Fire destroys building with a past

A fire that may have been intentionally set to hide a car theft destroyed a Spokane building where Tyrone Power Sr. and other silent-era stars once made movies.

Constructed in the 1920s, the building at Minnehaha Park was the former site of a dance pavilion and a movie studio, Spokane city officials said.

More recently, it’s been used to store parks department equipment – including the shell used for outdoor symphony concerts – all of which was destroyed.

A thief crashed a stolen Honda Civic into the building at North Havana Street and East Euclid Avenue early Tuesday, police and fire investigators determined. The Honda had just sped down Beacon Hill and spun out of control.

The car crashed backward through the north wall, and its rear wheels dropped over the rock foundation wall, which made it impossible to drive the car away, said Spokane Fire Assistant Chief Brian Schaeffer.

There’s no doubt the car was the origin of the blaze, said fire investigator Capt. Mike Zambryski. “The question is: Was the car intentionally set on fire or did it catch fire as a result of the crash?” he said. “In many cases (stolen) cars are set on fire to hide fingerprint evidence.”

Spokane firefighters were called about 5 a.m., Schaeffer said. It took more than 30 firefighters about a half-hour to knock down the flames in the 12,000-square-foot building.

No one was hurt, Schaeffer said.

The storage building contained a majority, about 300, of the parks department’s portable table and bench sets; garbage cans; play equipment parts; bleachers and fences; and Riverfront Park light poles, said city spokeswoman Marlene Feist.

“There’s nothing left,” said Spokane Parks Director Mike Stone.

Stone estimated a $125,000 loss for the building’s contents, and between $200,000 and $300,000 for the structure.

The Spokane Symphony shell was used for the popular annual Comstock Park concert. The cost to replace the shell, which was insured, was estimated at $53,000.

“Without that shell, the concert wouldn’t work,” said Annie Matlow, Spokane Symphony director of public relations. “You have to have something to protect the musicians and direct the sound.”

The Spokane Parks Foundation donated the shell to the symphony in 2002, “but the city agreed to store it for us,” Matlow said. “We’ve used it for 20 years.”

In the building’s heyday, according to news articles, Hollywood actors and actresses, producers, directors and cameramen and locals who wanted to brush elbows with moviemakers danced the nights away on the second floor.

By day it was the Washington Motion Picture Company movie studio, where silent films were taped.

Stars such as Power, Evelyn Brent and Nell Shipman were filmed at the location, either on the dance floor or outside on an open-air set, or up in the rocks for mountainous scenes, according to the news article.

“It was a bit of a destination point,” Stone said.