Historic Register Tour - Eldridge Buick

HISTORIC NAME	Eldridge Buick
COMMON NAME	Eldridge Building
DATE BUILT	c. 1925
ARCHITECT/BUILDER	Gustav Albin Pehrson
PROPERTY STYLE	Commercial Vernacular
ON THE SPOKANE REGISTER	Yes - added 8/24/92
NATIONAL REGISTER	No
IN A DISTRICT	Yes - added 11/12/92
DISTRICT	West Downtown Historic Transportation Corridor
NEIGHBORHOOD	Riverside

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

The Eldridge building is a distinctive example of the commercial structures associated with the evolution of the automobile culture. Constructed in 1925 for one of the northwest's leading Buick dealerships, the building was acclaimed as "the largest building in the State of Washington devoted to the sales and service of motor cars." The building established an anchor for the west First Avenue neighborhood which has historically been linked to commercial transportation resources. Associated with the carriage industry before 1910, as well as with the railroad, the neighborhood later emerged as Spokane's first "auto row." The building was designed by one of Spokane's most influential and important architects, G. Albin Pehrson. It housed Eldridge Buick from 1925 to 1936, when the dealership was sold and became Kauffman Buick. The Eldridge family, however, retained ownership of the building. In 1958 Seely Business Systems leased, and eventually purchased, the building. The building occupies a corner of "Carnegie Square," one of Spokane's noted historic preservation success stories. Wells & Co., a construction company that has renovated a number of historic buildings in town in addition to the Eldridge, has its offices on the third floor of the building.