Historic Register Tour - Empire State Building

HISTORIC NAME	Empire State Building
COMMON NAME	Great Western Building
DATE BUILT	c. 1900
ARCHITECT/BUILDER	John K. Dow
PROPERTY STYLE	Chicago/Commercial Style, Beaux Arts/Neoclassical
ON THE SPOKANE REGISTER	No
NATIONAL REGISTER	No
IN A DISTRICT	Yes - added 8/18/77
DISTRICT	No
NEIGHBORHOOD	Riverside

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

The Empire State Building stands as a testament to the wealth of the Coeur d'Alene mining district. John K. Dow designed this building for mining magnates Charles Sweeney and F. Lewis Clark. It was completed in 1900. Dow gained prominence through the design of this building and the Spokane Club Building in the same year. He became one of Spokane's most prominent architects in a career which lasted until his death in 1937. Among his other important buildings are the August Paulsen Building, the Mohawk Building, and the Masonic Temple (National Register, 1976).

From 1912 to 1958, Central Business Property owned this building; in 1958, Great Western Savings bought the building and renamed it the Great Western. Its prominent residents included the Washington Water Power Company, the Spokane Weather Bureau, and the Arthur D. Jones Company, the largest real estate company in Spokane.