Old works well in new Capitol Hill gastropub Quinn's

For months, restaurateurs Scott and Heather Staples have pondered the inside of a nondescript gray building on a busy corner of Seattle's Capitol Hill, home of their new gastropub, Quinn's.

What color should they paint the walls? Should they use the mezzanine for dining? How should the bar look? What lighting would be best? What art should they hang?

So the couple behind Belltown's Restaurant Zoë were tickled to learn that dozens of students in interior designer Sandra Doyle's Bellevue Community College classes have had to answer those very same questions about the very same space.

Doyle first considered using 1001 E. Pike St. as a template for her class on public spaces while her husband was designing an artist's studio upstairs. She liked the challenge of redesigning the nearly 100-year-old building rather than knocking it down and starting fresh.

Figure out how to interact with this restaurant space, she told her students. And more than 100 interpretations later, she's still impressed by their creativity.

Amy Wu shifted the interior walls to resemble the curves of the human ear, creating intimate chambers conducive to conversation. Brittany Segle created a restaurant in the round, with seats that fringe a main floor sushi bar and clear walls upstairs to let those diners see the action. Joanne Harman made that same mezzanine a gallery for local artists and lit canvas walls with projectors throughout the dining area for an ever-changing look.

As designed by the Staples, Quinn's (set to open by the end of the month) now sports warm, earth-tone walls, candlestick sconces, framed art of barnyard animals and plenty of exposed wood and iron to show off its original bones. An iron railing and open stairs keep the mezzanine connected to the main floor.

Some of the original timbers have a new supporting role as a giant communal table, which suits the rustic, pubby food the Staples plan to serve: fresh sausage, hanger steak with frites, hamburgers and bar snacks made from scratch, wine and more than a dozen beers on tap. Eats will range in price from $3 to $6 for snacks on up to $8 to $19 for entrees.

"The tough part when you're building or designing something is 'How do I make this place feel authentic, so it doesn't feel put together and contrived,' and boy, the building just did that for us," Scott Staples said.

Doyle gives the Staples an A for effort.

"They've kept the inherent qualities that that space has, and they've added to it," she said. "They haven't tried to cover up the old with new; they're appreciating the architectural language that's already in that space."

Karen Gaudette: 206-515-5618 or kgaudette@seattletimes.com

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