This two story brick building is relatively plain in detail, save for arched corbeling under the cornice, which itself is built up of stepped, or corbeled, bricks. The ground floor has undergone substantial change over the years, being remodeled with each change of architectural fashion. Today half of the the ground floor is home to an "everything" store, selling tools, antiques, furniture, home decor and more, pretty much all used items, much like a thrift store. The other half is home to
Insight Delight, Spokane's
first and foremost transformational art gallery.
When
James Jerome Hill, generally known as J.J., brought his
Great Northern Railway to Spokane, the decision was made to set up the railway shops, service center and roundhouse adjacent to what became the town of Hillyard, named, naturally enough, after J.J. himself, literally,
Hill's Yard.
In the early twentieth century the prosperity brought about by the presence of the Great Northern yards gave rise to much new construction, primarily of much more substantial brick and stone buildings, forming the Hillyard business section we see today. Prosperity continued until the closing of the yards in the early 1980s, a culmination of the mergers of the Great Northern into the Burlington Northern Railroad and eventually the BNSF Railway, resulting on the relocation of the railroad yards to Yardley. The loss of their only industry to speak of created instant economic woes for Hillyard, which continue to this day, with its continuing to be the poorest neighborhood in the state of Washington.
Minthorn-Russel Block
With brick masonry construction, the two-story Minthorn-Russel Block has an arcaded corbel cornice and is divided into two bays by brick pilasters at the corners and center of the building. It has four double-hung, wood-sash windows with segmental brick arches on the second floor; the windows are covered with plywood. The original storefront configuration is intact with two recessed entrances. The storefront is altered with covered transom windows and bulkheads. A
faded advertisement painted in 1903 is located on the north elevation of the building and reads, "Drugs, Russel Hotel, Rooms for Rent."
The building was built for druggist, Sherman Minthorn, and merchant, Robert Russel, with eight single-occupancy hotel rooms on the second floor that were referred to as the Russel Hotel. Commercial space was located on the first floor. The Hillyard City Drug from 1903 to 1985
occupied the north storefront, and the south storefront was occupied by the Buckley Clothes Shop. Beginning in 1935, the Capitol Bar was located in the south storefront, and continues to occupy this space.
From the NRHP Nomination Form