A city board will decide next month whether to designate an apartment building on California Avenue Southwest a city landmark, which could stop construction plans for a four story mixed-use building there.

Built in 1927, Charlestown Court at 3811 California Ave. S.W. was automatically nominated for landmark review through an environmental impact review, a process each new development goes through in order to get land use permits from the city.

The Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board voted 6-3 in favor of nominating the exterior of the building, however the interior lacked the distinction needed to warrant a nomination, said Beth Chave, a board staff member.

The board decided the building could fall under criteria D, embodying "distinctive visible characteristics of an architectural style, or period, or a method of construction." It's thought to be a good example of a type of residential architecture termed "bungalow court," which became popularized in the 1920s.

The designation hearing is scheduled for April 2.

David Peterson, an architect from West Seattle based firm Nicholson Kovalchick, presented the nomination to the board Feb. 20, the same evening it made a controversial decision to designate the Manning's/Denny's building in Ballard a historic landmark.

Peterson was hired to prepare the nomination and is also designing the mixed-use development for property owners BCK Investments. In Peterson's professional opinion, Charlestown Court, located just across the street from the Charlestown Caf