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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Then and Now: 311 W. Riverside Ave.

1959: The narrow building attached to the Robertson Building, left, is 311 W. Riverside Ave. and served as its own business location in the early 20th century, then was remodeled as an entrance to the Sons of Norway club rooms upstairs in the Robertson building by 1965. It would later be incorporated as an entrance to the Glen Dow Academy of Hair Design when it expanded into the Robertson Building after being located in the Fairmont Hotel, right, in the 1960s and 1970s. (Jesse Tinsley/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)
1959: The narrow building attached to the Robertson Building, left, is 311 W. Riverside Ave. and served as its own business location in the early 20th century, then was remodeled as an entrance to the Sons of Norway club rooms upstairs in the Robertson building by 1965. It would later be incorporated as an entrance to the Glen Dow Academy of Hair Design when it expanded into the Robertson Building after being located in the Fairmont Hotel, right, in the 1960s and 1970s. (Jesse Tinsley/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)
By Jesse Tinsley jesset@spokesman.com(509) 459-5378

Architectural historian Robert Hyslop, in “Building Blocks of Spokane,” says 311 W. Riverside Ave. filled an intended alleyway between the three-story Robertson Building, built in 1909, and the 1910 Fairmont Hotel next door. Odd-shaped buildings sometimes resulted from a plat map that showed an alley, but owners later filling them in.

The skinny building, that Hyslop called a “terra cotta Rococo gem,” was first used as a standalone business location.

The first floor became a barber shop, operated by Morris Donato, for many decades, then was a dry cleaners after 1950. The tiny upstairs became the second location of Bob’s Chili Palace in 1913. Bob’s Chili, with its first location at 612 W. First Ave., was started by Robert E. Cleary, a boardinghouse operator around 1905. He only stayed on Riverside a few years.

The upper two floors of the Robertson were usually meeting halls for fraternal clubs. The small two-story annex was remodeled into a club entrance.

Club rooms were often synonymous with private bars and free -flowing drinks, but the onset of Prohibition around 1920 slowed the carousing.

One of the early clubs was the Improved Order of Red Men, a fraternal group started during the Revolutionary era, that rented space in the Robertson during those “dry” years. Red Men members used terminology and regalia of North American tribes in their rituals, though membership was for whites only. The group proudly claimed their members, in Mohawk regalia, were responsible for the 1773 Boston Tea Party. Red Men membership in Spokane was waning in the 1920s and mostly gone by 1930, perhaps partly because of the Great Depression.

The next large group in the building was the Sons of Norway, along with a few other smaller clubs focused on Scandinavian descent, starting around 1942.

Prohibition ended in 1933 and a Washington State Liquor Store moved into the ground floor of 307 Riverside.

When the Sons of Norway moved out in the late 1970s, the Glen Dow Academy, which was in the ground floor of the Fairmont Hotel Building, expanded into multiple floors of the Robertson building. After 55 years in business, the cosmetology school closed in early 2024.

Developers purchased the building earlier this year with plans to turn the third floor into apartments. Bars and restaurants will cover the lower floors.