Structure Type: built works - commercial buildings - office buildings; built works - commercial buildings - stores
Designers: Pehrson, Gustav A., Architect (firm); Gustav Albin Pehrson (architect)
Dates: constructed 1933-1934, demolished 2006
Overview
The Rookery Building #2 possessed a notable Art Deco facade composed of locally-made terra cotta panels. Architect Gustav A. Pehrson produced a fine composition, worthy of preservation. The building was torn down to provide space for a parking lot.
Building History
The Spokane architect Gustav Albin Pehrson (1883-1968) designed this Art Deco office and store building during the heart of the Depression. It stood from 1933 until 2006 before being torn down. The building was a fine example of Art Deco styling utilizing a facade of terra cotta tiles. Its demolition was a significant loss for Spokane.
Building Notes
The Rookery Building #2 had a fine Art Deco facade, with five storefronts lining the first floor facing Riverside Avenue and two store units aligned with Howard Street, and the upper two floors housing offices. The building had a steel frame with brick infill. The brick surface was faced with a terra cotta skin produced by the Washington Brick and Lime Company of Clayton, WA. As was typical of many Art Deco building designs, Pehrson gave the Rookery's upper floors a strongly vertical aspect with emphatic pilasters separating individual double-hung windows. The Howard Street facade had a bilaterally symmetrical composition, with two four-windowed bays positioned on either side of a central one with six lights. The center bay had extra height at the parapet line to emphasize it, but Pehrson located the main entrance slightly off-center, likely due to internal space requirements. The architect patterned the terra cotta panels of the pilasters and spandrels in familiar, geometricized Art Deco patterns (such as prominent chevrons and volutes) with some recognizable Classical (as in the fluting of the pilasters), floral and sun-ray motifs. The Art Deco exterior expressed the energy and exuberance of the 1920s, although this example was produced in the depths of the Depression.
Joyner’s Original Cut-Rate Drugs occupied a prominent, corner storefront location between 1934 and 1944, before the business was purchased by Bert Densow in the latter year. This anchor commercial space was then occupied by a bank, a five-and dime, and a thrift store before the building's razing. (See Jesse Tinsley, Spokane Spokesman-Review.com, "Then and Now: New Rookery Building," published 05/27/2024, accessed 01/29/2025.)
Demolition
The Rookery Building #2 and the neighboring Mohawk Building were leveled for a parking lot in 2006.
PCAD id: 25263