History of Del-Teet | Del-Teet Furniture

Over Ninety Years of Quality

Del-Teet Furniture opened in 1929 on Seattle’s Capitol Hill. It was a branch store from its first showroom in Denver, Colorado. This photo is from about 1930. Note the tree-trunk columns around the aches. Mr. Teeter was an avid outdoorsman and insisted on this detail. The building was designed by Mr. Anhault and built by Mr. Teeter and his crew.

The face of the building survives today as the front piece to a condo development.

Why “Del-Teet” ?

It’s the combination (very fashionable in the 1920’s) of the two nicknames of the founders. Doctor DELnaey on the left; and Cyrus TEETer on the right. This photo is undated, but from the Denver area at the time the first store was built. Dr. Delaney left the business in the early 1930’s but his name still is part of our history.

1930s Our First Seattle Location: Capitol Hill

Found in the Seattle Library Archives dating back to 1937, here is our original Capitol Hill Location! This image shows the development of the area-a post-housing but pre-Dick’s time. Thank you Tom Heuser for finding this high-res image!

1940s Seattle City Light Display

From “The Home of the Future” a 1940’s Seattle City Light display. Note the fashionable “streamlined” Del-Teet Furniture.

Transition to “Modern” Furniture

In the early 1950’s Mr. Teeter’s son, Bill introduced “modern” furniture to Del-Teet’s showroom. Bill Teeter was a friend and collaborator of many of the Pacific Northwest’s influential interior designers and architects. He travelled widely and was the first to import and sell the newly popular Scandinavian Modern furniture to Seattle.

1950s-1960s Print Advertisements

As we move through time, Del-Teet grows to embrace Mid-Century Modern and a variety of iconic pieces of the era: several Eames pieces and the Wassily Chair.

Our Modern Location

The building we are in today is one of the oldest in Bellevue! Here is a pair of images from a 1959 paper showing the plan for the building to be moved from 8th to 10th and for the exterior to be redesigned in the Tudor English style. It was originally designed to have a store in the lower level and offices above, and today we have our showroom on both floors!

Right Size

Beginning in the early 2000’s, our smaller scaled furniture that we had originally made in our Seattle shops, became more and more popular. Bill’s daughter, Polly took these designs and developed what is now the core of our furniture offerings – Right Size. It is now our focus and differentiates Del-Teet from all other furniture stores. The name comes from so many customers who said as they sat in our exclusive chairs and sofas, “It’s just right size for me!”