Historic Register Tour - The Crescent

HISTORIC NAME	The Crescent
COMMON NAME	Crescent Court
DATE BUILT	c. 1917-1919
ARCHITECT/BUILDER	Loren L. Rand
PROPERTY STYLE	Chicago/Commercial Style
ON THE SPOKANE REGISTER	Yes - added 12/13/93
NATIONAL REGISTER	No
IN A DISTRICT	No
DISTRICT	No
NEIGHBORHOOD	Riverside

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

The original Crescent, located on West Riverside Avenue, opened for business on August 5, 1889, the day after the Great Fire that destroyed most of downtown Spokane. As the town’s only remaining dry goods store, the establishment sold out its entire stock on its first day of business. Owners Robert B. Paterson and James M. Comstock supported the post-fire effort and did not raise prices in order to take advantage of the disaster, beginning the tradition “be fair to everyone.” The Crescent went on to become a Spokane institution—a symbol of the community’s history and heritage, and boasted many “firsts” in the realm of Spokane business policies and philosophy. Construction of the first unit of the Crescent building, designed by noted Spokane architect Loren L. Rand, commenced in 1917 and continued to 1919. Originally five stories in height, the building was later expanded to seven. In 1949 the Crescent purchased the Alexander Building, adjacent to the south, so that it extended half a city block. The Crescent’s 99 reign in Spokane ended in 1988, when it merged with Seattle-based company and became Frederick and Nelson, which filed for Chapter 11 in 1991. The downtown Spokane store closed the following year. Today the building is The Crescent Court, and continues to serve the downtown with retail and office space. It remains a tangible and significant reminder of a local business that served the community for nearly a century.