Gustav Pehrson's buildings in Spokane

Gustav Pehrson was also the architect behind the Eldridge Buick building on Cedar Street and Sprague Avenue that now houses the Rocket Bakery, the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church on North Washington Street, the Woman’s Club of Spokane building on West Ninth Avenue, the former Pay’n Takit building on East Sprague now home to Best Asian Market, the sentinel Centennial Flouring Mills on East Trent Avenue, and the downtown Rookery Building that was demolished in 2005 and 2006. There’s the Chronicle Building, a terra-cotta faced Gothic structure ringed with gargoyles. And there’s the Chancery building, which housed the Catholic Diocese of Spokane for 53 years and now preservation advocates warn it could be demolished.

Section:Gallery

Sat., Nov. 23, 2019

The four buildings making up the Rookery block were built following the Spokane Fire of Aug. 4, 1889 and opened in 1890. The buildings, located on the southeast corner of Riverside and Howard, are shown here in the 1920s. The United Cigar Store was located at the corner of the building. The buildings were razed in 1933 and the current Rookery Building was erected in 1934.

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Reminiscent of ancient Egyptian carvings is this facade of the Rookery Building at Howard and Riverside in 1976.

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The Chronicle building lit up at night in 1939.

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The Chronicle Building lobby in 1934.

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Newspaper, Chronicle Building in 1951

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Catholic Church Chancery buildingin 1928.

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1926 - The Eldridge Building, built for the Eldridge Buick Company, sits on the southeast corner of 1st Avenue and Cedar Street on the west end of downtown Spokane. The three story building had an elevator to raise autos to any level of the building, including the roof. The architecture is typical of early automotive manufacturing, sales and service from that era.

Eastern Washington Historical Society The Libby Collection
1933 - The Pay'n Takit store, also spelled Pay 'n' Take It, at 2020 E. Sprague Ave. was part of L.J. Skaggs' chain of grocery stores which he and his wife, Mary Dee, founded in the 1920s. Although absorbed into the Safeway corporate umbrella in the late 1920s, it was poised to be the first store in Spokane to take the Safeway name. A similar art deco store followed this one in Hillyard. After the merger with Safeway, expansion continued with several more stores around Spokane through the 1930s.

Eastern Washington State Historical Archives The Libby Collection
Centennial Flour Mill Co. in 1949.

John Bemis Courtesy
The new installation at Centennial Flouring mills' east Trent plant enables growers to get feed from any of six 10-ton tanks directly into their trucks in 1951. Fred Erickson, center, watches as turkey feed pours into his truck. He, in turn, unloads directly in the feed troughs for the 4,500 turkeys he raises at his Upriver drive farm. The trend toward bulk storage of wheat, which has made sacks uncommon in this area, now has invaded the feed business, especially for large users.

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