Downtown housing was going vertical in the early 70s downtown Spokane. If you were over 62 and needed subsidized housing then this was your place. As a building, the Park Tower is just kind of there. It really doesn't add or detract from the skyline. It's more neutral than anything. At the street-level (where it really matters) it relates quite well. Funny how the rendering emphasizes what is really the alley-side of the building.
"Construction has started on the 20-story Park Tower apartments on Trent and Bernard just south of the Expo '74 site. It will provide 185 apartments for persons 62 years or older under a federal subsidy program reducing rents for most units. Long slanted roof at the left is the Washington State Pavilion on the exposition site. On the right is the design proposal for a 15-story Sheraton Motor Inn of Spokane. Park Tower is scheduled for completion in late 1974."
Too bad the Park Tower didn't start a trend for more housing along Spokane Falls Blvd.! Between the old Sheraton Hotel (DoubleTree) and the Park Tower, both were under construction during the Expo months, so it gave a sense of progress for Spokane during those years.
Posted by: dan/Spokane | January 17, 2008 at 06:56 PM
I agree. The 1970's was a great period in Spokane when it came to new and exciting downtown housing at that time.
Downtown sprouted Park Tower, Riverfalls Tower, and Cathedral Plaza.
It's a shame that the trend didn't carry over past the 1970's.
Our skyline would look a lot different today.
Hopefully after the housing slump is over, demand for downtown housing will return, making proposals on a drawing board into realities.
Who knows...perhaps the Vox Tower, One Fifty-Three Wall Street, and other downtown projects could later become MetroSpokane's future "Blasts From The Past"
Posted by: Andrew Waddilove | January 18, 2008 at 05:01 PM