Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Then and Now: Jamieson Building

Edward Herbert Jamieson was a Spokane businessman who survived the massive fire of 1889. He was an attorney who settled in Spokane in 1882. He founded Spokane Abstract Co. and built a two-story brick building on the southwest corner of Riverside and Wall.

Image one Image two
Image One The Spokesman-Review Photo Archive
Image Two Colin Mulvany | The Spokesman-Review

Then and Now: Jamieson Building

Fire has shaped the history of Spokane.

Edward Herbert Jamieson was a Spokane businessman who survived the massive fire of 1889. He was an attorney who settled in Spokane in 1882. He founded Spokane Abstract Co. and built a two-story brick building on the southwest corner of Riverside and Wall.

The great fire had reduced it to rubble. Jamieson commissioned Herman Preusse, a German architect who had designed the massive Auditorium Theatre, to design his new structure, the Jamieson building. It cost $120,000 in 1890 to build the six-story brick structure that had boasted in ads of modern amenities including electric lights, steam heat, elevator service, and a sixth-floor dining room.

Jamieson died in 1909 and his investment company managed the buildingit until the 1930s, when it was sold to Zukor’s, a women’s clothing store that stayed until 1973. The building was destroyed in a 1980 fire that also killed a firefighter. The lot remained empty until the construction of the Spokane Transit Authority Plaza.

Share on Social Media

Recently in Then & Now