City restoring historic restrooms at Byrne Park

The city of Spokane is restoring Depression-era restroom facilities at Byrne Park in north Spokane that were damaged during the 2015 windstorm. The $243,000 project will include restorative work on the restroom’s existing masonry walls and a complete replacement of the roof.

The 500-square-foot building is in the historic Lidgerwood Park addition, northeast of the intersection of Division Street and Garland Avenue in the Nevada-Lidgerwood neighborhood.

The park, which was named after former Mayor Patrick Byrne, lost about seven pine trees during the windstorm in November 2015, three of which landed on the restroom.

Nick Hamad, landscape architect for the city’s parks department, said the solid construction of the rock-wall building kept it standing despite the tree fall.

“It is a fully rock construction building. The rock is mortared together, and it handled the blow of the trees,” Hamad said. “The building itself, we don’t know the exact date it was constructed, but it was a Conservation Corps-era project.”

Given its history, the city decided to restore the building rather than replace it. The city hired Seattle-based Pioneer Masonry Restoration Co. for the walls’ repair work, and the roof will be replaced with one that mimics a historic cedar shake roof, but will be made of a more durable, modern composite.

The restroom’s interior will be brought up to code.

Because of the storm damage, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is funding 75 percent of the work.

The contractor for the project is the Engineering Remediation Resource Group. Spokane-based Steven A. Meeks Architects did design for the restorative work. DCI Engineers also worked on the project.