The Tao of Dow

Seattle contractor Jim Dow used natural materials and a minimalist aesthetic to transform a homely hilltop Mediterranean into a tranquil retreat worthy of its setting

Written by Fred Albert • Photographed by John Granen
Produced By Linda O'Keeffe & Linda Humphrey

A few years ago, Jim Dow was sharing a sprawling Seattle estate with his two teenage children and a live-in girlfriend. But when the girlfriend moved out and the kids left for college, Dow found himself alone and adrift in a 6,000-square-foot craftsman in the city's Magnolia neighborhood. Vowing to find something smaller and closer to the city's core, he purchased a 2,600-square-foot 1920s Mediterranean atop Queen Anne Hill.

"It needs a contractor," the real estate agent confided, and she wasn't kidding. Happily for Dow, he is a contractor, and he was able to see past the facts to the home's potential. The cloistered rooms were cloaked in gothic appointments that looked like something out of a horror film. And although the site boasted a remarkable panorama of the city, bay and mountains, the home's disregard for the scenery bordered on the comical, with just a single window oriented toward the view.

Inspired by some of the modern houses built by his company, Schuchart/Dow, the homeowner enlisted the services of designer Garret Cord Werner and landscape architect Bruce Hinckley. Working from initial plans by architect Brandt Hollinger, the trio preserved the painted-brick exterior but gutted the rest, fashioning a series of free-flowing spaces rendered in a muscular mix of walnut, concrete and blackened steel.

"I wanted the palette really simple," Dow says. "I didn't want to do all the coolest things you've ever seen in any design magazine." Slots in walls, floors and even staircases offer teasing reveals between spaces, instilling every room and even the landscape with moments of personal discovery.

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