Plechner Building - East Downtown Historic District - Spokane, WA
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member T0SHEA
N 47° 39.276 W 117° 25.295
11T E 468342 N 5277997
This is a building in which a hotel, later apartments, has operated for a century under no less than five names, all the while housing countless ground floor businesses before becoming redundant and standing empty for several years.
Waymark Code: WMTJA5
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 11/28/2016
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member iconions
Views: 0

Today the building is one of three historic office buildings in downtown Spokane which together house either Share Space Spokane or the Spokane Entrepreneurial Center, neither of which seem to have a website of their own. Ascertaining exactly who owns what and what is what in this realm is not an easy task. The other two buildings in their portfolio are the Lorraine and the Buchanan Building.

It appears that the the Limelyte Technology Group, is ensconced in the ground floor of the newly renovated Plechner Building. Limelyte is a fancy name for a bunch of software geeks who, though they may be quite adept at designing business software, don't seem to be equally adept at web design. As well, Startup Spokane Central, a small business networking and business services operation, occupies part of the building. Its central focus is assisting startups with their first steps down that long and bumpy road to entrepreneurial success.

We also noticed the sign for Barili Cellars in the window. It turns out that this is the location of their tasting room and production facility.

Plechner Building
608 W. Second Ave. - Historic Name: Plechner
Building Built: 1906 - Style: Commercial Vernacular
Builder: unknown Architect: Alfred Jones

Classification: Historic Contributing
Description:
This three-story brick building is characterized by a heavy cornice supported by brackets with "Plechner" etched below center. Red quoins stretch vertically across either side of the building's upper two floors. The second floor windows are one over one highlighted by voussoirs. A beltcourse runs along the bottom of the second floor windows. The first floor has been altered with a new facade for the storefronts. The entrance, which leads upstairs, is arched with ornamental brackets. Its door has a glass upper half and a terra cotta wreath-like ornamentation below. There is a cinder block addition on the rear of the building.

Cultural Data: Architect Alfred Jones designed this building in 1906 for Fred Plechner, who worked ouf of Spokane for Guiterman Bros., of St. Paul Minnesota. The first floor was divided into two storefronts, with 30 lodging house rooms on the upper floors. The rooms have been advertised under a succession of names. The upper floors opened as the Summit Hotel in 1907, but by 1915 it had been named the Tiona Apartments. In 1924 the name changed again to the Leonard Apartments. By 1939, the name had changed again, to the LaRose Apartments, and again by 1949 to the Denny Apartments. This name remained through the 1950s. By the late 1960s, the upper floors had been vacated, as they remain presently. The commercial spaces on the ground floor have housed a variety of businesses, most recently a furniture store. Currently the commercial space, like the residential space above, sits vacant. The storefronts have been altered over the years due to a rapid turnover in ownership and function. Original wood sash double-hung windows have, however, all been replaced with modern double-hung units.
From the NRHP Nomination Form
Photo goes Here
Plechner Building
Name of Historic District (as listed on the NRHP): East Downtown Historic District

Link to nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com page with the Historic District: [Web Link]

NRHP Historic District Waymark (Optional): [Web Link]

Address:
608 West Second Avenue
Spokane, WA 99201


How did you determine the building to be a contributing structure?: Narrative found on the internet (Link provided below)

Optional link to narrative or database: [Web Link]

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