Denny's fans hunger for a historic grand slam in Seattle

This month, a city board opened the way to give historic landmark status to a recently closed Denny's restaurant in northwest Seattle, a decision that has left some questioning the city's selection process.

The landmark designation, if approved next month, would prevent demolition and stop development of a condominium complex.

"I pass the building every day, and I think it's ugly and depressing," said Louie Richmond, spokesman for the Rhapsody Partners development company.

"But we understand art is very subjective. Some people think Barry Manilow is a great artist."

The 1964 building sits boarded up and marked with graffiti on a busy corner in the Ballard neighborhood, across from a Walgreens drugstore and a Safeway supermarket.

A local commentator described it as looking like "a Norwegian stave church crossed with a Japanese pagoda" -- one of Seattle's few remaining examples of Googie architecture.

Ironically, it was the developer who submitted the nomination for landmark status, expecting it would be denied -- a common tactic: Nominating a building preempts others from doing so and allows the developer to shape the presentation.

But the strategy backfired this time when the city approved the nomination.

The building in question is 44 years old; many cities require structures to be at least 50 to qualify for landmark designation.

Seattle's requirement is 25, and some have wondered aloud whether any structure less than a half-century old should be considered historically significant.

"This building is an icon," said Stephen Lee, chairman of the city's Landmarks Preservation Board. Landmark designation requires the support of at least seven of the board's 12 members when they meet Feb. 7; approval is expected.

This would be the first Denny's to receive landmark status, company spokeswoman Debbie Atkins said. Known for its comfort-food menu and 24/7 schedule, Denny's calls itself the nation's largest "full-service family restaurant chain," with more than 1,500 outlets, the vast majority in the United States.

The Denny's in Ballard was once a vibrant social hub, but it wasn't the building's first tenant; a Manning's Cafeteria, part of a small restaurant chain, occupied it for the first 20 years.