Ever have a nightmare that you're back in school? Now imagine it's a good dream—because you're living in a beautifully updated condo, one that kept all the pretty parts of a historic elementary and ditched the lunchroom food and homework.

Residents’ fight to keep the West Queen Anne Elementary School open amid economic downturn and urban flight landed the neighborhood fixture on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975—the first Seattle school to earn the honor. The final bell rang just six years later. But historian Larry Kreisman says that those efforts helped preserve the building for its second life as a “national model for salvaging surplus schools.”

Carefully converted into 49 residential units in 1984, the classic nineteenth-century brick building maintains a great deal of original character. Historic photos of schoolkids dot the hallways—the boys in slacks and button-downs, the girls with “big white bows in their hair,” says listing agent Susan Mudarri—giving the place a McMenamins-style tie to the past. From the street, one might reasonably assume that class is still in session. 

This top-floor unit, though, feels straight out of 2024. The high-ceilinged space, one of 12 in the building with a sunny deck cut into the roofline, feels bright and spacious. An updated, galley-style kitchen features high-end appliances and sleek finishes, like quartz countertops, gleaming subway tiles, and European white oak floors.

Pretty living room wall panels give a subtle nod to the building’s vintage character, accommodating a twin-size Murphy bed and an entertainment center behind them. “I love the way the condo combines the best of both worlds,” Mudarri says.

In the large loft-style bedroom, lit by a single skylight, modern cable railings and recessed lighting maintain a minimalist, airy look. An en suite bathroom (there’s another half-bath downstairs), a stacked washer and dryer, and custom closet cabinetry keep quotidian practicalities easily hidden from guests’ view. 

And there will be guests. Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream and Caffe Fiore, two favorites of the current owner, sit on the same street as the condo building; the Queen Anne branch of the Seattle Public Library, the school’s peer on the National Register of Historic Places, is just a block up the hill. Pickleball courts, parks, and pizzerias offer a wholesome slice of Queen Anne’s rich urban lifestyle. 

The community that saw this place as worth saving still shines, too. Neighbors watch for each other’s packages and deliver welcome flowers to new residents. “Opportunities such as those at West Queen Anne Elementary School exist,” Kreisman wrote when the school underwent its 1980s transformation. “But to succeed in such opportunities requires a very special combination of ingredients.” Here, that combination feels beautifully maintained.