Born September 23, 1926 in Seattle, Hawley Adelbert Dudley Jr. was raised in Tacoma and graduated from Lincoln High School. He received his formal architectural education from the University of Washington where he graduated in 1952. Upon graduation he went to work for the architectural firm of Bain & Overturf (1953) and then took a job with the firm of Detlie & Peck (1954-1958).

While still working for Detlie & Peck, Dudley took on design projects on the side. His first commission was for the Wamba House (1955) on Mercer Island. This was followed up by an apartment building for H.L. Huueffed on Taylor Ave. (1955).

His design for his own house (1957) in the Montlake neighborhood received widespread media coverage. After being featured as a Seattle Times Home-of-the-Month (Sept 1957), word of the house spread to newspapers as far away as Kansas and Connecticut.

Confident of his design skills, in 1958 Dudley opened his own independent practice. Early projects include the Secoma Distributing Co. Headquarters (1958); and the Burke Avenue Chapel (1959).

Custom homes followed with several homes for builder James Marshall in the Canterbury Neighborhood (1963); the Paul Moats and Dr. Wally Johnson Homes in Inverness; the Gilman House; three homes on 16th Street East; and the Delmar & Darleen Noonan House (1964). Dudley went on to design several apartment buildings for the Noonan’s; as well as the Raleigh House Apartments (1963); and an apartment at 2863 Thorndyke Ave W. (1967).

His various apartment commissions helped him garner larger commission from a variety of public housing agencies. Among his first projects were a 30-unit public housing project for Island County Housing Authority in Oak Harbor and 20 unit complex in Oak Harbor (1967).

Due to the large number of commission, in 1968 Dudley formed a partnership with Chambers Ekness. Together the firm of Dudley & Ekness focused on both high and low rise multi-plex housing units, many geared toward low-income. Projects include the Cal-Mor Apartments (1968) the first of Seattle Housing Authorities project of nine “turnkey Projects”; a 24 building two-story townhouse development for the Seattle Housing Authority in Northgate area (1968); a 50 unit housing project in Whitefish, Montana for the Whitefish Housing Authority (1969); several low cost housing projects in Alaska; a six-story low cost housing project at the base of Queen Anne (1976) for the Seattle Housing Authority; Elderly housing in the Hazel Valley for the King County Housing Authority (1969); and a nine-story project for the Portland Housing Authority (1971).

Dudley and Ekness parted ways in 1985 and both continued independent practices for a few more years. Dudley passed away on December 10, 1996.

– Michael C Houser