Inland Hardware Company Building

Year Built:  1907

Style:  Commercial, Vernacular

Address:  1802-1804 E Sprague Avenue

East Sprague catered to the flow of travelers on the Sunset Highway and it quickly became a bustling commercial strip. Built in 1907, this two-part masonry block is indicative of the commercial architecture springing up along Sprague in the early 20th Century. In 1927 the building was home to Inland Hardware, a local hardware business that occupied the building until around 1970. The building conveys a great amount of historic feeling with its intact decorative brickwork and looks very much as it did when first constructed. The west facade has traditionally been used for advertisements and a 1927 photographs shows painted signs for W.P. Fuller and Company house paint and US tires. Over the years, the building has housed numerous businesses including a cafe, bike shop and mattress store. It is now home to a vintage shop. As it documents the commercial evolution of East Central, contributes to the contiguous facade of commercial buildings along this stretch of East Sprague and retains excellent material integrity, the Inland Hardware Company Building would be eligible for listing.

The building itself is one of the most intact historic buildings in the area and is of brick construction with decorative brick patterning and corbeling on the primary (north and west) facades. Large, arched window openings, some of which are now infilled with newer windows, are found beneath the decorative, brick cornice on the second level. Multicolored bricks mimic quoins on the second level and have been painted over on the first level.  The storefronts are in their original configuration and a solid band of masonry separates the storefronts from the second level which was originally used to display the name of the business. Interestingly, the west facade has been traditionally used for advertisements. A large, 1945, concrete block addition projects from the south side and is used as a garage.

Images left to right: mural on south facade; January 26, 1953 Spokane Daily Chronicle advertisement; storefront; west facade