1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Architect Herman Preusse played a vital role in creating the architectural
landscape of Spokane, Washington, from 1882 through the early nineteen teens (Figure
1). His contributions during his career included noncommercial and commercial
structures. These creations left an indelible mark upon the city.
When Preusse arrived in Spokane Falls, Washington Territory, in 1882, he was
joining a community in the midst of developing into a major commercial and urban
center. Since Spokane is landlocked it needed the railroad in order to connect it to the
rest of the nation and to stimulate its economy. Essentially, the city’s founders had
gambled on the railroads to link them to vital commercial centers in the east, west, and
south and to catapult the town into a progressive metropolis. Their plan was about to
come to fruition. In 1883 the Northern Pacific railroad connected Spokane Falls directly
to Chicago and other cities in the east and to the west. In the years that followed, the city
acquired the status to which its forbears aspired. Since this time, it has been known as
the capital of the Inland Empire. The railroad had provided the city with rail links to all
2
of North America making it a vital inland northwest transportation center for
transcontinental rail traffic.
Becoming the capital of the Inland Northwest called for an architectural aesthetic
representative of the city’s status. From the beginning, the founders of this city had the
foresight to retain the advice of a trained architect whose architecture was instrumental in
shaping the image of this frontier town into the commercial center of the Inland
Northwest. The community’s visionaries were intent upon creating the image of a
maturing urban center to impress upon the east - particularly hoping to present
themselves as a city with comparable commercial interests and architectural aesthetics.1
Prompted by this desire to be linked with the east, the residents sought functional
architecture that would also serve to perpetuate the image of a progressive urban center.
In aspiring to this image, the town needed a trained professional capable of creating
architecture to emulate this image. Herman Preusse was this architect. He began
designing commercial structures in the city of Spokane from the moment that he arrived
in town and he provided the city with the expertise of a technically trained architect – the
city’s first.2
1
As with most early western settlements such as Seattle, Tacoma, and Port Townsend, Spokane aspired to
achieve the economic and political success of eastern cities like Chicago and New York. Spokane
promoted itself through booster materials that mentioned how the city was “metropolitan in all its aspects.”
This promotional material had a dual purpose: to entice new settlement and to increase the city’s economic
appeal. Murphy, Ignatius I. “Spokane, Washington: The Queen of the Inland Empire.” Western Progress.
Chicago: Shaw & Borden Co., 1902), 3. For further information on Spokane’s history and its founders
refer to Chapter 2.
2
Although there were several builders in Spokane in the early years, the first documented academically
trained architect to work in the city was Herman Preusse who arrived in 1882. Spokane Skyline: A century
of Architecture 1889-1989. Spokane: Eastern Washington State Historical Society, 1992. Durham, N. W.
History of the City of Spokane and Spokane Country, Washington: from its earliest settlement to the present
time vol. 1, 2, and 3. Spokane: S. J. Clarke publishing Company, 1912.
3
Throughout his career his style progressed and evolved. From his first to his last
known building commission, Preusse tended to lean heavily on revival styles, both
classical and medieval, although his later work suggests an interest in Chicago School
architecture. The only style Preusse completely abandoned during his years in Spokane
was the Second Empire Baroque style that had been so popular during the mid-nineteenth
century. Though he used this particular idiom for several homes and academic building
designs during the first years of his career, soon after his arrival the interest and
appreciation for this style was exhausted. Through the advancement of Preusse’s
commercial architectural style the progression of Spokane’s urban transformation is
revealed. In the beginning of his Spokane career, he tended to adapt medieval features
into his commercial buildings, but in the middle and latter part of his career he began
designing structures using classical elements. There are, however, exceptions to this, as
will be demonstrated.
The examples included in this research were picked primarily because of their
availability with respect to resource material and because they provide evidence for
architect Herman Preusse’s diverse design capabilities as pertains to commercial and
public buildings. In addition, the most of these buildings were prominent features of
Spokane’s skyline before 1910.3 The public buildings considered for this study have
been limited to a library, a mixed-use auditorium/commercial building, a State Armory,
3
Of the 97 structures listed in the Appendix (not including Pioneer Educational Society homes and projects
that were never built) only 17 – approximately 18% of the total – are discussed at length in this study.
4
and a theater. Other noncommercial structures, such as academic, religious and
residential, are left out of this particular study.
As is the case in progressive cities, older buildings are continually being razed
and replaced with more modern structures. Buildings of Preusse’s era typically have
been demolished because the needs of a modern community require vertical space that
older structures cannot possibly provide.4 Numerous structures designed by Preusse were
subjected to this fate. As they were deemed incongruent with the community’s needs,
they were demolished to make way for modern commercial structures.
Another unfortunate occurrence was the fire that destroyed Spokane’s commercial
core during the summer of 1889. A majority of the buildings Preusse designed prior to
this time were destroyed. Records, newspapers, and architectural evidence were burned
along with these buildings so that only scant evidence remains regarding these first
Preusse designs. Among the surviving archival material is a promotional booklet
produced by the city’s Board of Trade that was in the process of being printed when the
fire occurred. Many of the plates contained within this booklet provide the clearest
images of these lost buildings. There are also extant examples of Preusse’s architecture
surviving in the city itself, although all of these were completed after the fire, so they date
from approximately 1889 through the nineteen teens. Most of these examples are
dispersed around the central downtown business district.
4
There are also issues of technological advances that allowed these newer buildings to rise vertically, such
as reinforced concrete and steel – that will not be discussed at length in this study.
5
The focus of this study is limited to select commercial and a few public structures
around the downtown commercial core of Spokane, Washington. They date from 18821911 with some references to the various structures Preusse designed throughout eastern
Washington and their connection with current architectural styles. Since no published or
unpublished text dealing specifically with the work of Herman Preusse exists, it is the
intent of this thesis to provide architectural descriptions of these commercial and public
structures delineated in a chronological fashion. Further, this study will provide insight
into the evolution of his designs, including a brief overview and discussion of his
noncommercial structures. In describing and discussing Herman Preusse and his work, it
is also necessary to consider the historical context of the environment within which he
lived and worked, for the community’s economic prosperity and slumps regulated the
rate at which he designed and often the extent to which his designs were implemented.
6
CHAPTER II
THE SPOKANE ENVIRONMENT AND ITS EVOLUTION:
FROM FRONTIER TOWN TO PROPSEROUS URBAN CENTER
When Herman Preusse arrived in 1882, Spokane Falls was still vying for position,
both politically and socially, and struggling to become a significant commercial center in
the Northwest. Spokane Falls, and the Washington Territory as a whole, was beginning
to draw the attention of settlers from the east. Promotional pamphlets from the railroad
and the city’s Board of Trade stressed overcrowding in the east and also promoted local
mining, agriculture, and timber industries and (to a lesser extent) manufacturing, thus
providing an impetus to settlers to travel to the northwest. These circumstances
instigated the flood of immigration into Spokane, and Washington, that would last into
the early twentieth century.
Settlement in Eastern Washington began in earnest in the early 1870s.1 The area
1
Cecil Dryden, Dryden’s History of Washington (Portland: Binfords & Mort, Publishers, 1968), 314.
7
around Spokane Falls (and what was to become the state of Washington) was considered
by the nation’s populace as, “an unsurveyed wilderness on the map of Washington
Territory,” without the comforts necessary to persuade multitudes of immigrants to settle
in the area.2 Spokane Falls itself was just a frontier outpost consisting of a few wooden
shacks prior to the 1870s.
In March of 1873, J. J. Downing and S. R. Scranton opened a sawmill in the
town.3 At this time, Downing, Scranton and his family, and the family of R. M.
Benjamin, were the only residents until May when James N. Glover (later given the title
“Father of Spokane”) arrived to examine the area. Glover believed that the area was an
appropriate town site and soon thereafter purchased Downing’s share of the squatter’s
claim that included the sawmill and the property along the south side of the riverfront –
this included the area that would eventually evolve into Spokane’s business district.4
Glover’s stratagem for this squatter’s claim consisted mainly of developing the
land into a thriving and profitable northwest city. In order to achieve this, the town
needed a commercial draw other than the sawmill and his small store. The sawmill was a
viable industry but with a negligible population in the area it provided little revenue. A
flourmill, however, would draw existing consumers from the surrounding agricultural
areas. These two industries, plus the small store, would provide the inland northwest
with viable commercial businesses – the beginning of a western urban center.
2
Lucile F. Fargo, Spokane Story, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1950), 68.
3
Fargo, Spokane Story, 97.
4
Fargo, Spokane Story, 101.
8
To implement his plan for a flourmill Mr. Glover sought out the only millwright
in the area. Across the Washington Territory border, in Rathdrum, Idaho, lived Frederic
Post, a German millwright. Glover invited Mr. Post to move his family to Spokane Falls
to start a flour and gristmill.5 The deal closed when Glover leveraged the deal in his
favor by giving Post forty acres of land next to the falls on which he could build.
Glover’s strategy succeeded and the mill began production in 1877. Although Glover
speculated that the flourmill and sawmill were the first steps in creating an economically
prosperous western town, fruition of his vision for Spokane Falls’ future was not yet
assured.
The realization of James N. Glover’s dream progressed slowly with minimal
population growth until the railroad laid its tracks through town connecting it directly to
cities like Chicago in the east and Tacoma to the West. In the spring of 1879, the
Northern Pacific Railroad began to survey the land around Spokane in preparation for
laying the track lines through town.6 The first train to appear in Spokane Falls from the
west arrived June 25, 1881.7 The “Golden Spike” was driven in September 7, 1883,
about fifty miles outside of Helena, Montana, signifying the completion of the line from
the east to the west.8
5
Fargo, Spokane Story, 108.
6
John Fahey, The Inland Empire: Unfolding Years, 1879-1929, Seattle and London: University of
Washington Press, 1986), 215. J. William T. Youngs, The Fair and the Falls: Spokane’s Expo ’74
Transforming An American Environment, (Cheney: Eastern Washington University Press, 1996), 34.
7
Norman H. Clark, Washington: A Bicentennial History, (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.,
1976), 65.
8
Robert B. Hyslop, Spokane’s Building Blocks, (Spokane: Standard Blue Print Co., Inc., 1983), 393.
9
This main trunk line of the Northern Pacific (completed to Puget Sound) provided
the catalyst that Spokane Falls needed to become a vital commercial entity in the west.
Once the Northern Pacific arrived, other railroads soon followed. The Union Pacific,
Great Northern, Milwaukee, and the Canadian Pacific, all converged upon Spokane in the
following years making Spokane the “major railroad center in the West.”9
Due in part to its status as one of the West’s major transportation centers,
Spokane soon became known as the Capital of the inland northwest. The inland empire,
as it has since become known, constitutes an area approximately two hundred miles in
diameter, bordered by the Rocky Mountains, the Selkirks, the Cascades and the Blue
Mountains.10
The city’s initial growth spurt occurred even before the first train rolled into
town.11 In 1880, prior to the railroad’s arrival in Spokane Falls, the population reached
approximately 350 people. Spokane Falls even boasted two newspapers, the Spokan
Times and the Spokane Falls Chronicle. Despite the absence of reliable and efficient
transportation, Spokane Falls was incorporated as a city on November 29, 1881 and in
1886 became the County seat.12 When the railroad did arrive in the late 1880s,
propaganda touting the attributes of the area, which often contained misinformation, was
9
Sally B. Woodbridge and Roger Montgomery, A Guide to Architecture in Washington State, (Seattle and
London: University of Washington Press, 1980), 392.
10
Edmund T. Becher, Spokane Corona: Eras & Empires, (Spokane: C. W. Hill, 1974), iii.
J. William T. Youngs, The Fair and the Falls: Spokane’s Expo ’74 Transforming an American
Environment (Cheney: Eastern Washington University Press, 1996), 34.
11
Dryden, Dryden’s History of Washington, 315. Washington statehood did not occur until November 11,
1889.
12
10
distributed in the east to stimulate settlement. The “pamphlets and newspaper puffery
[tempted immigrants] to move to ‘the best poor man’s country in the world,’ where work
was ‘plentiful at $20 a month with board.’”13 By 1890 Spokane’s population had
increased to an astounding 36,000 residents.14
As early as the 1880s, Spokane Falls was concerned with both advancing
urbanization and yet preventing the problems caused by it. The town constructed sewage
and water lines, roads and electric lines. Because urbanization often brings pollution,
preservation of Spokane Falls’ natural resources caused concern in the community. In
response to this concern, ordinances were implemented to protect the city’s most vital
natural resource, the Spokane River, with the specific purpose of preserving the purity of
the water from sewage and other pollutants.15 By preserving its resources, the city
intended to ensure its prosperity through careful urban expansion.
The city’s urban expansion was due, in part, to its proximity to the Spokane
River. By 1883, the town had installed “thirty-eight fire hydrants, twenty arch lights,
fifty-two telephone boxes.”16 Spokane, by 1885, had become the first city, west of the
Mississippi, to boast a hydroelectric plant.17 The power of the river was harnessed to
create electricity for the community’s consumption. The advent of hydroelectricity
13
Fahey, The Inland Empire, 3.
14
Woodbridge, 394.
15
Youngs, The Fair and the Falls, 43.
16
John Fahey, Shaping Spokane: Jay P. Graves and His Times, (Seattle and London: University of
Washington Press, 1994), 22.
17
Woodbridge, A Guide to Architecture in Washington State, 394.
11
perpetuated development of numerous electric lines connecting various areas of the
city.18 The Spokane Street Railway began transporting citizens from downtown to
residential districts starting in 1886-1887. The introduction of electric streetcars provided
citizens from outlying residential communities with easy access to the city’s commercial
core. After ten years, the city’s individual trolley lines were coalesced into one company
owned and operated by the Washington Water Power Company.19 Hydroelectric power
was an amenity that no other western city could provide at this early stage and this likely
perpetuated the city’s growth.
Instrumental in the economic success of the city was the discovery of lead, silver,
and gold in the hills of Montana, Idaho, northeastern Washington and British Columbia
during the 1880s. One of the first discoveries of gold was in northern Idaho. People
from around the United States and its territories converged on Coeur d’Alene when the
news spread that gold had been discovered in the surrounding hills. Because of its close
proximity, Spokane Falls “became an outfitting point… and business boomed as it never
boomed before.”20 Money from the mines and incoming prospectors poured into the
city’s economy. Though Spokane Falls was already home to wealthy merchants and
bankers, the mining magnates would also choose this city in which to showcase their
wealth.
18
Woodbridge, A Guide to Architecture in Washington State, 394.
19
This trolley system was in use until the 1930s when gasoline-powered buses and automobiles were
introduced, thereby rendering the streetcars obsolete. Fargo, Spokane Story, 199 and Fahey, The Inland
Empire, 149-150
20
Fargo, Spokane Story, 151.
12
Fortunately for the citizens of Spokane Falls academic institutions were
established during the 1880s to provide educational opportunities to the community. One
of the first in the area was Gonzaga College (now University) located northeast of the
city center. The college, established by the Reverend Joseph Cataldo, a missionary of the
Society of Jesus (or Jesuits) opened in 1887 for the purpose of educating the laity as well
as missionaries.21
With prosperity in its grasp, the city was about to suffer a devastating disaster. On
Sunday evening August 4, 1889, a fire began that would eventually spread over thirtytwo blocks, destroying the city’s commercial district.22 As the smoke was still wafting
from the rubble the following morning, the citizens of Spokane Falls began planning for
their new commercial center. This time, fireproofing techniques and noncombustible
materials such as granite, brick, and terra cotta were to be used exclusively in the
downtown area.
In a move to advertise their continued progression as a city – despite the recent
setback of the fire – the city organized an exposition in 1890 to promote its prominent
status in the west. The Northwest Industrial Exposition drew participants from as far
away as San Francisco and Minneapolis. The exposition offered examples of goods from
regions throughout the west but especially the inland northwest. By all accounts,
Spokane Falls achieved its goal of drawing attention to its wares as well as promoting
itself as one of the most progressive cities of the Northwest.
21
Dryden, Dryden’s History of Washington, 183.
John Fahey, “The Million-Dollar Corner: The Development of Downtown Spokane, 1890-1920,” Pacific
Northwest Quarterly 62, no. 2 (April 1971), 77.
22
13
In 1891 Spokane dropped “Falls” from its name and the city’s prosperity
continued unabated, with its population of approximately 30,000. Then, it was struck
with a second devastating blow.23 The panic of 1893 forced the entire nation into a
financial depression. Like every city in the nation, Spokane too suffered because of the
economic collapse. Seven of ten banks in the town closed and several prominent
Spokane citizens were forced into ruin.24 As Spokane and the rest of the country rallied
in the years following the panic of 1893, a new generation of ambitious and puissant men
emerged.25 These men further perpetuated the progress of the city and its urbanization;
this economic boom would continue into the early twentieth century.
During the years after the depression, urbanization was occurring at astounding
rates. Spokane was becoming a thriving, bustling city of street trolleys and commercial
activity. With its picturesque location on the River, Spokane became home to
immigrants, farmers, miners, merchants and millionaires. Eventually, with yields in the
millions from the Coeur d’Alene mines, Spokane received a further influx of citizens.26
The social elite of the city consisted of bankers, real estate investors, as well as
Coeur d’Alene mining magnates who had chosen Spokane as their main place of
residence, constructing imposing homes evincing their wealth.27 The majority of the
23
Illustrated Annual, Spokane: The Spokane Spokesman, January 1, 1892, 24.
24
Fahey, The Inland Empire, 16 and 216. Several citizens financially ruined in the panic were successful
in recovering much of their prominence and fortune in the preceding years.
25
Fahey, The Inland Empire, 216-217. The nation began pulling out of the panic around 1896.
26
Fahey, Shaping Spokane: Jay P. Graves and His Times, 22.
27
Thomas Vaughan, ed., Space, Style and Structure: Building in Northwest America vol. 1, (Portland:
Oregon Historical Society, 1974), 370.
14
city’s elite preferred to build homes on the higher ground, located west of the commercial
district in an area called Browne’s Addition.28 These houses either overlooked the
Spokane River or faced east towards the city of Coeur d’Alene. By 1910, the population
grew to just over 104,400 citizens making it the second biggest city in the Inland West.29
Now, the affluent citizenry began building homes in areas south of the commercial
district in residential communities with names such as Rockwood and Rimrock.30 With
the arrival of new citizens came “an era of so-called Civic Pride Leagues.31 These civic
pride leagues were instrumental in encouraging and promoting the City Beautiful project
for Spokane.
The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago is credited with inspiring
City Beautiful projects throughout the United States. The main Exposition area was
comprised of white classically-inspired structures set within a carefully designed
landscape. Frederick Law Olmsted developed the overall site plan. The result of this
combination of Roman/Renaissance inspired buildings within the Court of Honor,
combined with the overall landscape design, defined a new standard of urban design.
The city of Spokane, wishing to emulate the style that had so inspired the nation,
John Fahey, “The Million-Dollar Corner: The Development of Downtown Spokane, 1890-1920,” Pacific
Northwest Quarterly, 81. The information concerning houses of Spokane’s “elite” is taken from Mr.
Fahey’s article.
28
29
Youngs, The Fair and the Falls, 73.
30
Dryden, Dryden’s History of Washington, 315.
31
Jay J. Kalez, Saga of a Western Town…Spokane, (Spokane: Lawton Printing, Inc., 1972), 4.
15
decided to follow the fanfare of eastern cities and develop its own committee to enrich
the city’s urban landscape. Developers, even early in the city’s history, realized that
houses surrounding a central park commanded higher prices from buyers and, therefore,
justified the effort and extra expense of creating them. It is no surprise that the city
wanted to improve upon this idea by means of a comprehensive urban plan. As public
interest in this project began to expand, a City Beautiful Committee was organized in
1904. The Committee played an integral role in amending the city charter to include a
Board of Parks Commission. This Commission was then able to seek the services of
professional landscape architects. The Commission enlisted the professional services of
the Olmsted Brothers of Massachusetts.32 In 1908, the Olmsted Brothers submitted their
plan to the Commission and soon land throughout the city was selected and designated as
park land. The Olmsted Brothers’ proposal spoke directly of the impact of urbanization
on the public, noting that, “…it is to those whose nerves are tired – and they are a large
proportion of the dwellers in a city – that the parks are most immediately beneficial.”33
Urban growth destroys green space and the City Beautiful plan was an attempt to rectify
the situation by reinstating vegetation in designated areas to offset the negative affects
attributed to industrial and commercial pollutants.
The negative effects of urbanization certainly affected the city of Spokane. By
this time, the city supported several transcontinental Railroad lines that converged in an
32
Woodbridge, A Guide to Architecture in Washington State, 395. By this time, management of the firm
was under the direction of Frederick Law Olmsteds’ sons, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and John Charles
Olmsted.
33
Woodbridge, A Guide to Architecture in Washington State, 396.
16
area next to the heart of its downtown commercial core.34 The heart of the city throbbed
to the sound of trains as they rolled along the tracks and the air circulated with plumes of
black smoke. Commerce had provided the city with its life force but it had also stripped
it of the natural beauty that had once compelled pioneers to gamble on its future. The
city beautiful project improved the city and offset the negative affects of urbanization.35
From its meager pioneer beginnings to its standing as a progressive northwest
metropolis, Spokane withstood the devastation of fire in 1889 and the economic
depression of 1893 to become a prosperous metropolis given the title of the Capital of the
Inland Empire. When discussing a town’s progress over time, its architecture often
reveals the fluctuating cycles of depression and prosperity. This is certainly true of
Spokane. In the beginning, the town was struggling and the commercial and public
buildings were often frame structures. As the city progressed and prospered, buildings
within the city were being constructed of brick, granite and terra cotta and began to reach
heights of seven stories.
During its early years, Spokane – as with any city in the west – strove to achieve
positive recognition from established eastern cities and this meant emulating their culture.
Doing this meant capturing the essence of their architecture, in theaters, hotels, banks,
markets as well as an efficient transportation system. Traveling from the cities of the east
This remained the case until construction for the World’s Exposition of 1974 began and the tracks and
station (except for its clock tower) were removed to create green space for the pavilions.
34
Though the Olmsted Brothers’ plan was never implemented in its entirety, the city does contain
numerous parks from which many derived from this original plan.
35
17
to Spokane in the late nineteenth century, a visitor would certainly see features
suggesting that Spokane was not oblivious to the refinements of the east.
In order to achieve success in this matter, trained architects were needed. The
influx of trained architects to Washington occurred between the years 1889-1893.36
Spokane was fortunate to already have, in its midst, a trained architect and engineer and
he had, by this time, already become well established.
Architect Herman Preusse, from 1882 until his retirement, was instrumental in
creating the commercial and public architecture in the city. As can be seen by his extant
architecture, Spokane benefited greatly from Preusse’s presence in the city. The
cityscape he created was comparable to those of other progressive Washington cities such
as Seattle, Tacoma, and Port Townsend. Further, his first hand knowledge of architecture
across the United States provided him with an understanding of the current architectural
styles. As the city continued to grow at an astounding rate, the search for architectural
expertise provided work far greater than one architect could produce, even one with an
office of six draftsman. Although Preusse’s career ended in the early twentieth century,
his architectural contribution during these years is unparalleled.
Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, “Willis A. Ritchie: Public Architecture in Washington, 1889-1905,” Pacific
Northwest Quarterly 87, no. 4, 1996, 194.
36
18
CHAPTER III
HERMAN PREUSSE, SPOKANE’S FIRST ARCHITECT
As the first trained architect to settle in Spokane Falls, Washington Territory,
Herman Preusse was actively sought by the citizenry virtually from the moment he
arrived. Soon after his arrival in August 1882, this German immigrant was retained by
James N. Glover, the “father” of Spokane, to build a two story commercial building. This
was the first of many commercial and noncommercial structures Preusse would design
throughout his career that would span several decades.
Little is truly known about Preusse’s career prior to his Spokane residency beyond
a few particulars related in works regarding the history of the State of Washington and
the City of Spokane produced during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Succinct biographies of prominent citizens – of which Herman Preusse was certainly one
– were also included in several promotional materials distributed locally and nationally
that touted the multifarious attributes of Spokane. As there appear to be no extant records
from Preusse’s business office or family papers, the formidable task of reconstructing his
career, his life, and his architectural legacy has proven challenging and has yielded few
19
compelling results. Through the use of period texts, newspapers, and archival material,
his forty-four years in Spokane have been partially reconstructed and will be related here
along with a sketch of his life prior to settling in Spokane.
On April 28, 1847, Herman, the son of Carl Victor and Victoria (Eckstein)
Preusse, was born in the province of Hanover, Germany.1 Sometime after the death of
Preusse’s father, his mother remarried. Preusse was three years old when his mother
married Wilhelm Mehl, then a well-known German architect. At the age of 13, Preusse
began his formal training in engineering at a school in Halle, Germany located next to the
Saale River. After approximately three years in Halle, he returned home to work in his
stepfather’s firm. The following three years were spent working with his stepfather.
These years almost certainly exposed Preusse to a variety of architectural experiences
from drafting to rendering. It can be surmised that Preusse’s position there was as an
apprentice. At the end of these three years he continued his formal education at the
college of architecture in Holzminden.2 The curriculum from 1830/31 reveals that
students attended classes from approximately six in the morning until nine in the evening.
This curriculum is likely similar to Preusse’s when he attended the institution in 1866
1
Biographical information regarding the life of Herman Preusse is from the following sources: N. W.
Durham, History of the City of Spokane and Spokane Country, Washington: from its earliest settlement to
the present time vol. 2, (Spokane: S. J. Clarke publishing Company, 1912), 170-173; Reverend Jonathon
Edwards, An Illustrated History of Spokane County State of Washington, (San Francisco: W.H. Lever,
1900) 376-377; Reverend H.K. Hines D.D., An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, (Chicago:
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1894) 505; Ignatius I. Murphy, “Spokane, Washington: The Queen of the
Inland Empire,” Western Progress, (Chicago: Shaw & Borden Co., 1902), 27; Death records from Fairmont
Memorial Park, Spokane, Washington; Ira A. Glazier and P. William Filby, ed, Germans to America: Lists
of Passengers Arriving at U.S. Ports vol. 24, January 1870-December 1870, 339 and 340; County Auditors
Office, Spokane County Deed Indexes.
2
The college in Holzminden was known as a building trade school. It was the first of its kind in Germany
when it was established in 1830/31 (http://www.fh-holzminden.de/start/index.htm).
20
(Figure 2 and 3). Upon completion of his technical training at Holzminden, members of
the faculty chose Preusse to supervise the construction of a large Bessemer steel works in
Osnabruck, his first professional job.
During the mid and latter parts of the nineteenth century, German architectural
theory often expressed an urgent need to reflect the nation’s recently united state by
developing a nationalistic identity through architecture. The architecture during the late
nineteenth century, however, tended to rely on reviving classic and medieval architectural
motifs, leaving a defined national characteristic for later generations. Although Preusse
was educated during this era of period revivals and theoretical rhetoric of unity through
nationalist architecture, the exact degree of his familiarity with these theoretical issues
may always be indeterminable.
Herman Preusse’s reason for departing from his family and homeland is
indeterminable.3 At the age of 23, Herman Preusse left Germany, sailing on the Donau
that set out from the port at Bremen, to begin anew in the United States. On June 25,
1870, he arrived in New York City. From New York, he traveled directly to Chicago and
was gainfully employed at the North Chicago Rolling Mills. He remained there until
some time after the Chicago fire of October 8, 1871. The reason given for his hurried
departure from Chicago was poor health. Preusse’s poor health is confirmed in a letter he
wrote to Professor G. Lilley of the Agriculture College and School of Science, Pullman,
The escalating conflict between France and Prussia may have influenced Preusse’s decision to leave
Germany. The Franco-Prussian war began on July 19,1870 and ended, with France’s defeat, January 28,
1871 (the peace Treaty of Frankfurt was signed May 10, 1871). Hagen Schulze, Germany: A New History,
trans. Deborah Lucas Schneider (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998), 143-145.
3
21
Washington (Washington State University), dated January 18, 1892. While in the
process of designing buildings for the new agricultural college campus, he mentioned that
his doctor advised him against traveling to Pullman until such time as “there is no more
danger.”4
The search for a healthful environment in which he could settle may have been a
factor in his cross-country travels. After leaving Chicago, Preusse traveled throughout
the various states and territories and eventually settled in the dry climate of San
Bernardino, California. From San Bernardino, he traveled to San Francisco, then
Sterling, Kansas, where he met and married his first wife Rosa Cole.5 After Sterling, he
and Rosa moved north to Kansas City, Missouri.6 Being trained in both engineering and
architecture, Preusse’s career prior to settling in Spokane appears to have included work
as an engineer, architect, and contractor. When, in August of 1882, Preusse arrived in the
pioneer town of Spokane Falls, this time settling permanently, the town was in dire need
of his skills as an architect. In the Spokane City Directories, H. Preusse noted his skills
as an architect and superintendent. The city was in desperate need of an individual with
his array of experience. Herman Preusse had finally found a healthful environment in
Spokane Falls where he could prosper, physically and professionally. Over the next three
decades, the architectural landscape of the city would be dominated by his designs.
4
Herman Preusse, Spokane, to Professor George Lilley, Pullman, 18 January 1892, President E.A. Bryan
Papers, Box 158, typed letter signed by H. Preusse, Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections,
Holland Library, Washington State University, Pullman.
5
Rosa Cole and Herman Preusse were married September 14, 1879. Rosa died in Spokane on April 16,
1897. Preusse married his second wife, Emma (Keller) Wilke, in Spokane October 3, 1910.
6
The Kansas City Directory lists Preusse’s occupation as a contractor in 1880 and an architect in 1881.
22
During the first years after his arrival, Preusse and his family were not in a
financially stable situation even though he received numerous commissions; but as the
years ensued, this changed as he procured land in around Spokane. According Reverend
Hines’ book An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by 1894 Preusse had
finally secured for himself “400 acres of good land adjoining Spokane on the South, and
also some good city property.”7 Spokane County deed indexes, located in the Spokane
County Courthouse’s Auditor’s Office, confirm that Preusse owned several lots within
the city as well as larger tracts of land from the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. In
the History of the City of Spokane and Spokane Country Washington (1912) an article
reveals that by this time Preusse owned four prosperous one hundred sixty-acre farms.
Preusse received a patent on one of the one hundred-sixty acre tracts from the United
States Government in January of 1894 as recorded in the Spokane County Deed Index.8
The majority of recorded transactions dealt with lots within the city’s various residential
developments. Since these lots were sold to private parties, it can be surmised that
Preusse also designed a majority of the homes built on these lots. This situation is related
to today’s real estate market in that land developers sell directly to homebuilders who, in
turn, sell the land and house to the consumer - except it is frequently with far less
laudable architectural results. Further, Preusse accepted land in payment for his
architectural services from the missionaries of the Society of Jesus, Gonzaga College for
his first building there, now called Old Gonzaga.
7
Reverend H.K. Hines, D.D., An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, 505.
8
County Auditors Office, Spokane County Deed Indexes, Book #5, January 1893-December 1895.
23
The Jesuits of Gonzaga retained Preusse exclusively from 1883 until his
retirement. The University’s records reveal that Preusse designed all of Gonzaga’s
buildings during this period as well as those homes built for the Pioneer Education
Society [PES]. The PES is the official nonprofit corporation name used for the mission
to distinguish it from the college itself. When this corporation was established in 1894,
292 acres of land were deeded to the PES, leaving eight acres for the college campus.9
Though the PES sold a portion of its newly acquired share, the rest was developed into
residential lots. By this time, Preusse had admitted Julius A. Zittel as a partner in the
firm (about 1893/4) and as the official architects of Gonzaga College, they now added
PES to their list of clients. PES figures reveal that by 1900, approximately eighty homes,
designed by the firm of Preusse and Zittel, had been erected.10
Preusse, however, did experience some financial woes through nonpayment for
his services. Specifically, in the case of Washington State College, his total bill
submitted to the Board of Regents tallied $6,830 of which the Board of Regents agreed to
pay three thousand. In truth, Preusse would only receive one sixth of the fee, and this
amount was only paid after he sent several letters of request.11 The original design for
9
Wilfred P. Schoenberg, S.J., Paths to the Northwest: A Jesuit History of the Oregon Province, (Chicago:
Loyola University Press, 1982), 198.
10
Schoenberg, Paths to the Northwest, 199. The Archives at Gonzaga University retain approximately 56
original blueprints for homes designed by the firm of Preusse and Zittel.
11
Herman Preusse, Spokane, to Professor George Lilley, Pullman, 11 March 1892, President E.A. Bryan
Papers, typed letter signed by H. Preusse, Special Collections, Holland Library, Washington State
University, Pullman and Herman Preusse, Spokane, to Honorable Board of Regents of the Agriculture
College and School of Science, Pullman, 19 February 1894, President E.A. Bryan Papers, letter written by
H. Preusse, Special Collections, Holland Library, Washington State University, Pullman.
24
the college, “The Castle,” was even advertised in a pamphlet distributed during the
World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893.12 The Board of Regents at Washington State
College, soon after Preusse’s design submittal, was investigated by a state appointed
legislative committee for mishandling and misusing funds. By the spring of 1893, a new
Board was appointed who subsequently dismissed Preusse as Washington State College’s
architect.
Another Washington State scandal, which affected Preusse, concerned
Washington’s state building at the world’s Columbian Exposition. The state Commission
announced its intention to participate in the 1893 world’s Fair at Chicago, Illinois, and
announced a competition for the design of the state pavilion in the fall of 1891. The
winning design was to represent the territory and the winning architect would receive
$500 for his efforts. Herman Preusse was one of the many architects in the state to
submit plans, although his design for this project does not survive. His submission did
not place in the competition, which was won by a competitor in Spokane, Willis A
Ritchie. However, when Daniel Burnham, the chief architect presiding over the
Exposition, viewed the top three designs from Washington Territory he chose the third
place design by Warren P. Skillings.13 Mr. Burnham regarded Skillings’ design as a
regionally representative building, which conformed exactly to his original requirements.
Needless to say, this incident instigated a public controversy in the state. Six architects
12
Enoch Albert Bryan, Historical Sketch of the State College of Washington: 1890-1925, (Spokane: InlandAmerican Printing Co., 1928), 116.
For further information regarding this topic see Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, “In Search of Regional Expression:
The Washington State Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893,” Pacific Northwest
Quarterly vol. 86, no. 4, 165-177.
13
25
from Spokane, including H. Preusse, signed a letter requesting that all submitted
competition drawings be sent directly to Daniel Burnham. An identical letter, signed by
several Seattle architects, was also sent to the Commission. Respect for the
Commission’s aesthetic judgment had, by this time, diminished entirely. At the
culmination of the event, the Commission was investigated by the state for their conduct
regarding the entirety of the affair.
The fallout from this disaster opened a chasm, at least between Spokane architects
and Willis A. Ritchie. As intimated in an article from the Spokane Review of June 24,
1892, Ritchie was intending to participate in Spokane’s new City Hall competition, but
Preusse spoke out regarding the questionable character of this recent arrival.14 Ritchie’s
character came under suspicion because of the rumors that had circulated concerning how
he had won the state competition for Chicago’s Exposition and the questionable way in
which he had secured contracts in other parts of the state. Preusse conjectured that “if
this man’s plans were the best, how was it that they were not accepted by Mr.
Burnham?”15 Unfortunately, there are no extant drawings of Preusse’s City Hall design
from which a comparison can be made. Although the controversy continued publicly
through several newspaper articles, Ritchie’s City Hall design was accepted.
Literature, letters, genealogy, and newspaper articles such as those mentioned
previously, provide evidence of architect Herman Preusse’s character. Considering the
fact that architects in Seattle and Spokane found the authority of the Washington State
14
15
Spokane Review, 5.
Spokane Review, 5.
26
World’s Exposition Commission questionable and so, in fact, did the State, otherwise the
Commission would not have been investigated, Preusse’s reaction to Ritchie seems to
have reflected that of the entire architectural and construction community. According to
a June 26, 1892 response to the Ritchie controversy written by the President of the
Builder’s Exchange printed in the Spokane Review the builder’s in the community were
also concerned about Ritchie’s character.16 Therefore, it seems that Preusse’s concern
about fair competition was not without some merit. From the literature printed then and
subsequently, the situation seems more about honesty, trustworthiness and fairness. By
1892, Spokane had several builders and architects who competed for commercial and
noncommercial projects but controversy such as this had not occurred prior to this.
Herman Preusse expected fair competition and nothing less.17
In reviewing the extant literary and genealogical evidence regarding Preusse’s
life, it can be surmised that his diligent honorable character and work ethic gained favor
with the community especially the Jesuits of Gonzaga University. He designed and
supervised the University’s first academic structures in the early 1880s and continued this
relationship with the Jesuits, as their exclusive architect, until his retirement, including
house plans to be built on lots sold by the Pioneer Educational Society.
Professionally, as an architect and building superintendent, he was known for his
“economy, practicability, utility and beauty.” Whether “following a unique style or
16
Spokane Review, 3. The President, Mr. Johnson, discusses the concerns expressed by the Exchange that
contracts for Spokane buildings should remain local for the continued survival of city commerce overall.
17
Evidence of this is seen in his dealings with the Jesuits at Gonzaga University, his career longevity and
from primary resource material.
27
building according to modern construction, comfort and convenience are always matters
of consideration in his plans.”18 Wilfred P. Schoenberg, S.J., wrote of the frenzied final
stages of construction on the new St. Aloyisius church at Gonzaga College, (1909-11),
revealing that the workmen not only had the “college president on their heels” but had to
take “care to please Preusse, who inspected everything like an old maid with a captious
eye.”19 In the publication Western Progress, 1902, the firm of Preusse and Zittel, the
only architects mentioned, is said to have benefited from a resplendent review of their
abilities as architects and draftsman and all construction was personally superintended by
them.20 Herman Preusse and Julius A. Zittel had formed an advantageous partnership
that would last from 1893/94 until the former’s retirement in October of 1911 (although
Spokane City Directories have Preusse listed as an architect until 1918).21 Preusse’s
architectural services were requested for over three decades, ending only upon his
retirement. The architect’s attention to and concern for every detail of the design and
construction process further explain the reasons why his expertise was sought and why he
retained a loyal clientele. Preusse was dependable, forthright, and his style evolved
concurrent with progressive architectural styles.
18
Durham, History of the City of Spokane and Spokane Country, Washington, 173.
19
Paths to the Northwest: A Jesuit History of the Oregon Province, (Chicago: Loyola University Press,
1982), 181. According to, Mac McCandless, Gonzaga University Architect, new buildings at the
University are held to the construction standards set by Preusse in his Administration Building. Interview
by author, 15 July 1999, Spokane, Interview transcript, Gonzaga University, Spokane.
20
Murphy, Western Progress, 27.
Information gathered from the Gonzaga archives revealed that Preusse’s signature did not appear on any
documents after October 6, 1911.
21
28
Both professionally and personally throughout his forty-four years in Spokane,
Herman Preusse was involved in ameliorating the architectural, social and cultural
environment of the city. Architecturally, he is known to have designed over one hundred
structures including residences, commercial and public buildings, churches, and schools.
With respect to his social life, biographical references mention that he became involved
in the local chapter of the Pioneer Society as well as the Elks Lodge #228. He was
interested in public issues, especially those concerning education. Having been well
educated, Preusse certainly understood the cultural and social benefits of academia.
Preusse’s daughters, Florence and Olga, were sent to eastern universities while his two
sons, Carl and Arnold apprenticed at the firm of Preusse and Zittel.22
After calling Spokane home for over four decades, Herman Preusse died just
before midnight on December 10, 1926. He was laid to rest in the family plot at
Fairmont Memorial Park next to his first wife, Rosa Cole, and John Herman Preusse, one
of their three children who died in infancy. In the years that have past, Herman and Rosa
have been joined by their two sons Carl Victor, Arnold Bismarck and, one of their two
daughters, Florence Augusta (Preusse) Jackson.
A Synopsis of Herman Preusse’s Noncommercial Architecture
Working as an architect from August 1882 to approximately 1918, Herman
Preusse supported his family by designing commercial and noncommercial structures
22
Edwards, An Illustrated History of Spokane County State of Washington, 376-377. This period
publication mentions that, in 1900, his two daughters were currently attending eastern universities.
According to family history, Preusse did not pay for Carl or Arnold’s academic pursuits although he did so
for his daughters.
29
throughout eastern Washington, though his foremost contribution was to the architectural
landscape of the city of Spokane. Although this thesis deals primary with analyzing his
commercial architecture in the city, it would be unconscionable not to discuss, at least
briefly, representative noncommercial structures as evidence of his architectural
contributions since he worked in all genres of architecture. These specific works will be
dealt with in a chronological fashion except with respect to Gonzaga University because
of his professional relationship with the University until his retirement.
During his early career in the city, Preusse built many of the homes for its
prominent citizens. One of the first homes he designed was for Anthony Cannon, ca.
1887, (Figure 4). As previously mentioned, early in his career Preusse did design in the
Second Empire Baroque mode and the Cannon Residence falls into this category. The
three-story frame structure was vertically punctuated by a projecting four-story tower
symmetrically dividing the front façade of the house. Though the East Coast had long
abandoned this style, cities of the west, such as Seattle, were still building structures in
this manner.
The Judge L.F. Nash residence, a Queen Anne style structure, was built sometime
between 1888-1895 (Figure5). This sprawling building is representative of the
movement with its eclectic, picturesque qualities of decorative siding, asymmetrical
façade, wrap-around porches and turret or tower ending in a slightly bulbous hexagonal
dome. Preusse designed several residences in a similar style through the late nineteenth
century.
30
As the prosperity of Spokane Falls increased in the late 1880s, and the architect’s
reputation spread, Preusse began to receive commissions from around Eastern
Washington. In 1892, he was hired by the newly organized Washington State College
(Washington State University) in Pullman, Washington, to build its first academic
structures. These included the brick dormitory, Old Ferry Hall (1892-1897), and Old
College Hall (1892), a frame stick-style structure, used for classrooms (Figure 6). The
Board of Regents for the college had grandiose ideas for the college and commissioned
Preusse to create a grand, large-scale multipurpose structure. The Regents were well
aware of their poor financial standing but directed the architect to design the building in
spite of their limited funds. When the architect finished his plans, he presented the Board
of Regents with what was later given the title of “The Castle,” 1892, (Figure 7). The
façade of this Queen Anne design consisted of several projecting turrets, two projecting
multi-curved gables whose roofs projected beyond the main horizontal roof line and a
square central tower projecting from the roof and capped by a tall conical roof atop of
which was a flag pole.
Though “The Castle” was not built for Washington State College, Preusse would
soon be contacted by the Jesuits of Gonzaga College to build an Administration building,
1897-99. This building, though smaller than “The Castle” (before its 1903-04 addition)
certainly rivaled the Pullman building’s elaborate character with respect to size. Though
the overall character of the addition reflected those of the original, the decorative
elements of the first portion were streamlined in the addition giving the building greater
angular appearance (Figure 8 and 9). In this case, Preusse was inspired by Romanesque
31
styles. A heavy stone arch over the main entrance of the original portion of the building,
and the dormers punctuating the roof, reflect the current trends in architecture introduced
by Henry Hobson Richardson who had popularized this Romanesque Revival style.
Though most of Preusse’s buildings tend to refer to Romanesque sources, the
Catholic Church in Sprague, Washington, located east of Spokane, exhibits Gothic
Revival elements. Mary Queen of Heaven, 1902, is a small, brick church curiously
resembling the design of the first St. Aloysius church, 1892, built for the Jesuits in
Spokane, though that was of frame construction (Figure 10). The church in Sprague is
longitudinal with a projecting square tower on the gable end flanked by Gothic arches. In
its base, the tower contains the church’s main entrance above which is a pointed arch
window and the walls of the church’s longitudinal body are reinforced with square
buttresses with pointed arch windows in between that help illuminate the interior. In
1908-11, Preusse and Zittel continued working with Gonzaga University and built the
new St. Aloysius Church (Figure 11). The church is a mix of classic and medieval
elements with a classical hexastyle temple portico on the entrance façade of the otherwise
Romanesque Revival church. The entrance façade also includes two flanking bell towers.
As these examples reveal, Herman Preusse designed structures in all genres of
architecture. Images of his architectural legacy survive throughout eastern Washington,
though his greatest contribution was most certainly to Spokane’s architectural landscape.
The Appendix at the end of the text is a list of his known works throughout eastern
Washington. At the time of this writing, this list is the most thorough compilation of his
Washington architecture.
32
CHAPTER IV
IMAGES OF A FRONTIER TOWN, 1882-1889:
PRE-FIRE PUBLIC AND COMMERCIAL STRUCTURES
Prior to delving into the details of Herman Preusse’s architectural work during
this epoch, consideration should be taken of the architectural phases – both domestic and
abroad – of which the architect would have been familiar. During the nineteenth century
architecture turned towards revivalisms. In the German States in the 1820s and 1830s,
architectural theorists concentrated on the Rundbogenstil (round-arch style) and the
Classical Revival.1 Later, French architectural influences filtered into Germany in the
form of Second Empire Baroque, which was an adaptation of French Baroque.2
1
Theorists spent much of their time debating between Rundbogenstil and Classical revival styles as to
which would most appropriately represent the nation as a whole. The debate abated with the advent of art
nouveau and modern architecture in the late nineteenth century. See Julia Bloomfield, et al, ed., In What
Style Should We Build: The German Debate on Architectural Style, (Santa Monica: The Getty Center for
the History of Art and the Humanities, 1992).
2
Second Empire Baroque was developed as an aesthetic solution by Louis Visconti and Hector-Martin
Lefuel to ensure that their design for additions to the Louvre, Paris (1852-57) correlated with the pastiche
of the original portion of the building. Henry-Russel Hitchcock, Architecture: Nineteenth and twentieth
Centuries, 4th ed., (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1977), 192-195.
33
Concurrently, American architecture, since the beginning of non-native settlement,
typically derived from historic precedents from Western Europe. This tradition continued
until the latter half of the nineteenth century.3 When the functional requirements of
buildings evolved, archeologically accurate reproductions were rendered ineffective for
an urban industrial center. As a city grew, space was limited, especially in the
commercial core. By the end of the century, urbanization necessitated more creative and
rational interpretations of historical styles that could allude to the past while providing
the vertical space necessary for a city’s increasing commercial activity. This would
eventually lead to the development of a uniquely American form of architecture known
as the Chicago School of architecture or Chicago Commercial style.4
For architect Herman Preusse, his professional studies began as early as 1860 at
which point, the architects of the German States were designing Classical, Medieval, and
exotic Revival style structures. As a student, Preusse may have studied the work of such
notable German architects as Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841) who is known for his
use of Romantic Classicism and because he was an innovator of German architecture
This is not to say that revival styles were eliminated or had disappeared from the architectural landscape –
for they were still in use in a variety of situations but were no longer adaptable on a grand scale. As in
Europe, the Second Empire Baroque style did appear in the American building culture, at least as early as
mid-century until it lost favor towards the end of the century. See Leland M. Roth, A Concise History of
American Architecture, (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1979), 128.
3
4
Around 1880, a new architectural movement, known as the Chicago School, emerged in America. This
movement freed architects from depending upon historical precedents, both stylistically and
compositionally. The movement was lead by such notables as William Le Baron Jenney, Louis Sullivan
and Dankmar Adler, Daniel Burnham and John Wellborn Root, and William Holabird and Martin Roche.
This movement, as mentioned in Carl W. Condit’s book, American Building Art, “was a response to certain
constituent facts of nineteenth-century building art, chiefly economic and utilitarian demands and structural
innovations.” (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960), 269. Limited real estate in city center’s forced
vertical expansion and technical advances in structural framing, elevators and fireproofing provided the
necessary means to create the tall office building that would later evolve into the skyscrapers of today.
34
particularly with his incorporation of brick for non-industrial structures.5 Preusse’s
technical training at Holzminden may have included the study of Classical, Medieval,
exotic, and Renaissance styles along with current architectural issues. Additionally,
when he immigrated to America, publications such as American Architect and Building
News, which began publishing in 1876, provided drawings, and occasionally
photographs, as well as other pertinent architectural information, that allowed architects
to stay apprised of American architectural trends.6 Further, Preusse had the opportunity
to travel throughout several of the nation’s States and Territories gathering impressions of
American architectural aesthetics and trends during this period. As suggested by his
designs, Herman Preusse was influenced by the latitude of architecture in America and
tended to follow this vein of architectural aesthetics concomitantly with the knowledge
attained during his technical and professional training in Germany.
Glover Block
Soon after Preusse arrived in Spokane, James N. Glover, Spokane’s founding
father, commissioned the architect to design a new store building.7 Glover Block or First
National Bank Block (1883-1889) was a two-story brick Gothic Revival structure
situated on the corner of what is now Spokane Falls Boulevard and Howard (Figure 12).8
5
Hitchcock, Architecture: Nineteenth and twentieth Centuries, 4th ed., 57.
Additional period publications include Architectural Record, Scribner’s Magazine, Harper’s Weekly, and
Inland Architect.
6
7
N.W. Durham, History of the City of Spokane and Spokane Country, Washington: from its earliest
settlement to the present time Vol. 1, (Spokane: S. J. Clarke publishing Company, 1912) 366.
Refer to the map (Figure 10) of Spokane’s commercial core for exact locations of the commercial and
public buildings discussed in the following pages.
8
35
As the architect’s first project in the city, it represents the beginning of a successful
professional career in Washington and J. N. Glover’s economic rise as well as the city’s
rise in commercial and economic activity.
Following the neo-Gothic construct, Preusse developed an asymmetrical design
for Glover Block, particularly in the roofline.9 The building’s corner canted wall
entrance façade rose up to a third story attic window that intersected the pointed arch
corbel table under the cornice. The first floor, separated from the second by a wide belt
course, contained pointed arched lancet windows while those of the second story end in a
segmental arch. The symmetry and design of the full parapet end gable was repeated in
the small projecting entry porch and the gable above the stained glass lancet attic
window. The restrained embellishments of the building are indicative of the patron’s
economic circumstances, which reflect that of the city itself at that time.
The irregularities in design that exist in this instance are uncharacteristic of
Preusse’s oeuvre in which he normally tenaciously adhered to symmetry, or, at very least,
the appearance of symmetry. Asymmetry is, however, typical in Gothic Revival
architecture, though the Glover Block’s idiosyncrasies suggest that adjustments to the
original design were made during the construction period.10
9
In general Gothic Revival architecture would include characteristics such as lancet windows, steeply
pitched gable roof, and an irregular form. For additional information on the Gothic Revival style and its
usage refer to Leland M. Roth’s Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning,
(Boulder: Westwiew Press, 1993), 426-431.
10
This is substantiated by claims made by Robert B. Hyslop that adjustments were made by the craftsman,
but without extant drawings or a first hand account determining the extent of Preusse’s intentional
eclecticism is indeterminate.
36
The Glover Block is a symbolic representation of the Herman Preusse’s high
aspirations as well as the ambitions of the owner and of the city itself. This building
marks the beginning of Preusse’s architectural career in a community that would soon
recognize him for his architectural abilities. As for the burgeoning city of Spokane Falls,
the structure’s restrained embellishments are indicative of the local economy, one in
which investors such as James N. Glover were beginning to receive financial returns.
The structure’s idiosyncratic compositional elements and basic overall design, though
still elaborate for the urban surroundings, reveal the current incongruities and limitations
of the city while aspiring to attain greater economic, political and social stability and
success.
Post Office Block
By 1886 Spokane Falls had seen a dramatic increase in commercial activity and in
its population. As mentioned in Chapter II, the city had a hydroelectric plant built the
previous year and by 1886 several electric rail lines within the city had already been
constructed to connect the various outlying residential areas to its commercial center. Of
greater significance was the transcontinental Northern Pacific line, completed in 1886,
the first of several that would ensure Spokane’s status as Capital of the Inland Northwest.
These factors had aided in boosting the economy and population and necessitated the
building of a new structure designed specifically to function as a post office. The Post
Office Block (1886-1889) served in this official capacity until the time of the fire though it also housed commercial and private tenants in the lower and upper stories
(Figure 13).
37
Stylistically, the Post Office block contained both Queen Anne and Romanesque
Revival elements.11 Built of brick with granite details, this three-story building had a
rusticated granite block belt course dividing the first and second floors. The street level
stepped arches, with rusticated voussoirs, allowed light into the recessed entry while
providing protection for the entrances to the full basement and the building’s upper
stories. Twin oriels, each supported visually by a pilaster with a foliated capital, flanked
the central section of the structure’s third story. An elaborate balustrade above the
cornice, which was supported by brackets, capped each oriel. The frieze panels below
the roofline are decorated with festoons, and the paired pilasters with foliated capitals, in
the central section of the third story, rose up to provide visual support to the pediment
under which was the building’s name plate. The one-over-one double-hung windows on
the upper stories were flat, rounded or segmented. Characteristics such as oriels, frieze
panels, and balustrade along the roofline are common features of the Queen Anne style as
it was interpreted in commercial and public architecture. The main story, however,
contains heavy, rough-cut granite arches, which are common in Romanesque Revival
commercial and public structures.12
American architects’ interpretation of Queen Anne eclecticism included a conglomeration of
architectural elements - classical, Romanesque and colonial - providing a greater link to America’s past as
opposed to that of England. Robert A.M. Stern, Thomas Mellins, and David Fishman, New York 1880:
Architecture and Urbanism in the Gilded Age, (New York: The Monacelli Press, Inc., 1999), 30.
11
12
For more information on the Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival styles refer to Robert A.M. Stern,
Thomas Mellins, and David Fishman, New York 1880: Architecture and Urbanism in the Gilded Age, 30
and Leland M. Roth’s Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning, 447-449.
38
Concordia Hall
The Concordia Singing Society, a German organization, commissioned Preusse to
design Concordia Hall (1888-1905), which, at the time construction was complete, was
one of only two entertainment halls in Spokane Falls (Figure 14).13 The building
included a small stage and dining room on the first floor. During its seventeen years in
existence, the hall was used for church socials and as a theater, meeting hall, and
ballroom.14
The building, elevated above street level by a tall brick basement story, was
comprised of three sections - the main building and two wings ending in square towers.
In this instance, symmetry is slightly skewed. Curiously, one of the side wings is slightly
longer than the other thus offsetting the building’s possible symmetry. The entire
structure measured ninety feet across the front and the east wing extended back further
than the center and west sections creating an irregular building footprint.15 Three sets of
stairs provided entry to the building – one for each section. Notable were the building’s
varied architectural elements. The frame façade was plastered so it gave the impression
of being made of masonry. Rusticated pilasters emphasized the structure’s corners.16
Robert B. Hyslop, Spokane’s Building Blocks, (Spokane: Standard Blue Print Co., Inc., 1983), 64. There
were other “Variety Theatres” in Spokane at the time; however, the entertainment provided was of a
different caliber than the two show halls. The descriptive information for Concordia Hall comes primarily
from the following sources: Robert B. Hyslop’ Spokane’s Building Blocks, 64-65, Harry H. Hook and
Francis J. McGuire, Spokane Falls Illustrated: The Metropolis of Eastern Washington, (Minneapolis: Frank
L. Thresher, publisher, 1889), 32, and Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Spokane Falls, Washington Territory,
(New York: Sanborn Map & Publishing Co. Limited, January, 1890), 13.
13
14
Hook, Spokane Falls Illustrated, 32.
15
Hyslop, Spokane’s Building Blocks, 64.
16
Hyslop, Spokane’s Building Blocks, 64.
39
The central two-story structure, containing the main entrance, ended in a mansard roof.
Punctuating the mansard roof was a closed gable centered directly above the main
entrance. Central in the closed gable was a square tympanum, containing a lyre, capped
by a pediment. The entrance and second floor windows and balcony were set under a
large semi-circular arch with an elaborate keystone, above which was the building’s
name plate curved to mimic the shape of the arch. Under the two-story arch was a triple
window, with a pedimented window crown, below which were the double entrance doors.
On either side of this section were multi-pained sash windows with decorative surrounds
with bracketed pediment crowns. Each wing’s square tower contained stairs that lead up
to a door with a transom. Above each doorway was a blind oculus window. Between the
tower and the central section were paired multi-pained sash windows. The elaborate
window surrounds with semi-elliptical crowns. A crenellated parapet capped the roof of
each wing section giving the building a medieval flair.
As Preusse’s rendering from Spokane Falls Illustrated reveals, the structure was
an amalgam of the Castellated Style of Gothic Revival and Second Empire Baroque
creating a quasi-medieval castle-like appearance.17 The wings with their parapets are
fortress-like while the lyre, mansard roof, and quoins are features of the Second Empire
Baroque style. Being from Germany and studying and working in Osnabrück,
It is likely that Preusse’s castle like design for Concordia Hall was influence by such works as the
Wadsworth Atheneum (1842) in Hartford Connecticut by Alexander Jackson Davis. Davis continued using
the Castellated Gothic mode into the early 1890s. Another influence may have been the Smithsonian
design by James Renwick – more of a Norman style of Romanesque Revival. For information concerning
Castellated Gothic refer to Amelia Peck, ed., Alexander Jackson Davis: American Architect 1803-1892,
(New York: Rizzoli, 1992), 75-77. The history, evolution, and usage of the Second Empire Baroque style
is discussed in detail in Leland M. Roth, Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning,
(Boulder: Westwiew Press, 1993), 431-435.
17
40
Holzminden, and Halle, his familiarity with medieval architecture is certain. Some
influence for Concordia Hall’s creation may stem from trends set forth by Alexander
Jackson Davis in his pattern books published during the 19th century. In addition, it is
obvious that the Second Empire Baroque style, which proliferated in America between
1855-1890, was an integral part of this design.18 Though Preusse may have derived
inspiration from Germanic traditions, the designs of Alexander Jackson Davis, and the
popular Second Empire Baroque style, Concordia Hall reflects the architect’s personal
interpretation of quasi-medieval architecture.
Frankfurt Block
The Frankfurt Block (1888-1889) was a four-story high, 119 by 117 foot
structure, of pressed brick with granite and terra cotta trim, on the corner of Main and
Howard (Figure 15). The entire cost of the building was estimated at one hundred fifty
thousand dollars – one of the most expensive pre-fire commercial structures in the city.
The owner’s Jacob Goetz and Henry F. Baer, who had attained their fortune from the
mines of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, organized a grand opening celebration that took place in
mid-July 1889 – sadly just a few weeks prior to the fire that would leave it a smoldering
ruin.19
Preusse designed the Frankfurt Block’s main level specifically for retail shops.
By using wrought iron beams to support the load of the three upper stories, large
18
Cyril M. Harris, American Architecture: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, (New York and London: W.W.
Norton & Company, 1998), 290.
Barbara Fleischman Cochran, Exploring Spokane’s Past: Tours to Historical sites, rev. ed., (Fairfield: Ye
Galleon Press, 1984), 47.
19
41
windows along the street level could be inserted. Each street level retail business had a
basement storage/office area with a private stairway and its own water facilities. The
upper three stories surrounded an interior court that contained two fountains. Although
the entire building was furnished with gas and electric lights, natural light streamed into
the interior court through two stained glass skylights. Eighty-three office spaces on the
second and third stories were available for rent as were forty-two office or apartment
spaces on the fourth.20
The polychromatic exterior combined with arches and piers provide this
Romanesque Revival structure with much of its character. The façades were an
amalgamation of brick, granite, and terra cotta, as was common in Romanesque Revival
buildings of the period. Granite and terra cotta were used for piers, semi-circular arches
and decorative features throughout the structure.21 Both street elevations were organized
symmetrically with slightly projecting central bays. The first floor was articulated with
granite piers and arches. The main entrance was located on Howard Street and was part
of the façade’s central bay which was decorated “with stained glass windows and
galvanized iron and terra cotta ornaments.”22 Unarguably, the top section of the building
was the most ornate portion of the structure. Intersecting the heavily embellished cornice
Information for the Frankfurt Building’s interior is drawn from Spokane Falls Review, New Year’s
Edition, January 1, 1888, 15.
20
21
Using rough cut stone for pier and semi-circular arches was also common features of Romanesque
Revival buildings. This particular building’s features are indicative of the Victorian Romanesque style
because of its ornamentation and polychrome exterior. For further information concerning the
Romanesque Revival style, including its derivatives, evolution and usage, refer to Cyril M. Harris,
American Architecture: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 276-277, 279, and 351and Leland M. Roth’s
Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning, 447-449.
22
Spokane Falls Review, New Year’s Edition, January 1, 1888, 15.
42
were seven tourelles that defined the corners of the building and the termination of the
central projecting bays. Further, Preusse employed paired Corinthian piers to support the
segmented and round arches above the third story windows. Foliage and checkerwork
terra cotta plates were set in the spandrels between the pilasters of the third and forth
stories, and the tympana above the third story windows had decorative foliated terra cotta
panels.
The Frankfurt Building’s silhouette bears some resemblance to The Rookery
building in Chicago by architects Daniel H. Burnham and John W. Root (1885-8)
especially in the ornamentation above the roofline.23 A review of The Rookery was
published in the June 1886 issue of Inland Architect and Preusse may have taken note of
the design. Although The Rookery may have provided inspiration for Preusse’s design of
the Frankfurt Block, there are distinct differences between them. The Frankfort Block,
for instance, had a polychromatic exterior while the Rookery was of monochromatic
brick.
Granite Block
Construction had commenced on the Granite Block (1889/90-1928) just prior to
the fire of 1889 and it emerged from the disaster unscathed (Figure 16).24 From basement
23
The Rookery has also been stylistically associated with Moorish, Indian, and Indic architecture as well as
being linked with Richardsonian Romanesque. Thomas J. Schlereth, “H.H. Richardson’s Influence in
Chicago’s Midwest, 1872-1914,” Paul Clifford Larson and Susan M. Brown, ed., The Spirit of H.H.
Richardson on the Midland Prairies: Regional Transformations of an Architectural Style, (Ames: Iowa
State University Press, 1988), 55.
24
Hook, Spokane Falls Illustrated, 56. The Granite Block and the proceeding Auditorium Building were
designed and under construction before the fire. An interesting note from Robert B. Hyslop is that the
arches of the Granite Block were almost complete at the time of the fire and served as a fire wall protecting
the buildings east of it. The Post Office Block, abutting the Granite Block property to the west, was one of
the many destroyed. Hyslop, Spokane’s Building Blocks, 129.
43
to sixth story tower, the entire 90 by 83 foot structure was constructed of granite at a cost
of approximately $125,000.25 It was one of Preusse’s most Richardsonian Designs.26
Several considerations were given to fire safety, the most obvious being the use of
stone as a structural material. Additionally, the building had iron external fire escapes
and the elevator shaft was enclosed with solid brick walls, separating it from the interior
stairway.27 Concern stemming from fires that had hit several major cities around the
nation, including that in Seattle on June 6, 1889, likely prompted the inclusion of these
fire safety measures.28
The Granite Block appeared heavy – a solid mass of stone and glass.29 This
heavy mass terminated in a cornice that was capped by a parapet wall with battlements.
Its rusticated surface of cut stone was enhanced with subtle geometric ornamentation.
Under the cornice was a checkerwork frieze and the spandrels below the sixth story tower
windows were chiseled to create a diamond pattern. The Granite Block’s exterior was
Spokane Falls Illustrated, 40. The rock is said to have come “from the famous granite quarries of the
Little Spokane.” There are some discrepancies in the measurements of the building. Robert B. Hyslop
states that the building was 100 feet by 85 feet. Spokane’s Building Blocks, 129.
25
26
H.H. Richardsonian is credited with creating a derivative of the Romanesque Revival style. For
information on H.H. Richardson refer to Paul Clifford Larson and Susan M. Brown, ed. The Spirit of H.H.
Richardson on the Midland Prairies: Regional Transformations of an Architectural Style. Ames: Iowa
State University Press, 1988 and Jeffrey Karl Ochsner. H H. Richardson: Complete Architectural Works.
Cambridge, The MIT Press, 1982.
27
Even though stone does not fuel a fire, it will crack and peel when hit with cold water. Spokane
Spokesman Annual Illustrated Supplement, 2 nd year, (January 1892), 35.
28
The influence of Richardsonian Romanesque is also seen in Seattle especially in post-fire construction
around Pioneer Square.
29
One significant geological feature of the region is its basalt layer that provided a stable base from which
to build.
44
almost entirely monochromatic and devoid of embellishments, a retreat from the
Frankfurt Block’s mode of polychromatic decoration.
Stylistically, the Granite Block clearly reveals an interpretive variation on Henry
Hobson Richardson’s (1838-1886) version of Romanesque Revival, which was
fashionable during the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.30 The
characteristics of the Richardsonian Romanesque style are heavy, rough-cut stone walls,
semi-circular arches, deeply recessed windows, squat columns, and towers. Preusse’s
design for the Granite Block incorporates several of these common features including
using rusticated granite stone and semi-circular arches.
In composition, with its rusticated, granite walls, semi-circular arcades,
expressive belt courses, and prominent corner tower, Preusse’s design for the Granite
Block was reminiscent of Richardson’s R. and F. Cheney Block (1875-76), Hartford,
Connecticut.31 Preusse did, however, replace Richardson’s low slung neo-Romanesque
arches for a semi-elliptical arcade on the street level that allowed light into the shops and
easy viewing for window shoppers.32 Additionally, the alternating width of the granite
courses and the absence of embellishments were more in tune with the Marshall Field
Wholesale Store and Warehouse (1885/87-1930), Chicago, Illinois, which is known for
30
The style gained widespread prominence, nationally and abroad, only after his death in 1886. Robert
A.M. Stern, Thomas Mellins, and David Fishman refer to revivals such as this as “referential eclecticism”
an eclecticism that “would soon constitute the dominant trend in residential, institutional, and commercial
design.” Stern, New York 1880, 467.
31
32
Stern, New York 1880, 31.
This is excepting for one round arch placed between the semi-elliptical ones on the Riverside façade and
two on the secondary façade. The use of semi-elliptical arches is suggestive of the more flexible Queen
Anne style (referencing Federal and Late Georgian architecture). Iron and glass were the only nonnative
eastern Washington products used. Additionally, it should be noted that H.H. Richardson’s work evoked a
stronger impression of weightiness and massiveness than seen in Preusse’s Romanesque inspired work.
45
revealing a new type of architecture, independent of “meretricious historical ornament.”33
The only common characteristic of Richardsonian Romanesque absent in the Granite
Block is the deeply recessed windows. Even without this feature, it is obvious that
Preusse was familiar with H.H. Richardson’s derivation of the Romanesque Revival
style.
Auditorium/Opera House Block
The economic prosperity and population boom in Spokane Falls during the late
1880s provided the impetus for building a grand opera house (Figure 17). The 90 by 150
foot structure reportedly cost between $325,000 and $350,000.34 The Auditorium
(1889/90-1934) opened on September 16, 1890, a little over a year after the
conflagration.35 Its construction insured that the Spokane Falls community would remain
on the theatrical circuit and continue to be entertained by the most famous artists, actors,
and musicians of the period.36
33
Roth, A Concise History of American Architecture, 169. William H. Jordy, American Buildings and
Their Architects: Progressive and Academic Ideals at the Turn of the Twentieth Century vol. 3, (Garden
City: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1972), 33. Both the Granite Block and the subsequent Auditorium
Block represent Spokane’s link to the aesthetics of the East. Locally, building design was influenced by
eastern American cities such as stylistically and structurally – though on a more modest vertical scale.
“Spokane Falls: The Review’s Historian Looks Backward,” Spokane Falls Review, August 5, 1890, 22.
Larry Mann, Changes that have taken Place in Spokane’s Central Business District Since the Fire of 1889,
Eastern Washington State University Class Project, 1978.
34
The Spokane Spokesman Annual Illustrated Supplement, 10. George L. Lufkin, “The Spokane
Spectacle,” Marquee 22, no. 1 (1990): 4.
35
36
The community viewed the auditorium as an amelioration to their city and social existence by brining a
greater influx of culture into the community. Further, the Auditorium stood as a symbol of Spokane Falls’
rise as the capital of the inland northwest region. Carolyn Hage Nunemaker, Downtown Spokane Images,
1930-1949 (Spokane: National Color Graphics, 1997), 103.
46
News of this opulent structure traveled at least as far as Portland by way of a
lengthy West Shore magazine article in which it was praised as the finest opera house
example of those in Spokane, Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle.37 In addition, this article
mentioned that the Auditorium’s theater was modeled after the Broadway Theater
(1887/8) in New York City.38 The structure’s similarity to the Broadway Theatre is
certainly due to the fact that J.B. McElfatrick and Sons, who designed the Broadway
Theater, collaborated with Herman Preusse on its design.39
The theater section, an unembellished brick box, extended from the back of the
commercial block creating an L-shaped building footprint. Although the theater’s
internal features were likely designed by the New York firm, the rendering that appeared
in The Spokane Spokesman Annual Illustrated Supplement in 1892 indicates that the
Auditorium Building design is attributable to Herman Preusse (Figure 18).40 The theater
entrance was through an arch on the northern end of the Post Street elevation. Upon
entering the building, theater patrons accessed the Rococo style auditorium proper by
way of an entrance lobby, ninety feet long and twenty feet wide, carpeted with Turkish
37
West Shore 185, Portland and Spokane Falls: L. Samuel, December 21, 1889, 456.
38
West Shore, 456.
Lufkin, “The Spokane Spectacle,” 4. As the intent of the builders was to create the largest and grandest
theater in the Northwest, it was necessary to seek the advice of J.B. McElfatrick & Sons – a firm
specializing theater design. Information on this New York City firm is drawn from Stern, New York 1880,
819. The Broadway Theater was discussed in Real Estate Record and Builder’s Guide during the spring of
1888. This article may have prompted the architect to seek out the famed New York firm.
39
The supplement’s photo was certainly taken from the original rendering. The appearance of
“F.W.I’Ester, del.” in the lower left corner and the faint “H. Preusse, Architect” in the lower right hand
corner are indicative of the one extant rendering located in the collections of Eastern Washington State
Historical Society. The only difference being that H. Preusse, Architect is more ornately identified in the
extant rendering of the second Frankfurt Block, 1889/90.
40
47
rugs. Other embellishments along the corridor included ceiling frescoes, statues in
niches, and brightly colored leaded glass windows on the north wall.41 Also included in
this lobby section was the theater’s ticket office.
The Romanesque Revival Auditorium Building was constructed of brick with
granite trimmings.42 This five-story structure also included a two-story corner tower and
two minor towers, with pyramid shaped roofs, defining ends of the building.43 A conical
shaped roof atop of which stood a gilded statue of Thalia, Muse of comedy, covered the
round seventh story.44 Four, square piers clasped the round tower grounding it to its sixth
story square base. The round tower’s square windows provided an approximately threehundred-sixty degree view of the city. Only one other building, The Review Building,
surpassed it in height. Both street façades were opened by varied fenestration. The Post
street elevation included four two-story arches under which were large windows that
allowed light into the retail stores. Pilasters, between the paired round arched windows
of the sixth story, were part of a vertical series of slightly projecting pilasters that banded
the three upper stories together. Each pilaster extended slightly beyond the roofline and
terminated in a pyramid shaped cap.
Hyslop, Spokane’s Building Blocks, 14. Northwestern Industrial Exposition. Spokane Falls and its
Exposition: The City of Spokane Falls and it Tributary Resources, (Buffalo and New York: Mathews,
Northup & Co., 1890, Reprint, Spokane: Lawton Printing Inc., 1973), 8.
41
42
The Auditorium may also be considered Richardsonian Romanesque because it contains characteristics
of this style (even though it was constructed of brick and its appearance is lighter than that of the Granite
Block).
43
The tower and block composition is predicated upon the Florentine palazzi. Larson, 37.
Nunemaker, Downtown Spokane Images, 49. In George L. Lufkin’s article, he mentions an article from
the Dramatic Mirror written during September 1890, around the time of the opening, that states the statue
is Erato, muse of love poetry sung accompanied by the lyre. “The Spokane Spectacle,” 4.
44
48
Because of the building codes and regulations adopted after the fire, the
auditorium was constructed with numerous safety elements. These included a fireproof
(asbestos) drop curtain, ten fire exits, iron fire escapes from the balcony and gallery, and
fire walls separating office block from auditorium and auditorium from stage. An amply
sized backstage entrance provided fire engines, wagons and horses with an access to the
stage area if required.45
Functionally, the Auditorium building followed the Chicago Auditorium (188690) by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan. Both Chicago’s and Spokane Falls’
Auditorium buildings were multifunctional structures. Theatres were notorious for their
unprofitable nature; by combining the theater with auxiliary functions, the rental revenue
would offset expenditures for the less prosperous auditorium. Adler and Sullivan’s
design combined the theater and offices into one unit, while Preusse determined that the
two should remain separate.46
Between 1882, when Preusse arrived in Spokane Falls, and August 4, 1889
architectural trends bordered on the eclectic – as there were a myriad of popular revivals
styles from which an architect could choose. Preusse’s designs during this period reflect
this eclecticism. When Preusse arrived in Spokane Falls in 1882, his first design was a
Gothic Revival commercial building for the city’s founding father. His designs, from this
point until the conflagration, reflected a variety of architectural influences. In Concordia
45
West Shore 185, Portland and Spokane Falls: L. Samuel, December 21, 1889, 456. The article points out
that, because of these fire safety features, the building can be emptied in two minutes. Lufkin, 8.
The Dramatic Mirror article asserted that Spokane Falls’ auditorium “does not reflect discredit either
upon the theatre which it resembles in construction, or the theatre whose name it bears.” As the
Auditorium Building in Chicago was the most well known of the period, it is assumed that the article was
indicating this Auditorium. Lufkin, 8.
46
49
Hall Preusse combined characteristics of the Second Empire Baroque and the Castellated
Gothic styles.47 The Frankfurt Block, Auditorium, and Granite Block reveal Preusse’s
interest in the Romanesque Revival style – an interest that would continue throughout his
career.
47
After the fire of 1889 Preusse never again used the Second Empire Baroque style. Even before this time,
it had begun to fall out of favor with architects and patrons alike.
50
CHAPTER V
RECONSTRUCTION: REBUILDING SPOKANE’S COMMERCIAL CORE
AFTER THE FIRE, 1889-1893
On Sunday evening of August 4, 1889, fire, fueled by numerous frame buildings,
devastated the commercial center of Spokane Falls. 1 The determined citizens began
making plans to rebuild, however, while smoke still rose from the rubble. As was the
case after Seattle’s conflagration two months earlier, Spokane Falls’ city council also
implemented new construction codes that eliminated frame construction in the downtown
business district – a preventative measure against future catastrophes – by requiring that
structures be rebuilt of masonry. From this point on, all commercial buildings were built
of brick, stone, and terra cotta in observance of the city’s new building codes.
1
Most early commercial structures had been of frame construction. There were brick buildings scattered
throughout the area prior to the fire such as the Glover Block and Post Office Block. The first brick
building was constructed in 1881. N.W. Durham, History of the City of Spokane and Spokane Country,
Washington: from its earliest settlement to the present time vol. 1, (Spokane: S. J. Clarke publishing
Company, 1912) 365.
51
During the period after the fire, Spokane Falls enjoyed one of the most prolific
building periods in its history. John Fahey, in his article “The Million-Dollar Corner:
The Development of Downtown Spokane, 1890-1920,” mentions that most of the postfire structures were “five or more stories but were limited in height by a lack of elevators
and steel reinforcement.”2 Only two of the post-fire edifices were intended to reach
seven stories – one of which was Herman Preusse’s design for the Frankfurt Block.
These heights were comparable to those being reached in western cities like Seattle. In
the east, cities like New York and Chicago contained numerous buildings that exceeded
seven stories in height. The first of these tall commercial structures was constructed as
early as the mid-1870s.3 In truth, Spokane Falls’ economy and populace required far less
vertical space than was necessitated in eastern cities.4 Therefore, seven stories or less
were adequate to satisfy the community’s commercial needs.
Architect Herman Preusse, having long since established himself as a designer of
commercial buildings, was given numerous post-fire commissions in the recently
devastated area. The structures he designed were stylistically and compositionally
John Fahey, “The Million-Dollar Corner: The Development of Downtown Spokane, 1890-1920,” Pacific
Northwest Quarterly 62, no. 2 (April 1971): 77. Although steel was not available to Spokane architects at
this time, iron structural members were. Iron like stone is strong in compression, but iron is far stronger in
tension and shear. By using iron (wrought iron and later steel) framing material, there was no longer a need
to use masonry bearing walls. Carl W. Condit, American Building: Materials and Techniques from the
First Colonial Settlements to the Present, 2nd ed., (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1982), 76.
2
One of the first was George B. Post’s Western Union Building (1873-5) in New York; approximately ten
years later, William Le Baron Jenney’s Home Insurance Building (1884-5) in Chicago created an even
greater impact on construction of tall office buildings. Theodore Turak, William Le Baron Jenney: A
Pioneer of Modern Architecture, (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1986) 251-251.
3
4
The population of Spokane Falls during this period (it was estimated at 36,000 in 1890) and demand for
commercial space was low enough that buildings taller than seven stories were not economically viable.
52
diverse.5 These post-fire commercial structures reflect the architect’s continued interest
in the Queen Anne and Richardsonian Romanesque styles and his emerging interest in
the classical styles.
Frankfurt Block
An original rendering from the office of H. Preusse, Architect, reveals that the
new, post-fire Frankfurt Block (1889) was to be as notable as the first (Figure 19).
Unfortunately, Preusse’s Italian-Renaissance-inspired design for a seven-story edifice
never came to fruition.6 Instead, a modified one story was built in 1890 and a subsequent
story added in 1898 (Figure 20).7 The structure never adequately expressed Preusse’s
deference to classical detailing as seen in his original proposal.
The Italian Renaissance Revival style’s architectural characteristics include an
arcaded and rusticated base of masonry, strong horizontal lines, distinctive cornices, and
classical inferences.8 In addition, such classically-inspired features as pilasters, arched
openings, elaborate belt courses, and overhanging cornices with dentil and modillion
ornamentation were commonly used on buildings of this style. Preusse’s Frankfurt Block
5
Preusse met the challenges of commercial architecture (i.e. varied functional requirements and irregular
lot sizes) by creating unified, well-articulated and organized façades that appeared symmetrical.
It was intimated that the owner’s did not have the fortitude to recreate the grandeur of the first. Perhaps
there were also fiscal concerns. The first Frankfurt was a multipurpose structure and with the flurry of
construction, several multi-story structures were being built with which the Frankfurt would have to
compete. The Frankfurt Block rendering recently surfaced at the Spokane Public Library and, soon
thereafter, was transferred to Eastern Washington State Historical Society for conservation. Robert B.
Hyslop, Spokane Building Blocks, (Spokane: Standard Blueprint Co., Inc., 1983), 113.
6
7
8
Hyslop, 113. The Frankfurt Block was razed in 1971-73.
Carole Rifkind, A Field Guide to American Architecture, (Markham: Penguin Books Canada Limited,
1980), 220 and Cyril M. Harris, American Architecture: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, (New York and
London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1998), 186-187.
53
design incorporates all of these characteristics. He also added several distinct details
such as the incised pilasters that combined the fifth and sixth stories, the paired pilasters
of the seventh, and the squat paired square columns incorporated in the balustrade above
the cornice.
Since two of the intended seven stories were constructed, the rendering’s
information proves invaluable. The main level was to be of rusticated granite of
alternating widths as was done on the Granite Block except for the massive street corner
column which, like the next three stories, was to have horizontal striations of granite and
brick of varying widths (the granite courses narrower than the brick).9 The only
exception to this was the bold rusticated granite arch above the main entrance. Atop a
heavy rusticated base, the architect stacked six stories each escalating towards an eclectic
classicism that would culminate in a large balustrade and cornice capping the tall,
rectangular edifice. Pilasters, incised with fluting halfway down from the foliated capital,
combined the fifth and sixth stories and supported the seventh story’s squat double
pilasters.10 For the upper stories, Preusse created a latticework of piers and spandrels
punctured by paired double hung windows. The drawing indicates that wrought iron or
steel supports were to be used for the shop windows on the main story that are the width
of either two or three upper story bays. This main level section of Preusse’s plan was
realized.
9
These striations (on the street level) are visible on the photo of the Frankfurt Block as built.
10
The version of paired pilasters on the new Frankfurt Block imparted an image of the first Frankfurt
Block. In this instance, however, minimal embellishment in the form of an egg and dart molding decorated
the pilasters as opposed to the Romanesque foliate motifs of the first Block.
54
The rendering also reveals the influence of current architectural trends in Chicago
and New York – influences virtually undetectable in the Frankfurt Block as built.
William Le Baron Jenney’s Home Insurance Building (1883-85) in Chicago was
designed with a rusticated base and the same pier and spandrel combination on the upper
stories.11 Although this and other commercial structures in the east were reaching heights
exceeding seven stories, Preusse was incorporating these same concepts in his designs.
Fernwell Building
The Fernwell Building (1890), as it exists today, has had few exterior alterations
(Figure 21 and 22). The building’s six stories terminate in a frieze and cornice capped by
a parapet wall with corner merlons.12 Dividing the multiple stories are major and minor
terra cotta and brick courses. The most elaborate of these belt courses is the divider
between the forth and fifth stories in which headers protrude and recede to form an
intricate checkerwork pattern that continues around both street facades. This same
checkerwork pattern is used to connect the spandrels above the sixth-story arcade.
The street façades are essentially divided into several horizontal bays. However,
three vertical bays are evident on the main façade on Riverside Avenue. This façade’s
slightly projecting central bay rises up to a square pediment inside of which is the
building’s name plaque. As in the Frankfurt Block, pilasters have unified the Fernwell
11
Leland M. Roth, A Concise History of American Architecture, (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers,
1979), 174-175.
The building’s dimensions are ninety-two by one hundred feet. Spokane Daily Chronicle, August 4,
1890, 8.
12
55
Building’s middle stories. These pilasters are embellished with foliate terra cotta capitals
and smooth-finished terra cotta bases, and band the third and forth floor stories together.
Original to the building are the iron-framed shop windows on the main level of
both street facades (except the middle portion of the Stevens façade which contained a
cluster of brick piers trimmed with granite).13 The iron beams of the main level carried
the weight of the upper stories’ masonry walls.14 An internal light court, beginning on
the second floor, allowed natural light into the five stories of office spaces. When the
Fernwell Building was completed it also had an elevator that provided access to the upper
stories.15
Stylistically, this structure reflects a diluted influence of Romanesque Revival.
Elements of the design such as the parapet, simplified window treatments and
ornamentation, and horizontal courses further reinforce this designation. The turrelles
and overt polychromatic exteriors of the Post Office Block and first Frankfurt Block have
given way to a more monochromatic minimally embellished surface.
Blalock Block
The Blalock Block (1889-1972), 92 by 100 feet, consisted of three bays on both street
13
In a subsequent remodel, these piers were removed.
Kirk, Ruth and Carmela Alexander. Exploring Washington’s Past: A road Guide to History, rev. ed.
(Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1991), 13.
14
15
Hyslop, 105. As with many of the elevators of the period, this too was an open elevator. This was not a
fireproof technique, for the fire would be able to access every floor through this opening.
56
façades (Figure 23).16 Emphasis was placed on the corner bays of the edifice. These
corner bays banded the two paired end windows of each floor. Pilaster mullions
separated the paired windows. Under these paired windows were decorative spandrels.
The main and second levels, though separated by a rusticated granite course, were also
separated by a wider belt course from the central floors. These middle stories continued
up to a projecting classical cornice, thus separating the central stories of the building
from the top story. The street level consisted of rusticated granite piers set between wide
shop windows and a bold rusticated entrance composed of a round arch carried by broad,
squat piers. Iron beams, just visible above the store windows, supported the weight of the
upper stories. Above the sixth story, there was an attic-like story that was overlaid by
slightly projecting pediments that appeared to cap the corner bays. Between the corner
bays, the walls and windows were simply treated. The fenestration included flat,
segmental and round arched windows. Overall, the building’s style was a simplified
commercial rendition of Romanesque Revival – although the pediments reveal a
lingering aspect of the Queen Anne style – due to Preusse’s use of round arch windows
and a rusticated granite base.
Ziegler Block
Stylistically, the Ziegler Block (1889-1950) could be classified as a Renaissance
Revival commercial architecture (Figure 24). The characteristics that are indicative of
16
Spokane Daily Chronicle, August 4, 1890, 8. N.W. Durham, History of the City of Spokane and Spokane
Country, Washington: from its earliest settlement to the present time vol. 1 and 2, (Spokane: S. J. Clarke
publishing Company, 1912), 67-8. Construction costs for the Blalock Block totaled two hundred nine
thousand dollars. The Block was also known as the Halliday Hotel even though the plaque centered on the
attic story, directly above the entrance, clearly read Blalock.
57
this style are a rusticated and arcaded main level, belt courses, and smaller attic story
windows.17 The 90-by-60-foot block’s five-story brick façade was divided into four
horizontal zones by wide sill courses.18 Theses courses wrapped around both street
façades on the first, second, and fifth floors. The brick of the Ziegler Block was layered
to mimic the stone block of Italian Renaissance Palazzi. The Riverside Avenue elevation
included a broad, slightly projecting central bay that rose from street level through the
upper stories terminating in a classically-inspired pediment buttressed by miniature piers.
Another, steeper pediment and piers capped the building’s canted corner. Both
pediments intersected the structure’s parapet wall under which was an ItalianRenaissance-inspired cornice. The entrance to the upper floors, part of a two-story
Roman-inspired stilted arch, sat at the base of the central projecting bay.
Originally, five arches ran along the street, beginning on Howard and wrapping
around the canted corner so that one appeared on the Riverside façade. Rectangular shop
windows continued from this point, interrupted only by the two-story arch of the
building’s central bay.19 Each field above street level possessed uniform horizontal
bands of windows. The keystones of the second-story segmental arches, (exclusive of the
entrance’s stilted arch), projected slightly from the wall. In the third field is a two-story
17
For further information on the Renaissance Revival style refer to Cyril M. Harris, American
Architecture: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, (New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1998),
186-187.
18
19
Spokane Daily Chronicle, August 4, 1890, 8.
At some point the arches on the main level were replaced with large shop windows. In addition, the
façades were painted creating a polychromatic surface in which the darker details stood out against a lighter
toned background.
58
arcade, in which the arches are supported by slender classically derived pilasters,
grouping the third and fourth stories. Embellishing these fourth-story round arches are
small triangular spandrels. Underneath the sill course that divided the final two stories
were decorative brackets.
In silhouette, the Ziegler Block seems to reflect the influence of William Le
Baron Jenney’s Portland Block in Chicago (1872-1933).20 It too was divided into
horizontal bands and had a canted corner, but the Portland Block’s arches and
polychrome were reminiscent of Romanesque Revival architecture. Although the form of
the Ziegler Block is similar to that of the Portland Block details such as the application of
the brick, arcaded main level, belt courses, and smaller-appearing attic story windows
had more in common with Renaissance Revival architecture.
Jamieson Building
The arcaded Jamieson commercial building, according to the Spokane City
Directories, housed the architectural firm of H. Preusse from at least 1892 until his
retirement from his partnership with Zittel in 1911 (Figure 25).21 A period photograph
held by the Preusse family, reveals that his office was located on the fifth floor as the
window arch can be seen in the background of the photograph (Figure 26). As there was
no directory published in the year 1891, it is likely that his office moved from its location
in the Granite Block to the Jamieson not long after the structure was completed in 1890.
20
William H. Jordy American Buildings and Their Architects: Progressive and Academic Ideals at the
Turn of the Twentieth Century vol. 3. Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1972), 15.
21
Spokane City Directory. Spokane: R. L. Polk & Co., 1891-1911
59
The Romanesque Revival Jamieson Building (demolished in 1980) consisted of a
rusticated granite base, banded middle stories, and a series of staccato windows flanked
by pilasters that punctuated the sixth story.22 The tall, broad arches and weaving
spandrels and piers created a refined and open design.
In 1892, the Spokane Spokesman Annual Illustrated Supplement included an
article on the Jamieson Building. The article divulged that the “basement and first stories
are of huge blocks of cut granite…and the upper stories are of pressed brick with
beautiful terra-cotta ornamentation specially designed by the American Terra Cotta
Company of Chicago.”23 In addition, the structural iron was purchased from the
Dearborn Foundry, also in Chicago.24 The indication that structural iron was used in the
building is confirmation that the Jamieson’s façade reflected its interior iron frame –
indicating that Preusse was using the newest innovations in building technology. 25
The building was subtly divided into three fields by stringcourses capped by
slightly projected cornices. A small turrelle marked the corner between the two street
façades. Rusticated granite piers that provided support for the arches of the second story
separated the street level storefront windows. Entry into the basement business space
was via a semi-circular granite arch visible just above street level and accessed by an
The upper stories were red brick and trimmed with terra cotta embellishments. The Jamieson Building’s
rusticated base and round arches and arcades are indicative of Romanesque Revival commercial
architecture of the period.
22
23
The Spokane Spokesman Annual Illustrated Supplement, 2 nd year, January 1892, 42.
24
The Spokane Spokesman Annual Illustrated Supplement, 2nd year, January 1892 42. When it was built,
the Jamieson had Otis elevators installed, which provided access to the upper stories
25
As the Jamieson Building was constructed during the same period as his other post-fire structures it can
be assumed that his other designs were also constructed in this early commercial style manner.
60
exterior stair descending from the street. The three, middle stories were also banded
behind arches supported by piers, on top of which was an attic story. Behind the threestory arches of the middle field were paired, double hung windows on the third and fourth
floors and triple windows under the fifth story arch.26 A checkerwork pattern
embellished the spandrels between the windows of the building’s middle division and
above the second story arches. Above each arch was a continuous hood molding that
emphasized the curvature of the arches. The square double hung windows of the top
story were separated by short pilasters.
Parallels of this style existed throughout cities in the east, as well as cities located
within the vicinity of the Northwest. In Seattle, for example, post-fire edifices show an
influence of eastern architectural models. The Romanesque Revival style was used in
such buildings as the National Bank Building in Seattle (now known as Smith Tower
Annex) built in 1890-92 by John Parkinson.27
The simplicity in form and embellishment of Preusse’s architecture between 1889
and 1893 is indicative of the period. His rendering of the Frankfurt Block, the Fernwell
Building, and the Jamieson Building reflect Preusse’s interest in and understanding of
building technology, period revival styles, and current architectural trends.28 Due to his
technical and professional training in Germany Preusse easily adapted to changes in
The photo taken in Preusse’s Jamieson Building office reveals that the windows were double hung and
set behind the arch so that each sash could be opened.
26
27
Sally B. Woodbridge and Roger Montgomery, A Guide to Architecture in Washington State, (Seattle:
University of Washington Press, 1980), 115.
28
The first Frankfurt Block also incorporated structural wrought iron beams.
61
building technology and architectural style. Throughout the remaining years of his
practice, Preusse’s designs would continue to reflect his aptitude as an architect.
62
CHAPTER VI
THE FIRM OF HERMAN PREUSSE AND JULIUS A. ZITTEL – 1893-1910/11
In 1893 Herman Preusse admitted Julius Albert Johann Zittel (1869-1939), who
had worked as a draftsman for him since approximately 1887, as partner in the firm
(Figure 27).1 Zittel, at sixteen, had immigrated to America from Durlach, Baden,
Germany.2 From New York, Zittel proceeded immediately to Chicago where he
apprenticed under his uncle, architect Julius Zittel. In 1887, at the age of eighteen, Zittel
relocated to Spokane Falls and soon thereafter, found employment in Preusse’s
architectural firm.
According to period newspaper reports, during the first year or so of the
partnership, Zittel took on a supervisory role. Zittel relocated to Pullman, Washington, to
work out of the local office and to supervise the firm’s current building projects in the
1
N.W. Durham, History of the City of Spokane and Spokane Country, Washington: from its earliest
settlement to the present time vol. 1 and 2, (Spokane: S. J. Clarke publishing Company, 1912), 90-93.
Although the biography in Durham mentions that Zittel began as a draftsman for Preusse in 1887, the 1889
Spokane Falls City Directory is the first to mention him working for Preusse.
2
Julie Alice Johnson, Julius A. Zittel, Biography, Typewritten Manuscript (photocopy), 2. Personal
information regarding Julius Zittel’s life is drawn from Ms. Johnson’s genealogical research.
63
city.3 Preusse had already designed several structures for the new Agricultural College
and School of Science as well as the new Pullman Opera House – plans with which Zittel
was certainly familiar as he had likely worked on the schematic drawings as an employee
of the firm. Although Zittel was certainly in charge of the day-to-day superintending
work, the local paper, Pullman Herald, noted several visits by Preusse in conjunction
with the progression of specific projects.4 Preusse and Zittel closed the Pullman office
late in 1894 but continued to receive design commissions in Pullman and several other
cities in Eastern Washington throughout their partnership.5
Preusse and Zittel’s seventeen-year partnership was likely one of mutual respect.
Their German heritage, similar personal and professional interests, and work ethic made
the partnership both advantageous and prosperous. Their almost two decade long
partnership resulted in numerous commercial and noncommercial architecture located
throughout eastern Washington. The photograph taken of Preusse and Zittel around 1910
(Figure 28) seems to reflect their relationship. Preusse most certainly depended on Zittel
to travel when he was in poor health and to take over the firm entirely when he retired.
Several decisive factors distinguish the year that Preusse and Zittel formed their
partnership. In 1893, the entire nation suffered another financial panic reminiscent of the
3
Herman Preusse opened an office in Pullman in April of 1892 according an article in the Pullman Herald
(29 April 1892, 4). Further, Zittel and his wife, Alice, are known to have been in Pullman when their only
child, Eunice Ida Marion, was born on December 13, 1893. Julie Alice Johnson, Julius A. Zittel,
Biography, Typewritten Manuscript (photocopy), 3. The Pullman Herald reported that the family had
moved from Pullman in the 30 November 1894 edition.
4
5
Pullman Herald, 6 January 1893, 1; Pullman Herald, 16 June 1893, 1; Pullman Herald, 30 June 1893, 1.
Zittel assumed a concurrent role as State Architect when he was appointed in 1897, a position he would
hold for several decades. Preusse and Zittel maintained their advantageous and prolific partnership until
Preusse’s retirement in 1911.
64
one just twenty years prior. After several years, the depression had begun to abate
(around 1895/96). In Spokane, new construction virtually ceased until 1895. Though
still lacking exuberance, at least for a few more years, there were several municipal
projects within the city including the Spokane County Courthouse by Willis A. Ritchie
and various city improvements such as new street paving in the business section of the
city.6
Another momentous and influential event of 1893 was the World’s Columbian
Exposition in Chicago with architect Daniel Burnham orchestrating its development. The
white-painted, classically-inspired city created for the exposition inspired architects
throughout the nation, even though few imitations could be realized until the depression
ended. The result of the 1893 Exposition, as explained by James Marston Fitch, was that
“the Fair left Americans dazzled by a totally new concept of order.”7 In Chicago’s
“White City,” symmetry and order pervaded urbanism. This revolutionary system of
urbanity affected cities around the nation including Spokane as noted in Chapter II. The
architecture, as part of the Exposition’s cityscape, also inspired the nation to return to
classicism. After this point, white classicism became the vogue.
Preusse and Zittel were cognizant of the World’s Columbian Exposition for
Preusse had submitted drawings to the Washington State World’s Exposition
Commission in 1891 in hopes that his pavilion design would be chosen to represent the
6
Sally B. Woodbridge, and Roger Montgomery, A Guide to Architecture in Washington State, (Seattle:
University of Washington Press, 1980), 404-5. H.N. Stockton, and Clarence E. Weaver, ed., Spokane of
1900, (Spokane: Northwest Illustrating Co., 1900), 4.
7
American Building: The Historical Forces That Shaped It, rev. 2d ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.;
Cambridge: the Riverside Press, 1966), 210.
65
state at the Exposition.8 Further, Spokane newspapers devoted columns, throughout the
duration of the Exposition, relating to specific events, buildings, and products at the
Exposition. The influence exerted by the Exposition certainly provided some impetus for
the firm to devote additional attention to creating classically-inspired designs than it had
in the past.
Victor Block
Commissioned by Victor Dessert, a well-known entrepreneur who had lived in
Spokane since 1881, the Victor Block was built in 1898 and demolished in 1972 to make
way for construction of a parking garage (Figure 29).9 The structure’s two upper stories
were used as a hotel and later as apartments while the street level was devoted to
commercial activities. This classically-inspired brick structure was coated with a cement
plaster. The building’s long and narrow rectangular form stretched an entire block and
the details, marked in the cement, bore the impress of the classicism seen at the World’s
Columbian Exposition in 1893. In this instance, classic detailing works in conjunction
with the cast-iron columns and large shop windows indicative of commercial architecture
of the period. The building’s embellishments included two-story, fluted pilasters topped
by merlons that divided the street façades into vertical bays. Each merlon interrupted the
parapet wall above the building’s cornice. Although the merlons are indicative of
As discussed in Chapter III, the competition was held in 1891, while Zittel was a draftsman in Preusse’s
office.
8
Robert B. Hyslop, Spokane’s Building Blocks, (Spokane: Standard Blue Print Co., Inc., 1983), 310.
Information regarding the structure’s various commercial activities and destruction date is also drawn from
this source.
9
66
Romanesque Revival architecture, the building’s form, plaster layer over the bricks, and
classical detailing is more reflective of the classicism of the period. This influence
becomes more pronounced in designs created by Preusse and Zittel after the turn of the
century.
Victoria Hotel
The Victoria Hotel was built in 1903 and razed in 1979 to make way for a parking
garage (Figure 30).10 Contained within the upper stories were sixty-seven rooms and five
apartments. Faced with buff colored brick, this 57 by 70 foot hotel was capped by a
mansard roof punctuated with elaborately decorated dormers each flanked by
colonettes.11 These window surrounds are characteristic of decorative elements seen in
German Renaissance architecture, although a more direct influence on Preusse and
Zittel’s design may have derived from examples produced in the northeastern region of
the United States. The design of the Victoria Hotel was comparable, stylistically, to in
other hotels in places like New York and Chicago. During the years before and after the
turn of the twentieth century, particular attention was paid to hotel design and especially
10
Information regarding the Victoria Hotel is drawn from the following sources: Robert B. Hyslop,
Spokane’s Building Blocks, 310, Carolyn Hage Nunemaker, Downtown Spokane Images, 1930-1949,
(Spokane: National Color Graphics, 1997), 77-78, and Larry Mann, Changes that have taken Place in
Spokane’s Central Business District Since the Fire of 1889, (Eastern Washington State University Class
Project, 1978).
11
The Mansard roof with windows having elaborate surrounds was a defining character of many hotels
during the early twentieth century. Marion Dean Ross, A century of Architecture in Oregon; 1859-1959,
June 1959, 9.
67
to the design of the upper stories and the roof style.12
The Victoria Hotel’s street level consisted of shop windows and a wide portico,
capped by a decorative balustrade that projected from the second story wrapped around
both street façades.13 Stepped voussoirs above the second floor windows fanned out from
the exaggerated keystone. Subtle belt courses separate the central section from the base
and top portions of the building. This mid-section, of three stories, was connected by a
series of arches. The sixth story mimicked the second in that the brick was laid out in
sections in order to create horizontal bands of coursing, suggesting Renaissance Revival
architecture.14
Carnegie Library
In 1903, philanthropist Andrew Carnegie provided eighty-five percent of the
$100,000 necessary to construct the city’s first library building. Designs were submitted
by several members of the Spokane Society of Architects. The winning entry, chosen by
Professor William Ware of Columbia University, was a neo-classical design by the firm
of Preusse and Zittel (Figure 31).15 Construction on the Carnegie Library began in the
12
Though on a larger scale, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (1897), St. Regis Hotel (1904), and Plaza Hotel
(1907) are, for example, similarly treated. Robert A.M. Stern, Gregory Gilmartin, and John Massengale,
New York 1900: Metropolitan Architecture and Urbanism 1890-1915, (New York: Rizzoli International
Publications, Inc., 1983; reprint, 1987), 252, 255, and 260. The application of German-Renaissanceinspired details on the dormers is consisted with hotel design during the time. Their choice of dormer
embellishments was likely a style with which they were both familiar.
13
According to Robert B. Hyslop, the railing was wrought iron and the columns of cast iron. Hyslop, 310.
14
The Renaissance Revival style, as it was applied to commercial and public structures, often included the
same features noted in the text above.
Information regarding Spokane’s Carnegie Library is drawn primarily from the Spokane Register of
Historic Places Nomination Form prepared by Gerald A. Winkler, AIA, Principal, Integrus Architecture,
Spokane, Washington.
15
68
fall of 1904 and was completed in 1905. Originally, the structure was rectangular in plan
– approximately 90 by 118 feet (an addition was added to the back of the building in
1929). The exterior walls were faced with buff colored brick set above a stone-faced
foundation and the roof was made of concrete.16 Projecting from the main façade is a
tetrastyle portico with colossal terra cotta Corinthian columns. Two terra cotta pilasters
are set against the wall directly behind the two flanking columns of the portico.
Rusticated pilasters, resting on the stone foundation rise up to the structure’s projecting
cornice with moldings. Above the cornice is a parapet wall with merlons except for the
section directly behind the portico’s pediment, which is stepped. Windows of the first
story use nearly flat segmental arches embellished with faux stepped voussoirs of brick.
Some of the merlons double as flues for the seven brick fireplaces inside the Library.17
The Neo-Classical style is characteristically notable for its more accurate
interpretation of classical architecture with reference to colossal porticos and columns
and the application of minimal ornamentation.18 The Carnegie Library design references
classical architecture as opposed to following it. The colossal Corinthian columns and
pediment, although they are not accurate copies of Greek architectural elements, are
representative of this style.
Michael Guilfoil, “New Life for an Old Friend: Firm brings Carnegie back to original glory,” The
Spokesman-Review, 20 May 1993, sec. D, 3.
16
17
Spokane Register of Historic Places Nomination Form prepared by Gerald A. Winkler, AIA, Principal,
Integrus Architecture, Spokane, Washington. The interior of the structure also reflects the neo-classical
mode.
18
Cyril M. Harris, American Architecture: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, (New York and London: W.W.
Norton & Company, 1998), 224-225. For information regarding the evolution and usage of Neoclassicism
refer to Leland M. Roth’s, Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning, (Boulder:
Westwiew Press, 1993), 422-426.
69
Columbia Building
In period photographs, the Columbia Theater, which was built next to the
Columbia Building, was also featured since the two were built at approximately the same
time (Figures 32 and 33). The Columbia Building was built in 1906-07 and the Theater
in 1906. Both structures were steel-framed and faced with light colored brick and terra
cotta.19 Stylistically these two buildings displayed elements reminiscent of the Italian
Renaissance although the Columbia Building’s design contained less ornamentation and
had simpler façades. Preusse and Zittel created a visual connection between the two
buildings by using the same style cornice and brackets on both structures – although not
at the same height. Where the theater had fanciful arches, tympanum and bulls-eye
windows, the commercial version employed linteled, coupled windows, excepting the
sixth story paired windows above which are splayed lintels, and blank windows between
the window sets of the top story. Although the Theater was razed in 1933 in order to
construct a paved parking lot, the Columbia Building, fortunately, remains extant.
The Columbia Building’s L-shape plan allows natural light to penetrate the
offices in the rear of the structure. Stylistically, the building bears the impress of an
Italian Palazzi, including elements such as the boldly projecting cornice, with dentils,
supported by paired, decorative brackets. Although it was based on Italian Renaissance
urban palazzo models, the paired cornice brackets in fact seem to owe more to the
Raymer’s Dictionary of Spokane: A Complete Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Spokane and the Inland
Empire. Spokane: Chas. D. Raymer and Co., 1906.
19
70
American Italianate style, which used brackets in this more decorative way.20 Three
horizontal divisions separate the structure. The first division includes the street and
mezzanine levels and the second bands together several office stories. The last division
contains the top story. A large projecting cornice caps the six-story structure. The
courses and the brick, laid to create continuous joints along the façades, subtly emphasize
these divisions. Further, as seen often in Renaissance Revival structures, the windows,
paired and triple sets, are separated by wide rusticated pier-like wall sections. Restrained,
classically derived details embellish both street façades. Terra cotta cartouches embellish
the capitals of the colossal pilasters tying the street and mezzanine level together. There
were egg and dart moldings under the sill coursing between second and third and fifth
and sixth floors.
Images of the Columbia Building and Columbia Theatre appeared in the 1908
edition of Western Architect.21 The issue was devoted to Spokane’s history and
architecture. Further, sketches of both buildings appeared in Raymer’s Dictionary of
Spokane, which provided newcomers with a guide presenting the various attributes in and
around the city of Spokane. As seen in these depictions, the buildings reveal the
influence of current stylistic trends in eastern cities where such firms as McKim, Mead &
20
These paired brackets begin to appear in commercial architecture around 1850. For information on the
Italianate style refer to Cyril M. Harris, American Architecture: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 184-185.
21
Western Architect 12, no.3 (September 1908), VI.
71
White and Ernest Flagg were producing Renaissance Revival structures as early as the
1890s.22
YMCA Building
The Renaissance Revival style YMCA Building was built in 1907 and demolished
in 1964 (Figure 34). Its smooth wall plane had few interruptions apart from the
fenestration (with recessed keystone insinuating the existence of a flat arch above the
windows), decorative hoods above the entrances, and a few sill courses. Light gray
sandstone trim was accentuated against the light colored brick used to face the structure.23
Like the Columbia Building, the YMCA Building’s façade’s were separated into
horizontal division by sill courses. The sill courses create this division and set off a
classically-inspired cornice with dentils under which was supported the cornice and
reflect a mannerist flair often apparent in Renaissance a narrow decorative frieze. A
parapet capped the cornice. Oversized, heavily stylized brackets Revival architecture
between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.24 The pediments, above the two main
façade porticoes, manifested similar characteristics. A broken segmental pediment
projected above the main façade entry, while a smaller, triangular pediment capped the
west entrance. Small cartouches, such as those seen on the Columbia Building,
Marion Dean Ross, “Architecture in Oregon, 1845-1895,” Oregon Historical Quarterly 57, no. 1, (March
1956): 63. For examples from these two firms, refer to Stern, Gilmartin, and Massengale, New York 1900
pages 290 and 278 – although examples from these and various other architects appear throughout the text.
22
23
Nunemaker, Downtown Spokane Images, 82 and Hyslop, 337-338. Like the Columbia Building and
Columbia Theater, the YMCA building was probably steel framed.
The brackets are in the shape of the letter P. The letter’s stem is almost flush with the building’s surface
and a floral wreath was suspended from the loop.
24
72
accentuate the corners of the building, placed just beneath the upper most sill course. As
was typical in Renaissance Revival structures, the windows were widely spaced and seem
to be punched out of the wall planes.25
State Armory
The State Armory, built in 1907-08 was constructed using Lombard Romanesque
forms, perhaps to suggest density and mass (Figure 35).26 This style is typical in
armories and other military structures throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries across the nation.27 Using the Medieval fortress motif implied impenetrability
and, therefore was well suited for an armory building. This building housed the National
Guard headquarters in which military equipment was stored. In addition, during World
Wars I and II, it was used as the regions draft registration headquarters.28
The brick-faced building was originally asymmetrically composed, consisting of a
main auditorium-like structure with a wing attached to the right. The main structure is
25
The distinguishing characteristics of the Renaissance Revival style remain fairly constant throughout the
mid-19th to early twentieth centuries, however, there are variants including the size and use of brackets as
noted in the Columbia Building and the YMCA Building.
Preusse and Zittel’s State Armory design translated the mass and density of the Lombard Romanesque
style and applied it to a modern fortress with walls of brick instead of stone. For information on the origins
of this style refer to Sandro Chierici, Lomdardie romane, (La Pierre-qui-vire: Zodiaque, 1978).
26
27
Robert A.M. Stern, Thomas Mellins, and David Fishman, (New York 1880: Architecture and Urbanism
in the Gilded Age, (New York: The Monacelli Press, Inc., 1999), 238-250. Within this work are several
photographic examples of armories fashioned after medieval fortresses though the impression of
impenetrability is usually only implied. In addition, Fort Lewis, located near Tacoma, Washington boasts a
similar structure built during the early 1900s as well. Note that the function of the building was the
impetus in the resulting style.
The State Armory’s auditorium could hold up to four thousand people. The Spokesman-Review, May 27,
1907, 3.
28
73
simply treated with plain walls and fenestration. The first and second stories had splayed
brick lintels while round arched windows accented those of the third story. These same
window treatments were continued in the side pavilion, although the pavilion was further
embellished by battlements (supported by corbelled brick) and projecting miniature
towers. Steel girders span the width of the structure’s central auditorium and the roof is of
corrugated iron.
Since its construction in 1907-08, the building has undergone several additions
and renovations. The first addition and remodel was done by Zittel after Preusse had
retired from the firm (Figure 36). Zittel added a three-story wing to the left (west) side of
the building, while adding a third floor to the east wing so that the building is now
symmetrical. Further, in the central section the spaced narrow windows were removed
and replaced by one large segmental arch and one broad window.
During the seventeen-year partnership of Preusse and Zittel, the designs produced
tended to reflect classically-inspired architecture. The buildings referenced here, except
for the State Armory, are derivations of classical architecture. The Victor Block’s design,
with its concrete plaster surface, was certainly inspired by the 1893 World’s Columbian
Exposition. By the early 20th century the Preusse and Zittel’s commercial and public
designs had evolved to include more Renaissance Revival style architecture as seen in the
Victoria Hotel, Columbia Building (and Columbia Theater), and YMCA Building. The
style and construction of Preusse and Zittel’s buildings during this period were also in
accordance with current architectural trends and building techniques. Although Preusse’s
retirement from the firm essentially marked the end of his architectural influence on
74
Spokane’s urban landscape vestiges of his imprint are fortunately still visible. These
remaining structures reveal a small portion of Preusse’s and his firm’s impact on Spokane
and eastern Washington.
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CHAPTER VII
CONCLUSION
Spokane had but one architect in 1882, Herman Preusse, who over the next three
decades would serve the city’s increasing demand for commercial and noncommercial
architecture. Although architects would filter in to the city after this time, this did little to
diminish the demand on Preusse as he continued to maintain a large clientele. Evidence
of his great demand lay in the fact that he received the most commissions after the fire of
1889 and that his professional success continued until his retirement in 1910. During the
reconstruction after the 1889 conflagration he is known to be responsible for designing
the majority of the commercial structures that would be constructed.1
Throughout Preusse’s career his designs varied widely. His designs reveal his
interest in the Second Empire Baroque, Romanesque Revival, Renaissance Revival, and
Neoclassical styles. The architectural examples considered in this study are evidence of
this. Preusse’s early designs like the Gothic Revival Glover Block and the Second
1
Historic Preservation Committee, Spokane Skyline: A century of Architecture 1889-1989, (Spokane:
Eastern Washington State Historical Society, 1992), 42. The Spokane Daily Chronicle (August 4, 1890, 8)
mentions that he was commissioned to design 22 business blocks.
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Empire Baroque/Castellated style of Gothic Revival Concordia Hall reflect the historic
romanticism of the era. This creative eclecticism in architecture involved the
reinterpretation of historic styles and their application. As “there were limits to the literal
reuse of established architectural forms,” historical elements were being applied to the
modern buildings of the period in “highly personal, creative, and often idiosyncratic
ways.”2 This same eclecticism is visible in all of Preusse’s building designs included in
this study. Since the latter part of the 1880s through his retirement from the firm of
Preusse and Zittel, there is a concentration of Romanesque Revival and Renaissance
Revival styles. In general, there is a minimizing of the architectural detailing of these
designs during this period. The first Frankfurt Block was embellished with details such
as stained glass, turrelles, and foliated terra cotta tympanums while the Fernwell Building
and Blalock Block’s embellishments were embedded within the building’s structural and
sheathing material. For example, the Fernwell Building contained bricks set in a
checkerwork pattern and the Blalock Block had decorative spandrels within the corner
bays. These elements indicate Preusse’s continued evolution as an architect and suggest
that he consciously refused to limit his designs by focusing on one particular style, as is
evidence in this study.
As an architect, Preusse’s oeuvre tends to follow the patterns of mainstream
American architecture. Because of his technical training in both engineering and
architecture, Preusse was prepared to adapt current building technology and architectural
2
Leland M. Roth, Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning, (Boulder: Westwiew
Press, 1993), 431.
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trends to any of his buildings. During his career in Spokane, architects throughout the
nation were focused on architecture being developed in major metropolitan centers like
Chicago and New York for inspiration. For a relatively young northwestern city like
Spokane, it was important that the city emulate the urban environment of eastern cities if
only in stylistic references as opposed to population, economy, and building height.
Preusse certainly understood this concept, as his buildings are reminiscent of architecture
being constructed in the east around the same period.
Although it is difficult to determine, Preusse’s interest in classically-inspired
architecture may be due to the influence of Julius A. Zittel, especially in the latter years
of their partnership.3 The extent of Zittel’s involvement in the latter part of the
partnership is indeterminable but he certainly would have become more directly involved
in designing after he returned from overseeing building construction in Pullman,
Washington in 1894. There is evidence from early in the partnership that Zittel played a
roll in implementing designs but beyond this, there is no evidence to distinguish the roll
of each partner. However, the first design Zittel prepared after the dissolution of the
partnership was Spokane’s City Hall. This is a clear example of classically-inspired
architecture. The building was constructed in 1913 of brick and cast stone trim.4
Although this may be an indication of Zittel’s partiality toward this style, no definite
determination can be made, as a complete study of his oeuvre does not exist at this time.
3
Preusse was 63 when he retired from the firm in 1910. His age and the evidence of poor health may have
changed Zittel’s roll in the partnership. Additionally, Preusse was cognizant of the fact that Zittel would
continue his occupation, as Zittel was only 41when Preusse retired.
Robert B. Hyslop, Spokane’s Building Blocks, (Spokane: Standard Blue Print Co., Inc., 1983), 51. Hyslop
does mention that this building was commissioned in 1909 – prior to Preusse’s retirement.
4
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Spokane’s urban fabric was certainly indebted to Preusse and the firm of Preusse
and Zittel. The designs produced reflected the changing needs of Spokane’s urban
landscape. As the city developed, Preusse designed architecture that reflected the
changes occurring within the area. The city’s population increased rapidly in the late
19th and early 20th centuries and his work throughout his career aided in the perpetuation
of the city’s image as progressive and prosperous. His designs dominated the urban
landscape of Spokane’s commercial core and reflected the changes of the city itself from
its rudimentary beginning as a struggling pioneering town to the hub of eight
transcontinental rail lines and to the home for millionaires.
Although this study has focused on commercial and a select group of public
structures, Preusse’s impact on the built environment can be viewed throughout Spokane
and eastern Washington. Preusse played an integral part in the development of Spokane
and eastern Washington. Along with designing houses for Spokane’s wealthy citizens
and the Jesuit’s Pioneer Educational Society, he developed the first designs for buildings
at Washington State University and Gonzaga University.5 The Churches, residences,
college buildings, commercial and public structures throughout eastern Washington
designed by Preusse, whether extant or not, are reminders of his importance in shaping
the regions architectural fabric.6
Although there are no extant examples of Preusse’s work at Washington State University, there are
several at Gonzaga University. These are the Administration Building and its additions and St Aloysius
Roman Catholic Church.
5
6
Fortunately, all five churches mentioned in the Appendix are extant. There are also numerous residential
structures remaining in Spokane and Eastern Washington. The exact number of these is indeterminable at
this time.
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The information presented within this study of Herman Preusse, including that
relating to his partnership with Julius A. Zittel, reveals a concentrated group of his
commercial and public designs covering only the twenty-nine years that he actively
practiced in Spokane. The passage of time and lack of business papers, blueprints and
pertinent material has made it a challenge to adequately delineate the actual number of
buildings, especially those before the fire of August 4, 1889, that Preusse designed.
As mentioned previously, the list of Preusse’s structures and projects are listed in
the Appendix. Even though there are still examples of his work scattered in Spokane and
eastern Washington the list of projects contains numerous commercial and public
buildings that no longer exist. This is unfortunate since many of these were exemplary in
terms of his legacy and Spokane’s history. Of the seventeen buildings discussed in this
study, only four are extant. These are the Fernwell Building, Carnegie Library, Columbia
Building, and State Armory. With respect to the commercial and public structures listed
in the Appendix, only seven remain in tact. Unfortunately, most have been either
demolished or destroyed by fire. Spokane was a small frontier-type town when Preusse
arrived in 1882. By the time he retired, the city had grown to become the capital of the
Inland Northwest and his architecture perpetuated this image. Although the list of
projects is likely not complete, it provides insight into the long and prolific career of
Spokane’s first architect and the impact of his designs on the eastern Washington
landscape.7
7
It is the hope of this author that research on Herman Preusse and his architecture will continue since his
contribution to eastern Washington’s and Spokane’s architectural fabric is an important aspect of the
region’s history.