Renowned Spokane architect Bruce Walker dies at 81

When the judges looked for the top home design among 2,700 entries, first place went to a young architect from Spokane. The year was 1951, and all the big firms quickly tried to court Bruce Walker.

“He could have gone anywhere. He could have gone to work for firms in New York and San Francisco,” said his wife, Jayne Walker. “But he came home.”

And now, after Walker’s death Wednesday at age 81, the renowned local architect leaves behind a legacy marked by the buildings he designed, the firm he co-founded and the architects he mentored.

He was the principal architect overseeing the designs of landmark buildings like the Spokane Opera House, Convention Center and Farm Credit Bank Building, a downtown office tower most recently known as the Metropolitan Mortgage building. He and a partner founded Walker McGough, which eventually was renamed Integrus Architecture. And many architects working today remember Walker as their mentor.

“I was always in awe of him,” said Spokane architect Glenn Davis. “I don’t think you could understate what Bruce was all about and the talent he had and the creative thought he was capable of producing.”

Bruce Walker was born and raised in Spokane and attended North Central High School. He went on to earn a degree in architecture from the University of Washington, where his studies were divided by service in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After completing his degree, he went on to earn his master’s degree from Harvard University, where he won the top prize in the home design contest. He then spent a year in Europe on an architectural fellowship, working for a firm in Milan, Italy.

Upon his return to Spokane, he and McGough established their firm and went on to design buildings in Spokane and Seattle, including the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute (SIRTI), the Temple Beth Shalom, the Convent of the Holy Names and several buildings at the University of Washington.

His seven-page resume is filled with dozens of award notations for many of the buildings he and his firm designed. Jerry Winkler, principal architect at Integrus, said Walker’s work was modern and contemporary. Winkler remembers Walker traveling to see other architectural works, then bringing the ideas back and sharing them with the young people in the office.

“He always stressed that there needs to be a timeless nature to these buildings so they don’t appear to be trendy,” Winkler said. “He loved it. He’s left his mark on more than just buildings.”

Walker was 55 years old when he was made a fellow in the American Institute of Architects, said Evelyn Creager, executive director of the Spokane chapter. The distinction is granted only to the nation’s top architects, she said. Of the 200 members in the Spokane chapter, only eight living architects are fellows, she said.

Walker also loved to golf and belonged to the Manito Country Club and the Hayden Country Club, Jayne Walker said. They married in 1970 with seven children between them from prior marriages. They traveled to Maui to golf and Sun Valley to ski, she said. “He had a wonderful life,” Jayne Walker said. “He really did.”

In addition to his wife, Walker is survived by four children, Kim Powers, Annie Lehinger, Mark Walker and Todd Walker; three stepchildren, Deborah Robison, Kerry Hennessey, and Susie Commes; and nine grandchildren.

Services will be held on Monday.