Spokane Buildings

The wooden frontier town of Spokane Falls was reborn after the fire of 1889 into a brick and iron metropolis with multistory buildings and large storefront windows still found today in the Bodie Block. Steel and elevators encouraged upward growth to house the swelling population, and Spokane had its first skyscraper in 1900. Architectural trends are found throughout Spokane’s historical buildings; including the Neoclassical style Post Office from 1908, the Gothic style Paulsen building from 1928, and the Art Deco style Sears, Roebuck and Co. building from 1930. Structures that survived the 1889 fire were demolished or remodeled in the 1950s and 1960s to make room for a new “modern” style, such as the Coliseum in 1954 and the Parkade in 1967.