A midcentury Ralph Anderson home wraps around a courtyard

Listed for $1.14 million, this Bellevue home brings the outdoors inside

By Sarah Anne Lloyd@sarahannelloyd Feb 8, 2018, 11:32am PST

On a quiet street in Bellevue’s Kimberlee Park neighborhood, this five-bedroom, 1963 home by Ralph Anderson, from a distance, is unassuming. This is typical of Anderson’s style—it defers to the nature around it from the outside. On the inside, though, it’s more of a monument to the setting, framing views of evergreens with exposed beams, accented with stone.

Anderson, known as the “father of Pioneer Square,” is also known for helping shape the Northwest Contemporary style—defined by open spaces that blur outdoor and indoor life— something that bleeds through in his earlier, more modern homes.

In this case, the kitchen, living area, and kitchen wrap around a central, stone fireplace pillar, with floor-to-ceiling windows throughout to take in the surrounding evergreens.

In signature Anderson style these spaces are topped by dynamic, vaulted, exposed-beam ceilings, occasionally dropping to create a more framed or intimate space.

The kitchen here is not an afterthought—it gets its own set of skylights, even if it doesn’t get the same view. Its share of the fireplace takes the shape of a built-in grill.

From almost every room on the main floor, there’s ample opportunity to interact with the outdoors—not just through the view, but with a wraparound deck that connects to a semi-enclosed courtyard, patio, and garden.

Architectural prestige aside, at its core this house is a basement rambler—often, in our hilly terrain, built into a hillside for as much light exposure below as above. Downstairs, a den exemplifies this style, with uninterrupted floor-to-ceiling windows and French doors directly to the backyard. The fireplace pillar continues down here with a more straightforward, moden design.