Soon that list may include a Denny's.

This month, a city board opened the way to give historic landmark status to a recently closed Denny's restaurant in northwest Seattle, a decision that has left some questioning the city's selection process.

The landmark designation, if approved next month, would prevent demolition and stop development of a condominium complex.

"I pass the building every day, and I think it's ugly and depressing," said Louie Richmond, spokesman for the Rhapsody Partners development company. "But we understand art is very subjective. Some people think Barry Manilow is a great artist."

The 1964 building sits boarded up and marked with graffiti on a busy corner in the Ballard neighborhood, across from a drugstore and a supermarket. A local commentator described it as looking like "a Norwegian stave church crossed with a Japanese pagoda" -- one of Seattle's few remaining examples of Googie architecture.

Ironically, it was the developer who submitted the nomination for landmark status -- expecting it would be denied. It's a common tactic: Nominating a building pre-empts others from doing so and allows the developer to shape the presentation. But the strategy backfired when the city approved the nomination.

Many cities require structures to be at least 50 years old to qualify for landmark designation. Seattle's requirement is 25, and some have wondered aloud whether any structure less than a half-century old should be considered historically significant.

"This building is an icon," said Stephen Lee, chairman of the city's Landmarks Preservation Board. Landmark designation requires the support of at least seven of the board's 12 members when they meet Feb. 7; approval is expected.

This would be the first Denny's to receive landmark status, a company spokeswoman said.

The Denny's wasn't the building's first tenant; a Manning's Cafeteria, part of a small restaurant chain, occupied it for the first 20 years.

When it opened in 1964, the building's design was different enough to be considered exotic around these parts. The Taj Mahal of Ballard, some called it.

When Denny's took over the building in the mid-1980s, the company considered razing it, but enough of Ballard's old-time residents protested and the plan was scrapped. The building remained a Denny's until September.

"Denny's is a reminder of what Ballard used to be," said Don Potter, 59, a former longtime resident who lives in Everett but still works at a furniture store a block from the former restaurant.

"Everywhere you look, there are condos going up. There's nowhere to park. Neighbors don't know each other anymore," Potter said. He recalled a time in the 1970s and '80s when all his neighbors were retired Norwegians (it was long a Scandinavian enclave) or old hippies.

Published online here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/arts/chi-denny_14jan14,1,7359865.story?ctrack=1&cset=true