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This is such an easy win.

The Bellagio condos at 745 Bellevue Avenue East went up in 2005. Not only is the building a knockoff of a knockoff (Italy via Vegas), it’s unbelievably shoddily constructed, which seems perfect. The building doesn’t even meet the ground squarely (see picture). When I Google its architects, I find a company called TSA, but clicking them I get “Not Found.” I also would vacate the premises if I were the architect of record on this building.

In a full frontal view of the building, you can see the dead face that meets the street.

You really must lay your eyes on it if you have not already. I am absolutely impressed by its badness. It’s almost enough to inspire love. Almost.

Its marketers have this to say:

The architects at “Bellagio on Capitol Hill Condos” encourage you to be creative with your lifestyle. The unique floor plans inspire you to create a new environment that is your new home. Enjoy the vitality of the city and Broadway while surrounding yourself with the special things that are your individual expression. Don’t wait any longer? Take the next step up in your life, come live at “Bellagio on Capitol Hill. The modern design and traditional charm of “Bellagio on Capitol Hill”, blend nicely in this highly desired and vibrant neighborhood. The design features of this building allows for intimacy and privacy for your very own refuge. Bellagio on Capitol Hill Condominiums sets a new standard for Condominium living. Open floor plans give you the feeling your looking for. Designer interior finishes are equally asthetic. Home is here at “Bellagio on Capitol Hill…”

Prices here.

Jen Graves (The Stranger’s former arts critic) mostly writes about things you approach with your eyeballs. But she’s also a history nerd interested in anything that needs more talking about, from male...

36 replies on “Behold: The Worst Building in Seattle”

  1. It’s so gaudy and fabulous. I especially love the zebra-print rug in the living room of the 3 bedroom (and the merlot walls of one of the bathrooms).

    Faboosh!

  2. Okay, the thing is, I totally hate that building. But I think you’re forgetting some other significant failures — the Veduta, or whatever it’s called, just down the street on Bellevue. But also, that pink and yellow monstrosity on Denny, near Boylston. So yes, the Bellagio sucks. But the worst building in Seattle? I think not.

  3. Too funny. My friend and I have walked by it several times, always commenting on how ugly and out of place this building is. I thought it looked like something you’d see in a Dallas suburb. Truly awful.

  8. I lived across the street from this piece of shit. Blech. You really need to see it in person to truly appreciate what a total fucking turd it is.

  11. Did part of that building used to be a fire station? I don’t get the three floor structure in the middle, is that where they used to hang the hoses to dry?

  14. Jen, I agree that it’s out of place and cheesy, but I’m more inclined to think of it as fabulously so (@1: yes!). I totally agree with keith @10, too – there are so many other examples of crappy, overly-square, horrendously colored, disproportionate buildings that (with 5 cent windows!) lurking around town. I want more density & mixed use as much as the next urbanite, but when the results are as painfully uninspired as keith’s example, it makes it hard for me to want to spend a lot of energy picking on the Bellagio.

  17. I agree with 14 – the Bellagio is easy to hate on because it’s so obviously trying to be something grander than it is, but there are so many examples of things that are just plain awful all over Seattle that make this one seem quite nice by comparison. See Huge Ass City for a multitude of examples.

  18. Personally, I kind of like it.

    It needs a streetside cafe, and a few postcard racks beneath an awning, but other than that it’s not that bad.

  19. eh, i’ve seen worse buildings around seattle. granted i haven’t seen this building in person so maybe i’m missing something. and it does seem to have pretty shoddy detailing and design flaws all up and down on itself. but at least it has some texture and shape to it. what i can’t stand are all those modern, aluminum sided, square condo buildings that are constantly being worked on around town.

  20. I live down the street from the Bellagio, and couldn’t pass up an opportunity to visit it when they were first selling. (Looking at apartments is my version of my dad’s favorite pastime, looking at new cars on the lots.) I took a tour, examining some of the better apartments (I can totally pass for serious wealth when I need.)

    I asked the rep if the building was inspired by the Las Vegas hotel. She said no, that it was inspired by “the developers deep feelings for Italy.” I asked, “What does the developer have against Italy?”

    And, for the record, I don’t think this is the ugliest building in Seattle, or even on Bellevue Ave E. There’s a pink and yellow monstrosity further south that gets my vote. But this building is the most immoral, unethical, inauthentic — in a word, the worst. This building is a lie. Anyone with bad taste enough to live there needs help.

  21. If you can afford to live in the Bellagio, then what you want is a Cartier-priced stop-n-shop “mercato” on the ground floor PLUS neon lights. In the event you run out of silk toilet paper, Dove ice cream or papyrus cigarette papers. Bellagio counters the real estate concept that living well is the best revenge. Before Bellagio, there was a perfectly decent empty lot with a huge tree featuring a treehouse that was occasionally the scene of intimate dinner parties for two.

  23. This building is a loud “Fuck You” to all of the things that suck about Seattle, most notably its hipster pretentiousness and its pathetic introversion.

    Thank you, Bellagio, we deserve it.

  26. You know what it reminds me of a little? Tubs, after their faux-Tuscan marbelized makeover. Someone needs to cover this piece of shit head to do with foul graffiti.

  27. Anything that isn’t a breadloaf/shoebox building gets an automatic pass in my class.

    Why the hate? You want more bland shoebox condos? More townhouses?

    I’m so confused.

  29. Forget the building’s badness — how about its marketers’ grammar? “… the feeling YOUR looking for…” “… design features of this building allowS for…” And the aforementioned “asthetic.” Heavens.

  30. It’s wonderful, especially at six am just before the sun rises. It looks like the building where the Fascist police took the kid’s father for questioning in “Amacord”.

  31. I also lived across the street from it and it’s been falling apart since construction ended. The owners are/were incredible douchebags.

  32. Seriously people, even ignoring the Vegas name and architecture and approach it from a just a materials and build quality perspective, we have a new kind of low. Knock on the facade of this building. It’s made of some kind of plastic! And the plastic pieces aren’t even aligned properly. Here’s as good of a review as any: http://cheapshitcondos.com/wordpress/200…

  34. FYI: The Bellagio was designed by Edi Linardic, not TSA. He’s the guy who did the Trader Joe’s building on Madison and all those Silver Cloud motels littering the city. Also, you should have seen the earlier versions of the design. Blech.

  35. What? You’re kidding me. Even with all of the non-descript cookie cutter 1970’s construction condo’s within walking distance of this building, you pick this one as the worst building in all of Seattle. You must have some other motive for posting this, Jen. There are so many uglier buildings on Capitol Hill, Bellevue Ave., for that matter. The Hillsborough at 740 Bellevue Ave. E., directly across the street from the Bellagio is way uglier. Go a couple of blocks south and you will find more examples of hideous-ness. Somethings up, you’re not making sense.

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