Built beginning in 1928 to house nurses in training at St. Luke's Hospital, the dormitory was designed by the renowned partnership of Harold Whitehouse and Ernest Price, both graduates of Cornell University. Ultimately the firm was to design courthouses, banks, schools, churches, libraries and hospitals in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana, as well as campus buildings at the University of Washington, Washington State University, and the University of Idaho. They were also the designers of the monumental St John's Cathedral in Spokane.
One of several dormitories which were built in the same era, the Finch Memorial Nurses Home is the sole survivor, continuing to serve its original purpose into the 1960s. The land for the building, as well as financial assistance, were provided by mining magnate John Finch, owner of several mines in the Coeur d'Alene district in Idaho and the Slocan region of British Columbia. When Finch died in 1915 he left 40% of his estate in a trust which provided the finances to build and furnish the dormitory.
The building has been renovated relatively recently and is now a 19 unit apartment building. Surrounded by well manicured grounds, the building could now nearly pass for an new building in condition, if not in style.
Finch Memorial Nurses Home
The John A Finch Memorial Nurses Home is a three and one-half story rectangular building constructed of a reinforced concrete frame faced in buff and tan brick. The building is built on a rectangular plan with a symmetrical facade and reflects elements of the Romanesque Revival style, particularly reflected in the compound arch entry portal on the facade. The building rests on a concrete foundation and rises to a hip roof covered with red-orange and tan tiles. Opened in 1929, the John A. Finch Memorial Nurses Home is the oldest remaining building and the last in tact structure associated with the tree diploma nursing schools that once existed in Spokane, a city considered a major medical center in the Pacific Northwest. The building retains excellent exterior integrity, good interior integrity, and strongly reflects the growth of professional nursing in Spokane.
From Historic Spokane
