Spokane Historic Landmarks

The regularly scheduled June meeting of the Spokane Historic Landmarks Commission scheduled for June 19th at 3:00pm has been hereby cancelled in observance of the Juneteenth Holiday. The next regularly scheduled meeting is July 17th, however a special meeting of the Spokane Historic Landmarks Commission has been called for June 20, 2024. The special meeting will be limited to the agenda items below:

Nominations (per SMC 17D.100.020):

A. Mulligan-Brazeau House – 511 W 13th Avenue
B. Update to the Mack-Hayfield-Kane Nomination – 734 W 23rd Avenue

Special Tax Valuation (per SMC 17D.100.310)

A. Kehoe Building – 5002 N Market Street
B. Folsom House – 528 E 14th Avenue
C. Jones House – 238 E 13th Avenue

For additional meeting information, please visit our Current Agenda Page here: https://www.historicspokane.org/current-agenda-items.

Spokane Historic Preservation Office » Current Agenda Items City - County of Spokane Historic Preservation Office 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. | Spokane, WA 99201 | Phone: (509) 625-6300 | Fax: (509) 625-6013

The Spokane County Board of Commissioners invites applicants for an opening on the Spokane Historic Landmarks Commission (SHLC). The vacancy is for a County-at-Large position in which the applicant must have a demonstrated interest or experience in historic preservation. The applicant would finish out the term of the vacancy which is 12/31/25, but hopefully be reappointed to a full-term from 1/1/26-12/31/29.

The 11-member SHLC makes recommendations to the City Council/County Board for landmark designation and reviews all proposed physical alterations to designated features of Spokane Historic Register properties.

The Commission is composed of two architects who are registered in the state of Washington; a state-certified general real estate appraiser; two historians with appropriate degrees or equivalent experience; a professional archaeologist or anthropologist with appropriate degrees; and an experienced preservation construction specialist. There are also two at large appointees from both Spokane County and the City of Spokane.

SHLC meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month at 3:00 p.m. Commission responsibilities require a commitment of approximately 3 -5 hours a month.

Interested applicants may be City of Spokane or Spokane County residents (however, unincorporated Spokane County residents or those within a community who has an interlocal agreement with the County for preservation services are preferred). Commission members serve without compensation. Those interested in being considered should send a letter of interest, resume and a completed Spokane County Board & Commissions Application. Deadline for the County-at-large position is Monday, March 18, 2024. Please follow the instructions on the County’s website for application submittals. Here is the link to the County's vacancies and application: https://www.spokanecounty.org/2061/Current-Vacancies

For more information, please email the Historic Preservation Office at [email protected].

Photo 1 is from a recent site visit to the United Bank Building in Hillyard, 2023, while Photo 2 is from a site visit to the Spokane Brewing & Malting Company, 2023. And the final photo is *most* of the current Landmarks Commission.

If you own a Spokane Register listed property or a contributing property in a local historic district (like Corbin Park, Browne's Addition or the Cannon Streetcar Suburb Historic District) - you are eligible to apply for a Facade Improvement Grant! We can grant up to 50% of your project with a maximum of $5000. More information and application here: https://www.historicspokane.org/facade-improvement-grant. Deadline to apply is April 8, 2024.

Shown below are two grant recipients from 2023 - the Taylor House (exterior paint) at 2027 W Shannon and the Hillyard Laundry Building (neon sign repair) at 3108 E. Olympic Avenue.

Join us on Monday, January 22nd, 3 pm at the South Hill Library to learn more about how to research your old house/building. Instructors are Dana Bronson, Archivist and Special Collections Librarian for the Spokane Library; Anna Harbine, Archivist at the NWMAC and Megan Duvall, Historic Preservation Officer for Spokane City|County. We'd love to see you!

Pictureed is the Lucius and Anna Miley House, 1713 E Illinois, Spokane Register Listed Property.

We enjoyed talking with The Inlander reporter, Madison Pearson, for her front page article on mid-century residential architecture in Spokane. What a legacy we have here in Spokane!!

Spokane's legacy of 'modern' architecture is everywhere you look — here are seven examples that should be protected and celebrated Spokane's skyline boasts three iconic buildings. The Pavilion. Gifted to the city by the United States government in preparation for Expo '74, the cable structure...

At the June 21st Spokane Historic Landmarks meeting, the Commission reviewed one nomination to the Spokane Register of Historic Places. The Alex and F***y Ritter House at 702 W 21st was constructed in 1914 and was listed under Category C for its architecture.

Architecturally significant, the Craftsman style is strongly emphasized by the dwelling’s very low-pitched hip roof, widely overhanging eaves, deep cornice, full-width covered front porch, thick porch walls, and rough-textured pebbled-stucco cladding. Finished with an arcade, the front porch is supported by a series of prominent arches influenced by Mission-style designs. Roof eaves are accentuated by Prairie-style modillions.

The interior of the Ritter House features casement and transom windows with both clear leaded glass and colored glass; oak floors, interior doors, woodwork and built-ins; built-in furniture including bookcases with leaded glass doors, a drop-leaf desk, buffet and hutch; oak plate rail and vertical panels in the dining room and some original interior lighting including the dining room chandelier and wall sconces.

Builder Gus Bostrom worked as a building contractor in Spokane from 1906 to 1923. During the 17 years that he lived and worked in Spokane, he made a name for himself as he concentrated his efforts in building multiple single-family homes specifically in the Cannon Hill Park neighborhood around the newly formed Cannon Hill Park & Pond. Bostrom was praised in a Spokesman-Review newspaper article from January 29, 1910 as an “extensive builder” of homes in the area.

The Ritters purchased the house at 702 W 21st in 1915. In 1907, Alex Ritter had established a pharmaceutical laboratory on West Broadway in addition to running Ritter’s Avenue Drug Store on West Riverside Avenue in downtown Spokane. In 1908, Alex Ritter included space for his brother, jeweler Louis Ritter, to display and sell jewelry in the drugstore on Riverside Avenue. After Alex Ritter’s death in 1926, his wife F***y remained in their home on 21st until her death in May 1948. Alex Ritter was a popular and noteworthy Spokane merchant and prescription pharmacist. In his work, he showcased the “prescription-pharmacy-within-a-drug-store” idea to his son Herbert Ritter, who copied the idea in his drug stores, and passed it to his son, Herbert Ritter Jr. (Alex Ritter’s grandson). The father, son, and grandson offered a unique three-generation legacy of Ritter prescription pharmacies and drug stores in Spokane.

Information taken from the Ritter House nomination authored by Linda Yeomans, Historic Preservation Consultant.

Blanche Mitsuyo (Shiosaki) Okamoto

In celebration of Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month, we are excited to share an interesting post from Hillyard! Look closely at the second photograph showing the slab foundation at the rear of the Hillyard Laundry Building and click through the photos to learn Blanche Shiosaki's story. Many of her brother's stories have been featured in the Spokesman-Review, so this post will try to focus on Blanche.

Thank you to previous reporting by Spokesman-Review reporters Jim Kershner, Doug Clark, and Julie Sullivan that made this post possible. And, of course, to the Shiosaki family for always being willing to share their story.

Did you ever eat at Sam’s Pit?

The building at 528 East Second Avenue may look simple and unassuming today, but it was once a busy dining establishment and gathering place that was especially significant to Spokane’s Black community and before that, Spokane’s Italian immigrant community. The building served as home to multiple restaurants and during the mid-century it was the clubhouse of one Spokane’s most significant Black social and professional clubs, the Spokane Waiters and Porters Club. In the 1960s, it became Sam's Pit restaurant operated by proprietor Sam Willis. According to Carl Maxey, Spokane’s famous civil rights attorney, it "was the only place to serve people of the night and the poor."

The future of the building is unclear but there is good reason to preserve it. Click through the photos to learn more about 528 E. 2nd Ave.

The last nomination that was reviewed by the Spokane Historic Landmarks Commission for listing on the Spokane Register of Historic Places at our February meeting is the Judge Blake House.

Architecturally significant under Category C, the Judge Richard Blake/Judge Bruce Blake House is a hallmark example of the Queen Anne Free Classic architectural style. The home was designed by Spokane master architect Albert Held, and built in 1898. The home is listed as a historic/contributing property in Nettleton’s Addition National Register Historic District in West Central Spokane, Washington. The Blake House is sited at the north end of Nettleton’s Second Addition at 2615 West Maxwell Avenue. Character defining features of the Free Classic style includes its wide girth with two-and-a-half-story height, hip roof and hip-roof dormers, symmetrical façade, overhanging eaves, narrow-width horizontal clapboard siding, multiple three-sided beveled bays with original tall narrow wood-sash windows. The most significant Queen Anne Free Classic-style architectural feature of the house is a covered full-width, wrap-around front porch at the first floor. The wrap-around porch shades the home’s entire north façade, wraps around both the northeast and northwest front porch corners, and extends towards the property’s rear along the home’s east and west faces.

An interesting feature of the Blake House was that Tamarack wood was used for all of the exposed interior woodwork and doors throughout the house. Burnished to a warm russet brown color with its unique grain design, Tamarack was an unusual choice for the interior finish of homes in Spokane. At the time the Blake house was being constructed in 1897, The Spokesman Review stated that the house would use only native woods – pine and Tamarack – throughout the entire structure. It is especially showcased in the home’s first-floor front entry vestibule, reception hall, and dining room with artfully paneled wainscoting.

The Blake House is also significant under Category B as the home of Spokane Judge Richard B. Blake, who was applauded for his brilliant individual contributions to the legal community of early Spokane in the 1890s and early 1900s. The 1900 Spokane Daily Chronicle newspaper stated that “Judge Blake was the first to sit on the Superior Court bench in… [Spokane] County after the admission of Washington as a State.” He served as president of the Spokane County Bar Association, and was later elected vice president of the Washington State Bar Association. After a short career, Judge Richard Blake died suddenly in June 1900. Antoinette Blake, Richard’s widow, continued to live in the house until her death in 1916.

Richard Blake’s son, Bruce Blake, also a well-known judge, purchased the house after his mother’s death and lived there with his family until 1925. From 1909 to 1912, he was employed by Spokane County as assistant corporation counsel for Spokane. In 1912, Judge Bruce Blake was elected to the Spokane County Superior Court bench at the age of 31 – the youngest man elected to the Spokane County Superior bench. He also had the distinction of being the son of the first judge who presided on a Spokane County Superior bench. In 1932, he was elected to the Washington State Supreme Court, a position he held until his retirement in 1946. The Blake’s sold the home in 1925.

The house spent many years as apartments and the process to return it to a single family home began over 30 years ago. The current owners purchased the house in 2019 and are painstakingly restoring the Blake House to its former glory. The Blake House has very good integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship and association and is eligible for the Spokane Register under Category B for its association with the Judge(s) Blake and C its architecture as a good example of a Free Classic Queen Anne house.

Nomination written by Linda Yeomans, 2023.

The second property reviewed for listing on the Spokane Register of Historic Places is the Highland Park United Methodist Church on the lower east side of the south hill. Listing was considered under two categories - both for its modern architecture (Category C) as well as its association with the Japanese community in Spokane (Category E).

The Highland Park United Methodist Church was constructed primarily in 1958 in a modern vocabulary and is located at 619 S Garfield Street. The Church and ancillary buildings occupy a 27,012 square foot parcel. The property consists of the Church itself which contains a classroom wing, offices, and a commercial kitchen as well as a performance stage and more classrooms to the north which were a later addition.

In 1938, the Japanese Methodist Mission had purchased the former Swedish Methodist church which was located at 5th and Grant. With the I-90 freeway construction looming, the congregation decided to move and build their own church. The property at 619 S Garfield was basically a full block covered with basalt, but at the time, it was the type of property that was able to be purchased by Japanese people in Spokane. After much fundraising, the church was designed by architect and church member Frank Toribara, built by Ed Iwata, and includes the wood-frame A-frame sanctuary and Ranch house style parsonage, both clad in clapboard siding. Congregation members were asked to donate their time and skills to help build the church. The outstanding feature of the church is the large laminated beams that make up the A-frame of the structure. The beams support the roof and are exposed below the edge of the eaves at about 8’ above the ground, where they emerge from the interior of the building and are fastened to low concrete piers. The formal landscaping, which includes a rock garden, is Japanese in character. Its design was directed by garden designer Ryotaro Nishikawa. Basalt taken from the property, now lines the entry stairs as a reminder of the blood, sweat and tears the community poured into creating their church.

The Highland Park United Methodist Church is also eligible for listing in the Spokane Register of Historic Places under Category E, as a property that represents the culture and heritage of the city of Spokane, specifically for representing its Japanese ethnic history. The history of the church is integral with the history of the Japanese community in Spokane from the founding of the church in 1902 to the present. The church played a particularly strong role in the early days of immigration, in the early 20th century, when it assisted new community members in acclimating themselves to their new home, in addition to providing educational resources. The church was also very important during World War II, when Spokane’s Japanese population increased exponentially, absorbing new residents from the coastal Evacuation Zones in Washington and providing a place where detainees could be released from the internment camp in Minidoka to work or attend school in the later war years.

The Highland Park United Methodist Church’s modern A-frame sanctuary and auxiliary buildings embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction. The complex contains excellent integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship, and association.

Nomination written by Diana Painter of Painter Preservation, 2023.

The Spokane Historic Landmarks Commission reviewed three nominations to the Spokane Register of Historic Places at the February 15, 2023 meeting. We'll highlight each property this week, starting with the Waldean Apartments at the corner of Walnut and Dean in the West Central Neighborhood.

Built in 1911, The Waldean Apartments at 1428 W Dean Avenue meets Spokane Register of Historic Places under Category A, as a property that is significant for its association with the wave of apartment buildings that were developed during Spokane’s greatest period of growth from 1900 to 1911. The building reflects the tremendous increase of Spokane’s population at this time and the development of new housing types to serve both transient workers and those seeking permanent homes in the Inland Empire.

It is also significant as one of the apartment buildings developed north of the Spokane River that catered to middle- and working-class tenants once the final Monroe Street Bridge was constructed in 1911. It reflects the speculative development that was occurring at the time, as the construction of housing was a necessary and likely a profitable undertaking, particularly in the newly opened up North Monroe corridor.

The Waldean Apartments is among the low-to-mid-size vernacular apartment buildings that began to populate Spokane in the first decade of the 20th century. In the 1950s, it even catered to older patrons. These buildings appear to be relatively simple, and often share certain identifiable characteristics such as two-to-three stories in height; a raised basement; flat roof with parapet that may be decorated with a cornice; symmetrical façade with an accented central entry; recessed vestibules; double hung windows with one-over-one lights; and brick masonry construction on a stone foundation.

While not architecturally significant, buildings like the Waldean remain as a reminder of Spokane’s exponential population growth in the first decade of the 20th century. The Waldean Apartments contains fair integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship, and association due to changes such as the enclosure of the rear stair and replacement of original windows. It is nominated under Category A for its association with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of Spokane’s history in Community Planning and Development.

In celebration of Black History Month, the Historic Preservation Office will post a story each Friday in February about a property in Spokane that is associated with a Black Spokanite. For our first post, we start with the Parker House at 2826 West Dean in Spokane’s West Central Neighborhood where John Byron Parker lived with his family from the time it was constructed circa 1897 and the time of his death in 1912. Click through the photos to learn more about Parker's life and family!

Built in 1959, The Meenach-McClure House at 1005 E 54th Avenue meets Spokane County Register of Historic Places under Category C, as a property that embodies the Mid-Century era’s Contemporary style as well as represents the work of a master, architect Royal A. McClure.

Architecturally significant, the Meenach-McClure House is eligible for listing on the Spokane Register of Historic Places under Category C as a property that embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type and period of construction. Contemporary-style characteristics include the home’s 1959 built date, long low horizontal plan, shallow-pitched barrel-shaped roof, exposed curved and tapered ceiling beams that extend through the window walls to create deep overhanging eaves on both the house and garage, floor-to-ceiling windows/sliding-glass doors, vertical cedar board siding, exterior stone veneer cladding, Vermont slate floor, and walnut built-ins. Contemporary style influence is especially illustrated by the home’s open floor plan and by an 89-foot-wide uninterrupted “window wall” along the rear of the house. Designed by Spokane master architect Royal McClure, and constructed by Spokane building contractor Elmer Nelson, the Meenach-McClure House was honored with an “Award of Merit” from the Spokane American Institute of Architects in 1961.

Born in 1917 in Seattle, Washington, Royal McClure graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture. During his education he worked for architect J. Lister Holmes in Seattle. After serving in WWII and working for a Boston architect for a few years, McClure was accepted into Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural school at Taliesin but instead enrolled in the architecture graduate program at Harvard University in 1947. While at Harvard, McClure studied under Walter Gropius, renowned architect who once worked as the director of the famous Bauhaus School in Germany.

Upon his graduation from Harvard University, McClure returned to the Pacific Northwest, and served as the head of the Architectural Department at the University of Idaho. He soon came to Spokane where he opened a practice with fellow architect and University of Washington classmate, Tom Adkison. McClure & Adkison were responsible for many designs in Spokane, including the Stephen Dental Clinic, Cornelius House, the Studio Apartments Building, the Unitarian Church, Gonzaga’s John F. Kennedy Pavilion, Joel E. Ferris High School, designs for the U.S. Courthouse & Federal Building in downtown Spokane. The firm of McClure & Adkison was around for almost 20 years from 1948-1967 and still exists today as ALSC Architects.

The property’s first owners were T. J. Meenach Jr. and his wife Viola, who built the house through M & P Properties, owned by Meenach. After he served as Captain in the United States Army in World War II, Meenach Jr. worked in Spokane for more than 50 years as a real estate broker, home builder, developer, and real estate appraiser. Royal McClure purchased the house he had designed for the Meenach’s four years after it was built in 1963. Interestingly enough, the Meenach’s bought the McClure’s home at 111 E 17th across from the north side of Manito Park. The house was sold again in 1966 when McClure left Spokane to start an architecture firm in Seattle.

The Meenach-McClure House exemplifies the Contemporary style of architecture in Spokane. The house contains very good integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship, and association and is in excellent condition.

The Meenach-McClure House is eligible for listing on the Spokane Register of Historic Places under Category C, Architecture.

The Cannon Streetcar Suburb Historic District has passed it's first test - property owners within the district have voted to create the largest Spokane Register Historic District in the City.

Are you a numbers nerd? Here is the breakdown of votes:

577 ballots mailed
324 ballots returned with a "YES" vote (56% overall in favor)
67 ballots retuned with a "NO" vote (12% overall not in favor)
186 ballots were not returned, so are counted as "NO" votes (32% did not participate)

Of those owners who returned their ballots, 83% were in favor of the creation of the district.

Special thanks to the Cannon Streetcar Suburb Historic District subcommittee of property owners - they banded together, developed an outreach strategy, and are directly responsible for the get out the vote effort in the neighborhood that proved successful.

The next steps for the district to be created are the Plan Commission (workshop 12/14; hearing tentatively 1/25/23), the Spokane Historic Landmarks Commission (hearing 12/21); and then the City Council process in February 2023.

A sampling of the rich architectural tapestry of properties within the district is included with this post. There are grand homes, historic apartment buildings, modest cottages and everything in between! Styles range from Craftsman to Queen Anne; Free Classic to Tudor Revival; Neoclassical to Minimal Traditional, and more!

For more information, check out our website at www.historicspokane.org/cannon.

On Wednesday, November 16, the Spokane Historic Landmarks Commission recommended listing the Marcus and Augusta Elias House to the Spokane Register of Historic Places.

Built in 1909, the Marcus and Augusta Elias House at 925 S Cedar Street in the Cliff-Cannon Neighborhood is a fine example of a transitional architectural type of the Queen Anne Free Classic style with some Craftsman style features.

The Elias House is eligible for listing under two distinct categories – A and C. It is eligible under Category C for its architectural significance as a property that embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type and period of construction, combining two styles of architecture and exemplifying a transitional time in Spokane’s vernacular architecture when Queen Anne Free Classic was fading from popularity and the Craftsman style was on the rise. The Elias House is most closely aligned with the Queen Anne Free Classic style, but includes some characteristics of the early Craftsman style in Spokane with its sleeping porches and simplified ornamentation. The Elias House mainly exhibits qualities of the Queen Anne Free Classic with its Classical columns, pedimented entryways, and large wrap-around porch. Other Queen Anne Free Classic characteristics shown in the Elias House are the front gable roof with wide, overhanging enclosed eaves; an asymmetrical façade; console brackets exposed in the gable of the primary façade; multiple roof planes and gabled dormers; and bay windows to avoid smooth wall surfaces.

Category A of the Spokane Register of Historic Places talks about the importance of a place to the broad patterns of Spokane history. The Elias House meets the criteria for listing under Category A because of its association as the epicenter of women’s gatherings: clubs, card parties, and other social events at a time when women’s activities were mostly confined to residences. Mother Augusta and daughters Elsa and Marguerite were frequent hosts in the Elias House, where they shared their love of entertaining alongside their business activities. The Elias family opened one of the first women’s and children’s “ready-to-wear” clothing stores - the Spokane Sample Store Co. when they relocated to Spokane from Montana in 1905. After that closed in late 1911, it reopened as the Ladies Specialty Shop a few months later, still an off-the-rack store for women.

Both Elsa and Marguerite were employed in the family business as soon as they graduated high school, starting as bookkeepers and working their way up to clerks and managers. They ran the Ladies’ Specialty Shop until it closed in 1944. Neither of the daughters who remained in Spokane and lived out their lives in the Elias house ever married – Elsa died in 1973 and Marguerite in 1984. The Elias House was in one family from it’s construction in 1909 until 1984 and interestingly, it has almost always been owned solely by women.

Cool find in Spokane from the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation!

The second property that is being considered for listing on the Spokane Register of Historic Places at our Spokane Historic Landmarks Commission meeting this afternoon is the Studio Apartments. Check out our full agenda and documents here: https://www.historicspokane.org/current-agenda-items

The Studio Apartments within Spokane’s lower South Hill at 1102 W. 6th Avenue is a two-story building on a raised basement. It is in the International Style, designed by McClure & Adkison with associate Bruce Walker, and constructed in 1948-49. It has a rectangular footprint and a flat roof, which is extended with slight eaves forming an enframed window wall on the north, glazed façade. The building is wood frame, with a board-formed concrete base. A series of walkways, bridges, a deck, and stairs access the individual units and the ground level on the south entry facade, creating a complex circulation system. The building has been recently restored to much of its original appearance and as a result, conveys good integrity and is in excellent condition.

The Studio Apartments originally contained one one-bedroom unit and 6 studio units with Murphy beds. In the recent rehabilitation, the upper floor contains two two-bedroom units and the four studio units remain on the first level. There is a basement which includes mechanical rooms and originally contained an outdoor fireplace and covered play area.

The Studio Apartments is significant for its design and also for its association with the prominent Spokane architects who designed the building – the firm of McClure and Adkison along with associate, Bruce Walker whose parents were the clients and first residents. It meets Spokane Register Category C, as a property that embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction; represents the work of a master, and possesses high artistic values. The International Style building retains integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship and association, thereby conveying its significance through its design and feeling, or its aesthetic expression.

The Studio Apartments is located just south of where the Cannon Electric Streetcar line made it’s way up the South Hill via Bishop Court. Bruce Walker’s parents had a woman’s dresswear company called Rusan’s and the construction of their apartment building caused a lot of excitement. A January 1949 article in The Spokesman-Review, entitled, “New Apartment Stirs Comment,” reported that Arts & Architecture hailed the building as “an outstanding building of its type in America.” The magazine announced that few buildings in Spokane are as contemporary as the Walker apartments will be. Another 1949 article in the Spokane Chronicle posed the question, “Is Spokane ready for ultra-modern houses and buildings?” The architects were assured that Spokanites were ready for such a departure from the norm when all the units were rented before completion of construction in July 1949. The architects concluded that ‘modernism should be given a chance’ in Spokane.

The International Style reinterpreted traditional forms to reflect a new age, new uses, and often a functional interpretation of architectural requirements, particularly with respect to the architectural plan. Roofs were flat, as gabled roofs were considered an unnecessary embellishment. Decorative details were abolished when they were considered superfluous. Windows were ganged, to admit plentiful light.

The Studio Apartments was one of McClure & Adkison’s first commissions after forming their firm in 1947. Royal McClure and Thomas Adkison had both studied architecture at the University of Washington in the same time frame. They also knew each other as a result of both having worked for J. Lister Holmes in Seattle. It was also an early project for their associate on the project, Bruce Walker, who had graduated from the University of Washington but not yet attended Harvard University for his master’s degree. McClure received his Master of Arts in Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where he studied under Walter Gropius, in 1946.

One of Thomas Adkison’s most significant career accomplishments occurred when his firm was placed in charge of the Expo ’74 Master Plan. He has been called “one of the essential figures in the fair."

Bruce Walker was born in Spokane, studied architecture at both University of Washington and was awarded his Master’s degree from Harvard also under Walter Gropius in 1951. While in graduate school, Walker won first prize in a joint National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Architectural Forum small house competition – that house was built off of Northwest Boulevard and remains there today (http://midcenturyspokane.org/property/better-living-home/).