Landmark Home On Argonne Will Move To Lot On Bowdish Pring House Filled With Memories Of Rural Valley Life

Sat., Nov. 9, 1996

By Jennifer Plunkett jenniferp@spokesman.com

As he drives by his boyhood home every day, Jack Pring keeps a melancholy eye on all the excavation work going on around the old house on Argonne Road.

Workers from Catlow Professional Movers are in the process of jacking the two-story, four-bedroom brick house at 620 N. Argonne off its foundation so the new owners of the Valley landmark can move the house to a vacant lot at 20th and Bowdish.

Passing by the house in which he grew up, Pring says, “a guy gets all kinds of thoughts” and can’t help but reminisce.

Pring, owner of the Valley’s Appleway auto dealerships, remembers vividly two Shire horses that helped a contractor dig a hole for the basement of the house his parents built in 1937. The horses, working alongside the cigar-smoking contractor, muscled their way through dark, thick dirt while Pring, then 6, watched in awe.

“I can’t recall how long it took to dig that basement but those horses were real lathered up doing that work,” Pring said. “It was quite an enjoyable thing to see.”

The Pring family enjoyed decades of holiday gatherings, good food and plain, old fun in that house.

“It was a great neighborhood to grow up in,” Pring said. He and his pals used the Pring house as their meeting place and would race their horses up and down Broadway Avenue before it was paved.

His mother, Pauline, always cooked more than enough food to feed Pring’s friends. “Any guy down on his luck could stop by and my mom would give him a meal.”

Kids, grandkids, aunts, uncles and anyone who thought they were family came to the clinker brick house for holidays. One tradition most Prings took part in was roasting marshmallows in the open firepit that John Pring, Jack’s father and the longtime owner of Appleway Chevrolet, built by hand in the back yard.

“He just kind of put it together,” Pring said. The entire house came from his father’s imaginings and was a constant source of family pride, he said.

The house has two new and very proud owners, Gil Miltenberger of Tomlinson Black Realtors, and Arnie Bye, a local contractor. They purchased the house from WAM Enterprises, the commercial real estate development company that bought the house and surrounding land from the Pring family.

The two Valley businessmen plan to sell the house after moving and renovating it.

Miltenberger said he and Bye plan to preserve many features of the house, including the rare gumwood moldings and staircase, the crystal chandeliers on either side of the tiled fireplace and the gold-leaf textured wallpaper in the living and dining rooms.

“You can tell they put a lot of effort into it and what they’ve chosen as decor, a lot of that stuff is back in style now,” Miltenberger said.

The house’s two bathrooms, complete with bright pink butterfly-speckled wallpaper, will be renovated. Miltenberger said some carpets will be replaced, while others will be pulled up to expose hardwood floors that are “in perfect shape.”

The big move to 11704 E. 20th will take place sometime between Nov. 15 and Nov. 20.

Not being able to see his childhood home as often doesn’t seem to bother Pring too much.

“Moving a house like that is progress for the future,” he said. “Sure I’ll miss the old house, but I’ve still got the great memories.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: OFFICE BUILDING PLANNED FOR HOME SITE A developer plans to build a modern, glass-faced office building on the former site of the Pring family home. Bruce Miller, president of WAM Enterprises, said the $3 million project should get under way sometime next spring. The project should be completed by December of 1997. WAM bought the 1.6-acre parcel about two months ago, Miller said. While he doesn’t have any tenants in mind yet, Miller said the 28,000-square foot office building will look similar to the Argonne West One and Argonne West Two buildings WAM constructed with lots of reflective glass - a sharp contrast to the 1930s-era brick home it will replace. “We considered retrofitting the house and making it into offices,” Miller said. “But, economically it just wouldn’t work out.” Even though he knows people like the old-style buildings, Miller said he doesn’t know many developers who are willing to spend the money necessary to adapt an old house into an office building. “The best way to preserve the house was to have it removed,” Miller said. Jennifer Plunkett

This sidebar appeared with the story: OFFICE BUILDING PLANNED FOR HOME SITE A developer plans to build a modern, glass-faced office building on the former site of the Pring family home. Bruce Miller, president of WAM Enterprises, said the $3 million project should get under way sometime next spring. The project should be completed by December of 1997. WAM bought the 1.6-acre parcel about two months ago, Miller said. While he doesn’t have any tenants in mind yet, Miller said the 28,000-square foot office building will look similar to the Argonne West One and Argonne West Two buildings WAM constructed with lots of reflective glass - a sharp contrast to the 1930s-era brick home it will replace. “We considered retrofitting the house and making it into offices,” Miller said. “But, economically it just wouldn’t work out.” Even though he knows people like the old-style buildings, Miller said he doesn’t know many developers who are willing to spend the money necessary to adapt an old house into an office building. “The best way to preserve the house was to have it removed,” Miller said. Jennifer Plunkett

Local journalism is essential.

Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below. Gifts processed in this system are tax deductible.

Meet Our Journalists

Jesse Tinsley

Meet Jesse Tinsley. As a certified drone pilot, this veteran Spokesman-Review photographer often can be seen capturing beautiful aerial photographs of our region. Sometimes though, the job requires getting down with the dogs.
Jim Meehan

Jim Meehan is no stranger to Zag Nation. As the lead writer covering the Gonzaga men’s basketball team, he tells the stories behind the game and gets fans a bit closer to their favorite players.
Molly Quinn

There is no artist in Spokane like Molly Quinn. Her whimsical style is instantly recognizable to readers of The Spokesman-Review. She has painted gorgeous illustrations that instantly elevate the journalism accompanying it. She brings to life the stories that defy photography. She makes our pages better.
Rob Curley

Spokesman-Review editor Rob Curley loves to talk with people and learn about their lives, whether it's a best-selling author or a stranger he meets downtown on his walk to lunch. It's that inquisitive nature combined with a playful sense of storytelling that helps make our newspaper different than most.