Civic Building - Spokane, WA
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T0SHEA
N 47° 39.524 W 117° 25.655
11T E 467894 N 5278459
The Civic Building stands on the north side of Riverside Avenue between the Masonic Temple, to the west, and the Spokane Club, to the east.
Waymark Code: WMJQ98
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 12/17/2013
Views: 2
This Renaissance Revival building was designed by the firm of Whitehouse and Price, the preeminent local architectural firm of the later 20th century. The last of the original buildings to be erected in the district, it was built in 1931 by F. E. Martin, contractor. First to occupy the building were the Chamber of Commerce, the Inland Empire Automobile Association, the Columbia Basin Irrigation League, and the U. S. Reclamation Service. With 100 feet of frontage on Riverside Avenue, the one storey building has three more storeys underground, as does its neighbour, the Spokane Club, to the east. Originally the basement storeys contained lunch facilities, as well as store rooms, meeting rooms and an auditorium.
From The Register:
The front part of the building is roofed by a transverse gable covered with mission tiles. Centered in the facade is a loggia sheltering window openings and a central entry a feature derived from the cloistered courtyards of Renaissance palazzi.
Among the larger components of exterior trim are a granite water table, an inscribed terra cotta frieze, and sandstone columns which have imaginative composite capitals incorporating war-bonneted Indian masks. A colorful element of the decorative program is found at the back wall of the arcade where the tympanae are filled with ceramic tile mosaics depicting Inland Empire industry, agriculture and transportation. In keeping with this regional iconography, pine cones and wheat sheaves are the bas relief motifs of terra cotta frieze and lintels.
While the Civic Building has remained unchanged externally, its interior has been revised in recent years with the addition of acoustical tile ceiling cover, new partitions and floor cover. A notable feature which is still intact, however, is a mezzanine gallery on the north wall which overlooks the central core.