Arbor Crest Estate Winery is a
National Historic Site, situated high atop a hill on the northern outskirts of Spokane Valley, on North Fruit Hill Road. The estate was built in 1924 by
Royal Newton Riblet. The estate contains several stone buildings, a stone footbridge, a large checkerboard, gardens and stone lined pathways, and the original house, all built by Riblet. Riblet was an eccentric inventor(with more than 90 registered patents to his name) whose eccentricity can be seen throughout the grounds in the manner and style of the buildings and fixtures. It was purchased in 1984 by
Arbor Crest to serve as their headquarters.
The winery is open for touring and wine tasting from noon to 5:00 PM daily. Situated as it is atop a basalt bluff, it has an excellent view of the valley below. Their winemaker is Kristina Mielke-van Löben Sels.
Royal Riblet's home has dominated the Spokane Valley landscape since 1925. Innovative in design and its use of technology, the house reflects the ingenuity of its owner and planner, Royal Riblet, widely known Pacific Coast inventor. Riblet's inventions, from improvements in bicycles to tramways, were notable developments in the first half of the twentieth century. As executed by architect George, Keith, the house is a picturesque and outstanding manifestation of Riblet's imagination.
As executed by [architect George H.] Keith, the mansion featured some highly unusual details. Riblet, like most Spokanites, had become accustomed to electricity as a part of everyday life since it was introduced in the city in the 1880's. He determined to make the fullest possible use of electricity in the house. From electrically controlled gates and lighted paths to garage doors and electric footwarmers, the house employed Spokane's surplus electricity extravagantly. The heating system—oil fired steam heat-was a concession to the realities of the remoteness of the house. Only one other house in the nation, according to Royal Riblet, equaled the amount of electric usage in 1925.
Interior details included such novel features as concave floor to wall transitions that permitted easy cleaning and the built-in ventilator shaft for the kitchen range. Another improvement in kitchen design was the use of efficiency level cabinets, counters, and sinks. Riblet insisted on practicality in the kitchen. Other innovations were the double lined water tanks, intercom system to all rooms, and picture
windows throughout the house.
Although some of Riblet's plans were merely personal preference, as in the cold sleeping-warm dressing room suites, others had a serious impact on later design. The most influential was Riblet's steel framed lawn furniture, widely imitated by the mid-1930's. The house and all its features were widely publicized in 1929, when the Spokane Chamber of Commerce arranged for Fox Films to make a newsreel of the estate.
The wide showing of this film may explain the impact of Riblet's
furniture design and convenience features in home building.
Most famed of the estate's features was the tramway. Run with an automotive motor, transmission, clutch, and brake the positive traction car ascended the cliff with out an operator at either end and without moving cables. Despite the fact that the five-passenger tram has not been used since 1945 and was removed twenty years ago, most Spokane Valley residents mention it as a part of the Riblet house.
The house is by its setting a prominent landmark, but its true significance springs from the unique talents of its owner, Royal Riblet.