Penthouse receives lavish remodel

As a youngster, Dan Beyer used to meander along Riverside Avenue in downtown Spokane and gaze up at the Paulsen Center’s grand penthouse ringed with its tree-lined terrace.

“Growing up, as a little kid, you’d see the trees up at the top, and you’d say, ‘Wow,’ ” he said.

Beyer, along with a wide swath of community members, always wondered what the 2,320-square-foot penthouse would look like inside.

This fall, he found out – and he also got to try his hand at renovating one of Spokane’s most exclusive residences.

The penthouse is the only residence in the Paulsen Center, made up of two buildings constructed in 1909 and 1929 at 421 W. Riverside Ave. The Art Deco skyscraper, with Spanish- and Moorish-style exterior and interior detailing, was built and named for mining magnate August Paulsen.

The office building’s crown rises to a set-back, 16th floor penthouse that Paulsen family members have occupied since it was constructed. The most recent resident, heiress Helen Paulsen, lived in the space for decades, until last March when she died at age 96.

The space likely will be leased, said Lisa Dowers, the regional vice president for West & Wheeler, which manages the property. But she plans to give some of the building’s tenants a peek beforehand, possibly for the building’s annual Christmas party.

For the rest of the public, though, a North by Northwest Productions crew captured the inside for the silver screen.

For a few weeks this fall, the crew moved in and transformed the penthouse into a movie set for an independent film, called “The Golden Door.”

Beyer, a set decorator for Spokane-based North by Northwest, helmed a team that repainted, patched walls, replaced carpet and restored wood floors to make the space resemble a Fifth Avenue New York City flat.

He estimates the team spent roughly $50,000 updating the space for the three days of shooting. The crew hauled in rentals from local antique and furniture stores to decorate the penthouse with an eclectic French feel, Beyer said.

When Helen Paulsen lived there, the entire penthouse had been painted and decorated with a monotone, icy-blue hue, Beyer said. The color still lingers in the cozy, 1950s-era kitchen complete with period appliances.

The space has its treasures: A master bedroom changing room is wrapped with hand-painted mirrors. The master bathroom sports lavender fixtures. The coffered ceiling in the living room is lined with ornate molding. A fireplace is rimmed with carved Venetian marble.

The sunroom at the east side of the penthouse provides sweeping views of Spokane.

“That’s what was really neat about this place,” Beyer said. “You couldn’t replicate it for the budget.”

“The Golden Door,” a romantic comedy, stars actors Joseph Cross, Sarah Roemer, rapper Snoop Dogg and Joe Pantoliano. It tells the story of a down-and-out man from Brooklyn who works as a doorman at a ritzy Fifth Avenue building. He falls for a girl who lives in the building’s penthouse – represented by the Paulsen’s penthouse.

The Paulsen penthouse, accessible by key-operated elevator, is the only place in the Northwest that could resemble a Fifth Avenue-style flat, said Vincent De Felice, the production designer with North by Northwest.

Paulsen Center tenants showed acute interest in the penthouse during the production, De Felice said.

“There are people who have worked in the building for 30, 40 years,” De Felice said, “and they were like, ‘Oh my gosh, can I follow you up?’”

Now with the movie, the public also will get a glimpse, De Felice said.

“At least this way, people get to see it,” he said.