MetroSpokane

The Death Of An Intersection...

A warehouse?  An industrial supply company in the heart of a neighborhood business district?  A music store?  While not the flashiest intersection in town, Monroe St. and Maxwell Ave. do have some potential save for this building on the southeast corner.  The reality is that this building probably once contributed to some semblance of streetlife at this intersection.  Maybe it served as a retail space or even an office at one time. 

Now, however, it's role is to suck the marrow out of any activity that ocurrs nearby.  Taking design cues from some of the big-box stores along north Division, it presents the pedestrian and the hapless transit rider with mind-numbing blankness.  Could you imagine waiting for the bus in front of this? 

Really it is unfortunate as the structure has some potential:  It is built to the sidewalk and some of the parking is in the back of the structure.  What kills this building, and inevitably the intersection, is the complete lack of connection between the activity inside the building and that on the outside.  Here's a simple concept...windows.  The store is so severed from the street that they're forced to use to the neon 'OPEN' sign to ensure customers can figure it out.  Another case of why the suburban model fails miserably in an urban environment.

Children-Centric Design...

It is often the small details that make urban spaces and places so interesting.  In his book City Comforts, Seattle resident David Sucher says that to design good urban places one must not think, about pretty, but rather about comfort.  In his words, "City comfort is design as forethought and consideration for the user."

On accident, we found the perfect example of this concept put into practice at the entrance to the Mobius Children's Museum.  The street-side entrance is really nothing more than a waiting area for the elevator (Mobius is located below street grade).  What makes the entrance so perfect is that there are two doors-a large one for adults and a smaller 1/2-door for children.  It's encouraging to think that someone somewhere made a point to design a space with comfort in mind.  More impressive is that it was implemented in a part of town that few people would associate with the term 'child-friendly' (namely the central business district).

House For Sale: $10...

Yes, it sounds crazy, but it is true.  Starting bid for this perfect example of a craftsman-style bungalow was $10.  An unexpected but positive side-effect of the North-South Corridor is the offering of a set of historically significant homes up for auction [12 in all].  Since they have been identified as historically significant, the Washington Dept. of Transportation (DOT) is putting up some sweet cash to see that they escape the wrecking ball.  It's a nice gesture in our opinion and it comes with a pretty nice incentive.  Once the auction is final and title has transferred to the new owner, the DOT will provide up to $30,000 for moving and foundation work in a new location.  In some cases, for larger homes, the amount can reach upwards of $50,000.

A few caveats: 

• The home must be on the official list of endangered homes
• Within 30 days you must have a vacant lot secured
• The lot must be within 1/2 mile of the neighborhood boundary

The first home went up for auction yesterday morning, and [hopefully] promptly sold.  If they don't sell, they're getting leveled.  Any takers?  We'll post more information about the other buildings as we get it.

Talk about connected...

Prior to the Spokane Transit Authority, or a transit center that became the straw-man argument against transit, Spokane was quite well served by inner-city rail...until 1936 that is.  We did a little tinkering with some GIS files and pulled together a map displaying the streetcar lines as they existed under the Spokane United Railways.  Fourteen lines of rail within the reach of nearly every citizen.  The source of the map is Spokane's Street Railways - An Illustrated History [Mutschler, Parent, & Siegert].

The map gives you a sense of the scale of the City, as there weren't many places, or residents, that couldn't easily access the system within a few blocks of their homes.  Incidentally, the red circles represent one-mile increments from what was considered at the time as the center of Spokane-the intersection of Howard and Riverside.  Every wonder why "Five-Mile" is called "Five-Mile"?  Now you know.

We think all this is pretty timely as The Inlander has a number of articles this week discussing the history and future of rail in Spokane.  Enjoy!

Spokane United Railways Map - 1923 [pdf - 1mb]

Jensen-Byrd Building Your Order Is Ready...

Non-academic development near the Riverpoint Higher Education 'Park' came a little bit closer to reality last month.  Washington State University put out an RFP in December for a 5 acre parcel they purchased a couple of years ago [The Spokesman covers the issue in depth not once but twice, and the Journal of Business]. 

The parcel is mostly vacant land between the BNSF rail line and Spokane Falls Blvd, but it hosts a warehouse massive enough to send most loft-seeking, empty-nesters into conniptions.  The Jensen-Byrd Warehouse is big [6 floors 120,000 sf], but its future use in WSU's 'vision' for Riverpoint is anyone's guess.  In requesting the RFPs, the university did not explicitly state that the building had to be retained, and at least two of the proposals called for the structure's demolition. 

If the building is slated for demolition, WSU can certainly expect to hear from the Spokane Preservation Advocates.  With the high-profile campaign for the Rookery Block quite possibly in the bag, this building may be their next opportunity. The developer will be selected by March of 2006.

While we wait for this project to unfold, MetroSpokane took a tour of the Jensen-Byrd Warehouse area today.

Launch Jensen-Byrd Building Slideshow

Origins of Jensen-Byrd