U.S. General Services Administration
Foley Courthouse Deemed Historic
Modernist Building Eligible for Inclusion on National Register
SPOKANE - The U.S. General Services Administration’s Region 10 announces the Thomas S. Foley U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building has been determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
As National Historic Preservation month is upon us, architects and GSA officials recently started working on the plan that will define its historic characteristics for future preservation.
The Spokane Federal Courthouse is now one of 28 federal buildings in Washington state owned by GSA with this status. In total, there are more than 1,500 buildings, structures, objects, and sites with this designation in Washington state.
The designation means the modernist-style exterior architecture and character-defining historic interior features of the federal building will now be preserved for future generations. Any changes to the building must now be reviewed by GSA and the State Historic Preservation Office using new criteria aimed at preservation of the building’s distinctive characteristics.
GSA Northwest/Arctic Region officials submitted a request to consider the designation when the building turned 50 in late 2017. Just two weeks ago, GSA officials and architects who specialize in historic buildings, started the building preservation plan as mandated by the National Historic Preservation Act.
”The Foley Federal Courthouse is an iconic civic structure in the heart of downtown Spokane and in the historic Riverside Avenue district, said Rebecca Nielsen, Regional Historic Preservation Officer for the GSA Northwest/Arctic Region. “It's a great addition to Spokane's growing collection of Modernist buildings.”
GSA may, in the future, work toward getting the building officially listed on the register. However, the National Historic Preservation Act requires federal buildings, once designated historically eligible, to be treated the same regardless of formal listing.
A longtime judge in the courthouse and close friend of the building’s namesake, United States District Court Senior Judge, Justin L. Quackenbush, said the preservation of the building is important to Spokane’s history.
“It’s been my homebase for most of my career,” said Judge Quackenbush. “I can’t imagine the Spokane skyline without its unique look.”
Judge Quackenbush, still maintains an office within the courthouse. He said even after 40 years there he still enjoys working in the building.
The modernist style of architecture of the building is reminiscent of many other Spokane buildings such as the Parkade, John F. Kennedy Pavillion on the Gonzaga University campus, and the main concourse of the Spokane International Airport.
As part of the ongoing preservation of regional federal facilities, GSA undertook a water conservation project recently that allowed the iconic front court fountains to remain working, while at the same time preserving nearly 40,000 gallons of water annually to meet new federal requirements. Currently, crews are repairing tile on the fountains and the work should be complete later this Spring, allowing the fountains to be turned on again.
More than 600 building construction projects across the United States were undertaken by GSA in the 1960s-70s. The Foley Courthouse was one of them.
The projects were intended to exemplify the basic tenets of the “Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture” as set forth by President John F. Kennedy in 1962. This encouraged architecture that would provide both efficient and economical facilities as well as provide a visual testimony to the dignity, enterprise, vigor, and stability of the American Government.
The courthouse design was then awarded to a consortium of Spokane architects, which was overseen by GSA. The courthouse opened for business in 1967.
The building was renamed the Thomas S. Foley U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building in 2001, in honor of Tom Foley (1929-2013), who was a state representative and speaker of the U.S. House of representatives from 1989 to 1995.
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