Like a great many of its contemporaries, the Wharton Building has housed its fair share of businesses and organizations, in this case perhaps more varied and eclectic than the norm. The occupants have included, roughly in chronological order, a paper company, The Elks, a dance hall, a cigar company, a tile and building material business, a beauty supply company, a blue print company and the Greek-American Social Club.
The name panel in the pediment was not original to the building, being installed after the death of the original owner, Samuel M. Wharton, who made his money with brick manufacturing and investments in British Columbia mines.
Today the ground floor is the home of
Thai on 1st, a restaurant serving... well... Thai food. The upper two floors are most likely apartments or condos today. A guess would be condos as the two buildings immediately east have become condos.
Wharton Building
411-415 W. First Avenue - Historic Name: Wharton Building
Built: 1901 - Style: Commercial Vernacular
Builder: unknown - Architect: unknown
Classification: Historic Contributing
Description: This three story, painted, brick building was constructed in 1901. Three piers articulate the upper two levels,
rising to a stepped parapet with a carved name plate reading "Wharton Block" centered below on the pediment. A continuous corbelled projection of five courses gives way to the pediment, which, in addition to the name plate, is adorned with a row of rectangular recesses. Each of the second and third stories is articulated by a belt course. The upper floor windows are original with four paired bays each—two in each of the sections created by the piers. The second floor, double hung, wood windows are one over one with flat arches and keystones. Third floor windows are more elaborate, with keystones and semicircular arches, each containing a single half-round light divided into ten-inch squares. The ground floor storefronts have been altered over the years. The ground floor has modern storefronts under a series of four arches.
Cultural Data: The Wharton Building was named for Samuel M. Wharton. He came to Spokane in 1889, where he operated a brick manufacturing business before investing in British Columbia Mining. The name panel atop the building was not an original feature, having been added some time after Wharton's death—probably during alterations made in 1912. Gray, Ewing & Co.'s Spokane Paper Co. was the first occupant of the building. They remained until in 1908. In 1912, Wharton's widow hired architect J.K. Dow and contractor J.B. Sweatt to make $8,000 in alterations to accommodate The Elks' Lodge. The Elks remained until 1920.
After a period of vacancy in the 1920s, the upstairs space became home to a dance hall, known as the Ramp Dance, in reference to the City Ramp Garage, built across the street in 1928. The ground floor commercial spaces were occupied during the 1930s by a wholesale cigar company and Howard Lanahan's tile and building material business.
Lanahan's company and its successors, Parsons & Weller and Danzel & Weller continued to occupy the space at 411 until 1960. 415 housed a beauty supply company, before J.T. Hollingworth Blue Print Co., later Abadan's, moved in 1952, remaining to 1981, eventually expanding to occupy the space at 411 as well. After the demise of Ramp Dance, the upstairs housed the Greek-American Social Club briefly in the early 1940s.
From the NRHP Nomination Form