Not Just Another Pretty Lake View

These 1965 condominiums perfectly suit two owners with changing needs

- Susan Lagsdin

The play of sun and clouds over Stormy Mountain and Bear Mountain, the crystalline blue span of water, dark sculpted horizons, hillside homes perched above the lake, a faint buzz of road and marina activity — a day hike up Chelan Butte would offer an unforgettable one-time view like this, a perfect vacation photo op.

And to live close to Chelan’s main street with a similar vista as a full-scale backdrop to daily domesticity? Heaven.

In 1965, a handsome modern structure was built to capture and hold that classic up lake view. It was one of the first condominiums in the state of Washington, on a hilly lot on Third Street, near downtown Chelan’s south bridge.

Today, 54 years later, eight owners, some full time and some seasonal, live in the building and treasure their good choices.

Mary Signorelli bought her condo this past summer. She owned Wood & Things in Wenatchee for 24 years, after that a consignment furniture store in Chelan, and she currently works as a real estate broker at RE/MAX Advantage in Chelan.

She’d already decided to downsize from her labor-intensive,2,500-square-foot, two-level home just on the other side of downtown; the landscaping and cleaning were not quite as worth it as before. After enthusiastically showing this unit to prospective buyers four times, she’d fallen in love with it herself.

Jerry and Terry Larson, her next-door neighbours (front doors about four feet apart), bought their unit two years ago.

He’d been at Pro Build in Wenatchee for years and after retirement, which didn’t stick, now works at Marson and Marson in Chelan. They’d built an orchard home in Monitor and farmed for 15 years, and when their three children matured and moved away, they cozied into a small place up Lake Chelan near The Cove Marina.

In 2017 they headed closer to town, to “upsize” for yet another chapter in their lives.