will often run $800 to $1,500 a month.

"It's a dog-walking, buggy-pushing neighborhood," says Penn Kerr, owner of P.W. Kerr's. For the last five years, Kerr says his home and gift boutique has kept Queen Anne marriages "smooth" with tasteful last-minute baublery. And it is the married, gentrified professionals with kids who dwell in Queen Anne's expensive houses and walk its storied streets. Young ones have three K-8 schools from which to choose, and McClure Middle School readies them for the big leagues.

Locals match their dining budgets to a range of styles on Upper and Lower: Macrina Bakery and Café offers rustic pastries to hungry day-shoppers; the newly minted Q serves American tapas; casual 5 Spot Café offers quarterly regional menus; and chic Canlis is nationally renowned. From the urban sophistication of Crow to the immaculate Thai aromas of Orrapin, the entire hill feeds the hungry masses between any number of world-class arts events at Seattle Center's multiple live venues in Lower Queen Anne. Music-history lovers have lost entire afternoons in Paul Allen's Experience Music Project, or risked abduction by aliens at his Science Fiction Museum, while sports fans can always pop a few veins cheering on the Storm or Sonics at good old-fashioned KeyArena.

Queen Anne's location just north of downtown is appealing, but traffic, street lights and a mere handful of routes to Interstate 5 and downtown sully what otherwise would be a commuter's dream. It's about 10 to 15 minutes from Upper by car and 20 minutes by bus. From Lower, shave off a good seven to eight minutes in either mode. Commute times to Interstate 5 are about the same as to downtown. The hill swarms with buses, most notably routes 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 and 13 through 18.