Historic Register Tour - Joseph & Bertha Kellner House 1

HISTORIC NAME	Home Telephone & Telegraph Company Building
COMMON NAME
DATE BUILT	1907
ARCHITECT/BUILDER	Albert Held
PROPERTY STYLE	Commercial block reflecting strong Beaux Arts-style decoration
ON THE SPOKANE REGISTER	Yes - added 8/29/05
NATIONAL REGISTER
IN A DISTRICT	Yes
DISTRICT	East Downtown National Historic District
NEIGHBORHOOD	Riverside

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Listed in 2003 as a contributing property in the East Downtown Spokane National Register Historic District, the Home Telephone & Telegraph Company Building was built in 1907 as one the city’s first telephone communication centers.[1] During its period of significance from 1907 to 1955, the property achieved importance in the area of significance in “commerce” for its contribution to Spokane as one of the city’s finest historic commercial/industrial buildings and as a leader in the development of the community’s telephone communication industry. The property housed central operations for the Home Telephone & Telegraph Company who implemented the first automatic dial telephone system in Spokane—the forerunner to contemporary rotary dial telephones. The company installed some of the first independent interstate long-distance service lines to regional customers in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Montana, and also developed a phone system that did not solely rely on batteries in personal hand-held telephones. The Home Telephone & Telegraph Company Building was designed by Albert Held, and built by John Huetter, early Spokane pioneers who are regarded as two of the region’s most prominent master craftsmen. Historically significant, the Home Telephone & Telegraph Company Building is eligible for listing on the Spokane Register of Historic Places under Category A. On March 29, 2005, Spokane business owners, JoAnn Kauffman and Thomas P. Keefe, Jr., purchased the telephone building and the parking lot adjacent south for $600,000. They are presently engaged in rehabilitating the building’s exterior façade and interior on the first and second floors to accommodate offices.