Architect Robert Wade Beatty was born in Portland, Oregon, on November 30, 1927. He received his formal architectural training at the University of Washington graduating in 1956.

Active in the Seattle chapter of the AIA while still in school, Beatty became the Program Chair for the Seattle Times Home-of-the-Month program in 1956. That same year he passed his Washington State architectural exams and became licensed. He was later licensed to practice in Alaska.

After establishing his own firm in 1957, Beatty focused his early career on single-family residences. His design for the William Edward House in the Vista Mountain Development with architect Walter R. Bell, was a Seattle Times Home-of-the-Month in October 1956, and his split entry style design for a residence in the Manhattan View Estates outside of Burien was featured in the Seattle Times in April 1957. The following year Beatty worked with the Home Improvement Contractors Council of Home Builders Association to demonstrate the possibilities of remodeling an older home. Their “Project Face-lift” was featured in the Seattle Times in December 1958. He also supplied the design for the model home (“The Galaxy”) at the 1959 Seattle Home Show which featured “a new concept in residential design – a multiple-arched roof line.” Beatty’s design for the David Wing House near Seattle’s Seward Park, with his associate John Pearce Jones, took a deferent approach, and featured two off-set modified A-frames.

Despite his success in single family home design, Beatty began to specialize in multi-family apartment designs. Known projects include the 1123 Taylor Avenue Apartments (1959), the Letitia Apartments (1960), the Plaza 4300 Apartments (1960), an apartment building at 4314 Dayton Ave. (1960), another at 2345 Minor Ave N. (1960), the Dor Rik Apartments (1961), the Barrett West Apartments (1964), the Lockside Apartments (1964), the Iron Ridge Apartments in Burien (1969), and the Shorewood Town Houses (1978). Many of the apartments he designed were built by contractor/builder Alton R. Royce.

Later non-residential projects include the Highland Park Methodist Church (1960); and the Bonney Lake Library, and a three-part module building developed by the Western Modular Corp. of Kent (1975, demolished).

Beatty died in Seattle on January 31, 2000.

– Michael C Houser