Rookery Block
West side of Howard, between Sprague and Riverside
by Orion Moon


Parking facilities in downtown Spokane seem to be a perennial magnet for controversy. It's a toss-up between the River Park Square garage financing debacle and a lovely asphalt prairie for the championship title in Questionable Parking Decisions. In November 2005, Rob's Demolition Company began leveling this site's former Rookery, Mohawk, and Merton buildings at the behest of owner Wendell Reugh, public outcry be damned. Efforts to save these historic buildings continued even after the wrecking ball had punched the first holes in the Rookery's terracotta facade, but the greedy old shitheel kept raising his asking price. A few months later, Mr. Reugh had left his legacy for downtown &ndash another vast expanse of under-utilized surface parking, right in the heart of decades of work to revitalize it.

The 1934 Rookery Building occupied the corner of the site, and was perhaps the finest standing example of Art Deco architecture in this city. The neighboring 1915 Mohawk Building stood between the Rookery and the attractive grey wall that towers over the parking lot. The 1890 Merton Building was the oldest surviving downtown structure, one of the first built after the 1889 fire that destroyed most of the business district. These buildings were in a serious state of decrepitude, little more than shells, but the will and resources were available to fix them up, backed by strong public support and a sizeable chunk of city government, including future Mayor Dennis Hession. Replacing them with a parking lot for the convenience and profit of a man who was essentially playing chicken was a crime, especially in light of that fact that nothing gets built in these lots once they become parking. Continuing Spokane's tradition of looking to the 1950's for civic inspiration in an age of dwindling fossil fuel resources, Mr. Reugh and his supporters ensured that downtown got the last parking lot it will ever need.

On a positive note, one can better appreciate the surrounding cityscape with so much open space, and there's a fantastic wall around it in the bargain.


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