Sometime before 1912, when he moved to Arizona due to ill health, architect Alfred Jones invested in the Spokane Scenic Theater Company and opened the Scenic Theater in the Oakley Building. The theatre must have shared the building with its first tenant, the
Interstate Rubber Company, as it remained in the building until 1915.
Though it can't be stated with certainty, the upper floors may have been intended as single room occupancy hotel rooms. In conjunction with the Minnesota Building, adjacent to the west, the building has been turned into live-work condos, selling at prices from $116,000 to $455,000. The lower floor continues to house commercial and professional concerns, at last report a massage therapy enterprise and an unidentified business.
Oakley Building
417 W. First Ave - Historic Name: Oakley Building
Built: 1908 - Style: Commercial Vernacular
Builder: unknown - Architect: unknown
Classification: Historic Contributing
Description: The main facade of this rectangular, three-story, buff brick building retains excellent integrity. A belt course
runs between the third story windows and the cornice. Between the belt course and cornice is an inscription plate. A metal-capped, brick parapet wall rises above all. The upper floors have three pairs of one over one wood sash windows with voussoirs and keystones. The ground floor consists of a single store front with a central, recessed entrance with double doors.
Plate glass windows above wood paneling flank the entrance on either side. A separate entrance at the west end of the building provides access to the upper floors. Original multi-light band windows with a purple hue span above. Original cast iron frames the entire storefront. A neon sign for Spokane Stamp Works, the current occupant of the building, projects from the east end of the facade on the second floor, while a fire escape runs up the west end from the second floor to the roof.
Cultural Data: R.S. Oakley, the original owner, and later a vice president at Spokane Paint and Oil Co., spent $25,000
constructing the building. Wiring and other final touches were completed in 1909, and the first occupant of the building, the
Interstate Rubber Co., moved hi that year. Interstate Rubber, headquartered in Chicago, specialized in "belting, hose, packing, all kinds rubber footwear and clothing, including Republic Auto Tires, tire repairs." The company remained through 1915. In 1919, alterations were made to the building to accommodate the General Machinery Co. After a period of vacancy in the 1920s, the O.K. Furniture and Fixture Exchange and Second Hand moved in, remaining through the 1950s and into the 1960s. The current occupant, Spokane Stampworks, moved in as early as 1976, after spending decades down the street at the old Golden West Hotel.
From the NRHP Nomination Form