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 Commercial Block - Spokane, WA Posted by:  T0SHEA
N 47° 39.387 W 117° 25.731
11T E 467797 N 5278206
The Commercial Block was just that, predominantly a commercial building, housing retail establishments, from meat markets to furniture stores. It was, however, originally known as the Commercial Hotel, with hotel rooms on the upper two floors.
Waymark Code: WMTDBR
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 11/05/2016
Views: 0
Designed by Isaac J. Galbraith, the Commercial Block was built in 1906 as a mixed use building, with retail establishments on the ground floor and single room occupancy (SRO) apartments in the upper two floors. From 1970 to the early 1980s the upper floors served as hotel space. No longer having a commercial presence to speak of, the building now serves as housing for formerly homeless people.
Relatively pedestrian in its design, the red brick building is situated between two slightly taller buildings, also constructed of red brick. All windows on the upper two floors were given squared raised brick hoods over simple brick lintels and plain raised brick sills. Above is an overhanging cornice supported by large ogee brackets, above which is a stepped parapet with the word COMMERCIAL in the centre. On the ground floor, this is one of the great many buildings which initially possessed cast-iron pilasters, fabricated in Spokane by the Union Iron Works.
Commercial Hotel
Isaac J. Galbraith designed the Commercial Block for Dr. Joseph Gandy and his wife, Harriet Ross Gandy, on property Mrs. Gandy owned. It was one of the first mixed-use buildings in the neighborhood, built to serve Spokane’s working class. Original tenants of the ground floor commercial space included the Palace Meat Market and the Crescent Furniture Store. The upper floors served as apartments until 1970 and as hotel space until the early 1980s. A 1910 survey of tenants showed them to be employed, unmarried males and females in their twenties and early thirties who stayed in the building for a year or less. The Commercial now serves as housing for formerly homeless people. The building is historically significant as a representative example of a Single Room Occupancy Hotel, a popular form of blue-collar housing in Spokane built in Spokane in the first decade of the 20th century.
From the Historic Spokane
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The Commercial Block |
Street address:
1111 to 1119 First Avenue We
Spokane, WA United States
99201
County / Borough / Parish: Spokane
Year listed: 1993
Historic (Areas of) Significance: Community Planning And Development, Social History
Periods of significance: 1925-1949, 1900-1924
Historic function: Domestic Historic - Hotel
Current function: Apartments - Retail Space
Privately owned?: yes
Primary Web Site: [Web Link]
Secondary Website 1: [Web Link]
Secondary Website 2: [Web Link]
Season start / Season finish: Not listed
Hours of operation: Not listed
National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed
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