Cascade Laundry owners seek historic listing

Owners of the old Cascade Laundry Building along the Spokane River at Trent Avenue and Columbus Street are asking the City Council to list the 1913 landmark on the Spokane Historic Register despite alterations to the façade over the years.

The angular two-story building was the work of renowned architect Loren Rand, who designed Lewis and Clark High School, the Masonic Center’s 1923 expansion and First Presbyterian Church.

The nomination for the building, which went before the City Council last week, was returned to the City County Landmarks Commission to review a change in an exterior sign which was recently installed by the owners.

“The building deserves it,” said David Birge, who along with two business partners bought the industrial and commercial property in 2007 for $2.9 million.

Not only are the businessmen seeking historic status for the building, they are also pouring money into remodeling it for commercial use.

Currently, Lincare, a medical equipment supplier, operates offices on the upper story in a renovated space that takes advantage of the historic brickwork and windows with wide-angle views of the Spokane River and downtown.

Birge said the lower level and mezzanine are being renovated to house MatriCal, a pharmaceutical equipment manufacturer that is expanding from its operation at Sirti on the Riverpoint college campus.

Birge said the laundry building is held by a limited liability corporation. Birge, Gavin Swenson and Mark Baier are the partners.

“This building is built,” Birge said. “It’s not going anywhere.”

In addition to the historic laundry building, the complex includes a one-story structure that houses Dry Fly Distilling and Northern Lights Brewery.

According to the historic nomination by Jim Kolva, the Cascade Laundry was one of about two dozen commercial laundries in Spokane in the early 1900s, and many of them were located on the river to take advantage of the water.

The Cascade Laundry had been located near the lower falls on Bridge Avenue before moving into the building at 1003 E. Trent Ave. in 1913.

Its reinforced concrete floors, brick walls, ample windows and upper story skylights for ventilation provided workers with a safer working environment, Kolva said.

“Washing and cleaning took place on the first floor, and finishing was completed on the second floor,” Kolva wrote in the nomination. “A separate brick building, built in 1921, east of the main building along the riverbank, was designated for dry cleaning.” Laundry operations continued until about 1939.

Subsequently, the building was used for trucking, auto repair and bus operations. United Trucking was one of the occupants. Dorsey School Bus Co. operated there in the 1970s and early 1980s. The Lucky Penny Tavern operated at the building in the 1990s.

By the late 1990s, owners renovated the eastern portions of the complex for a series of restaurant, shop and entertainment venues, including Bayou Brewery.

Renovations over the years changed the exterior look of the building in the 1940s and again in the 1970s, including the replacement of the original wooden windows, but much of the original brickwork is intact.