An interesting feature of the bridge is the four decorative concrete pavilions, each with a pair of haute relief concrete buffalo skull sculptures mounted on opposite sides. Though designed and constructed by Spokane city engineers, the elaborate ornamentation for the bridge, most especially the pavilions, was provided by the architectural firm of
Cutter and Malmgren The principals in the firm were Kirtland Kelsey Cutter, probably the best known Spokane architect of his time, and Karl Gunnar Malmgren. The pavilions are inventoried in the Smithsonian
Art Inventory Catalog.
A seemingly unlucky location for a bridge, this is the third built on the spot. The first, a wooden bridge thankfully burned down in 1890, one year after its construction, and the second, a steel bridge, proved not to be up to the task, resulting in its replacement by the present arch span in 1910. First opened on November 23, 1911, this bridge underwent a substantial restoration beginning in 2003 and was reopened in 2005.
A most beloved feature of the Monroe Street Bridge was the ornamentation provided by the firm of Kirtland Cutter and Karl Malmgren. Its exact conception and evolution are “steeped in legend” (Holstine, Nomination, Item no. 8, p. 5). The original design for the four pedestrian lookout pavilions included an Indian and canoe motif. The only portion of the design to be implement included eight life-sized bas-relief concrete bison (or bovine) skulls, four facing out and four facing in, on the covered wagon-shaped lookout pavilions. Ralston, the original engineer, referred to them as ox skulls. Spokane architectural historian Nancy Gale Compau says Cutter and Malmgren “used a real skull to sculpt the pavilions’ buffalo skulls symbolizing the West” (Compau, 1), and most published accounts refer to them as bison or buffalo skulls.
Regardless of their exact nature, “The wagon pavilions and skulls are among the most distinctive of any bridge ornamentation in the Northwest” (Holstine and Hobbs). Cutter and Malmgren also designed guardrails with a chain motif “that gave a feeling of strength and continuity. From the bridge, people could stop and admire not only the spectacular falls but also Cutter’s power station [Washington Water Power] standing confidently beside it.” (Matthews, 259) In 1920 a jury of West Coast architects listed the Monroe Street Bridge as one of the ten most notable examples of Spokane architecture.
From History Link