Then and now: The Rookery

From 1890 until the buildings were demolished in 1933, four interconnected buildings wrapped around the southeast corner of Howard Street and Riverside Avenue were simply called the Rookery, the word for a colony of birds’ nests.

Section:Gallery

Sun., March 28, 2021

1920s: Four connected structures made up the Rookery Building, mostly completed in 1890 after the catastrophic fire of 1889, on the corner of Riverside Avenue and Howard Street. The rounded corner, built for short-lived Spokane National Bank, is shown here with the United Cigar Store at ground level. The Whitehouse Company, a department store with entrances on both Riverside and Howard, wrapped around the bank. The complex was a warren of narrow hallways and small offices, giving rise to the name “rookery,” which is the term for a group of bird nests.

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Present day: The southeast corner of Riverside Avenue and Howard Street is a large parking lot today but was once a busy retail and banking corner where two different buildings once bore the name Rookery. The last one was torn down in 2006. The creation of downtown surface parking lots angered local preservationists and city council members and resulted in a new ordinance that requires redevelopment plans in place before older buildings can be demolished. The city had tried to find developers interested in the property but had no luck.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo