Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

History lessons

Local knowledge helps with register work

Linda Yeomans has been a historic preservation consultant since 1996. In that time she has helped place more than 300 homes on the local register. (Dan Pelle)
Michael Guilfoil Correspondent

Linda Yeomans vividly remembers the moment almost two decades ago when she stumbled upon a preservationist’s mother lode.

“One of the first properties I wrote a nomination for was the 1910 Knight House” in the West Central neighborhood, Yeomans recalled. “As I began my research, I naively asked the owners, ‘I don’t suppose you have any plans for this house?’ because less than 1 percent of the time do original plans survive.

“And the wife says, ‘Honey, didn’t you find something in the basement?’

“He says, ‘Oh, yeah,’ goes down in the basement and comes back up with a whole roll of original blueprints by Kirtland Cutter himself, plus drawings of light fixtures and all kinds of stuff.

“Now they’re safely stored in the museum’s archives,” said Yeomans.

That museum – the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, or MAC – is hosting its 26th annual Mother’s Day tour of historic homes on the South Hill’s Manito Boulevard next Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Six homes built between 1909 and 1936 are included on the walking tour. Tickets are $20 for the general public and $15 for MAC members.

Since 1996, Yeomans has helped hundreds of homeowners and commercial landlords get their properties listed on local, state and/or national historic registers. Inclusion on the Spokane register creates the potential for property-tax savings. Buildings on the national register may qualify for income-tax credit.

During a recent interview, Yeomans discussed what drew her to historic preservation, what it takes to succeed in her chosen career and why her own home isn’t on the Spokane Register of Historic Places.

S-R: Where did you grow up?

Yeomans: Right here. That’s why I can make this work – I know Spokane.

S-R: What were your interests as a youngster?

Yeomans: Architecture, because my mom was always drawing a plan for something.

S-R: Was she an architect?

Yeomans: No, she was a delineator. Architects hired her to do freehand drawings of what a house or building was going to look like. I’d watch and ask lots of questions. And when my brother and I would play, he’d have the cars and I would design the neighborhood. I was doing Olmsted stuff before I even knew who (landscape architect Frederick Law) Olmsted was.

S-R: Did you study architecture?

Yeomans: I studied fine arts and architectural history at WSU, with a minor in biology so I could go both ways.

S-R: Then what?

Yeomans: Then I became a mom, taking care of the family.

S-R: How did this vocation come about?

Yeomans: Years later, in the ’90s, I got a degree from Eastern in urban planning and design, and that’s when I first heard about historic preservation. I did an internship with Teresa Brum, who at the time was director of the City-County Historic Preservation Office. She said I could write nominations or get in on the policymaking side. I decided to write nominations because I love doing research – finding needles in haystacks.

S-R: What was your first nomination?

Yeomans: The Opportunity Township Hall on East Sprague (Avenue), which is now occupied by the Spokane Valley Heritage Museum. I dug and dug and dug, and finally found the original blueprints in a little closet at the Washington State Regional Archives.

S-R: When did it occur to you that this could be a career?

Yeomans: Not right away. My first paid job was a house on Madelia and Pacific, and I only charged $200.

S-R: Did you have a mentor?

Yeomans: Nancy Campau (the former architectural historian at the downtown Spokane Public Library’s Northwest Room). One thing she told me that I’ll never forget is, “Don’t write it unless you can document it.” Also Teresa Brum, who kept gently pushing me, and (local historian) Sally Reynolds, who is a fabulous writer. She wrote the nomination for the Steam Plant.

S-R: Besides skills you learned in college, what did you bring to this career?

Yeomans: A tiny bit of accounting – I could have used a business degree. I also was fortunate enough to have worked in a real-estate company’s corporate office, so I had experience with title companies, and that’s my starting place. The first thing I do is get the chain of title for the property. I’ve found the names of Indians who sold large tracts of land to developers way back in the late 1800s.

S-R: Did you ever worry that the business wouldn’t succeed?

Yeomans: Never. I’ve been busy from the very start.

S-R: Did the recession have any impact?

Yeomans: The recession was kind of nice. I was working seven days a week with maybe a half-day off, so the recession allowed me to get caught up a bit. Now we’re seeing another surge, because banks are lending money again.

S-R: Are people surprised at how hard it is to get something on historic registers, or how easy it is?

Yeomans: Both. Some formerly significant houses have had so many modifications that they no longer qualify. Others, like Knight House, are wonderfully preserved and documented.

S-R: What do you like most about your job?

Yeomans: Becoming really good friends with clients. Also, when I’m doing a job, I feel like I’m living in the shoes of everybody who ever owned that house.

S-R: What do you like least?

Yeomans: Crunch time. There are a bazillion phone calls and little fires to put out, so I hardly ever get to that deadline in time.

S-R: What public misconceptions do you encounter?

Yeomans: People tell me they don’t want their house on the register because they don’t want to have to open it up to every Tom, Dick or Harry. And I’ll ask, “Where did you hear about that rule?” And they’ll say from a friend in Boston. “Well,” I’ll say, “maybe Boston has that rule, but we don’t have that rule in Spokane.”

S-R: You’ve helped hundreds of people get their homes listed. Are there still plenty of potential register nominees in Spokane?

Yeomans: Yes. Any house that’s at least 50 years old and architecturally significant or associated with a significant individual or event may qualify, so I suspect we’ll see midcentury moderns and ranchers replace (nominations by) people who have already put their house on the register.

S-R: What sort of person is well-suited for this career?

Yeomans: A detail person, for sure. And if you’re self-employed, someone who doesn’t mind working 12 hours a day, six days a week.

S-R: What sort of advice would you offer a novice?

Yeomans: Start where you grew up – where you know the people and the local history. I can’t tell you how much that has helped me. I already know about lots of houses before clients call me.

S-R: How much did it cost you to start your business?

Yeomans: I did it on hope and a dime.

S-R: What would it cost today?

Yeoman s: To launch a true business, I’d probably spend $40,000.

S-R: Do you have competitors?

Yeomans: I do. Jim Kolva is terrific. He does a lot of downtown commercial buildings. And Stephen Emerson of Archaeological and Historical Services in Cheney does mostly national register nominations and research into historic architecture. We each have our own turfs, so to speak.

S-R: Looking back over the past 19 years, is there anything you would have done differently?

Yeomans: If I had had the financial brains, I would have created a little firm that had more employees than myself, and moved all of it to some centrally located commercial building downtown.

S-R: So you work from home?

Yeomans: Yes.

S-R: How old is your residence?

Yeomans: 1939.

S-R: Is it on the local register?

Yeomans: No. (laugh) I’m like the cobbler whose kids have no shoes.

This interview has been edited and condensed. Freelance writer Michael Guilfoil can be reached via email at mguilfoil@comcast.net.