Ridpath Club Apartments
| Ridpath Hotel | |
|---|---|
 Ridpath Tower sitting vacant in March 2012 as it awaits re-development proposals to come to fruition | |
 | |
| Former names | WestCoast Ridpath Cavanaugh's Ridpath Hotel |
| General information | |
| Status | completed (closed 2008, currently vacant) |
| Architectural style | Modernism |
| Address | 515 W Sprague Ave. Spokane, Washington |
| Completed | 1952 (Ridpath Tower) 1906 (Y Building) 1889 (Halliday Building) 1963 (Executive Court Building) |
| Height | 130 ft (40 m)[1] |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Steel |
| Floor count | 13 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Ned Hyman Abrams |
The Ridpath Hotel is a complex in Spokane, Washington that is comprised of four buildings – the Ridpath Tower (completed in 1952), the Halliday Building (completed 1889), the Y Building (completed 1906), and the Executive Court building (completed in 1963). The Ridpath Tower, the main portion of the hotel, was designed by San Francisco architect Ned Hyman Abrams and is the second iteration of the Ridpath Hotel - the original building was destroyed by fire in 1950. The hotel, originally opened in 1900 and closed in 2008, has the distinction of being Spokane's longest continuously run hotel through those 108 years.[2]
History
The Ridpath Hotel was established by Colonel William Ridpath in 1899[3] with its original building opening in 1900. The first building suffered through two fires, the first in 1902 (and was subsequently restored), and another in 1950 which damaged the building beyond repair.[4] The fire, which broke out on the evening of February 28, 1950 burned through the night for thirteen hours and caused an estimated $1,000,000 in damages[5] to the 5-story building as well as adjacent structures.[6] The original hotel was demolished and a new 12-story tower was constructed in its place, which opened in 1952.
The new Ridpath Tower
In June 1950, just a short three months after fire damaged the original Ridpath Hotel beyond repair, construction work began on a replacement: a steel-framed, 250-room, 12-story high building to be called the Ridpath Tower. The building, which was erected on the same site of the old hotel, was originally envisioned to be an 8-story building, 200-room hotel. The new, modernistic hotel incorporated many features that were unique to hotels of its time including a drive-in ramp garage with parking in the basement, all rooms with an exterior view, modern bathrooms with tub/shower combos that had walls tiled up to the ceiling, and high-speed, self-leveling elevators. The building also incorporated mixed-use functions, with street level store fronts and the entire third floor dedicated as office space to be rented out.[7] Plans later added a glass-enclosed 13th floor which housed a club and restaurant.[8]
The new hotel was completed at a price tag of over $3,000,000 and was dedicated in April 1952 to much fanfare.[9] Through the 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's the Ridpath was the top hotel in Spokane and hosted many balls, art shows, and other conventions and events in its facilities. The hotel welcomed in guests like Elvis Presley, numerous politicians, and reportedly, Michael Jackson.[10] These decades also became a time of expansion for the hotel. In 1961, the historic Spokane Hotel across the street was razed and an addition to the Ridpath (what is now known as the Executive Court Building) was completed in 1963.[11] In 1971, plans were announced by the hotel owners to acquire the adjacent, 6-story Halliday building (constructed in 1889).[12] Although they demolished upper 5 floors of the Halliday building, the ground floor was adaptively reused and renovated to tie into the existing hotel building to create a first class commercial facility with air conditioning and a central heating system.[13] The ownership of the hotel remained within the Ridpath family until the hotel was sold to an outside investment group in a 1988 sale.[14]
Decline
After leaving the hands of the Ridpath family in a 1988 sale to an outside investment group, the hotel began to decline. Prior to the sale, the Ridpath family had consistently reinvested in the hotel and kept it up to date with the latest trends and features in hotel design. This was evidenced by the continual expansion of the hotel during its peak and the fact that the 1952 tower incorporated features like modern bathrooms and a drive-up ramp garage. The new ownership group, however, let the hotel age. The hotel needed upgrades such as new elevators and updates to the look and feel of the interior. Because the owners let it remain in stagnant state, many of the hotels amenities became obsolete by virtue of changing market conditions. The hotel began to become an after-thought, especially when the market conditions began to call for larger rooms. The hotel's original rooms, though once considered large and state-of-the-art, were no longer selling as well as they once did.
Multiple sales, fragmentation, and closure
After several years of decline, the hotel resold again just 10 years later in 1998. It was sold again six years later in 2004 when the newest ownership group sold the hotel in order to raise capital for improvements to other hotels in their portfolio. 2004 marked the beginning of the fragmentation of the Ridpath; up until this point, the entire property was owned by one entity. The Executive Court building was sold to investors looking to convert it into condominiums. The rest of the hotel was purchased in 2006 by a boutique hotelier out of Las Vegas, Nevada. Over the next two years, the physical condition of the hotel along with its business continued to decline. In an effort to raise capital to make improvements to the hotel which only had 50% occupancy levels, the owner decided to sell portions of the hotel to many different owners despite an offer by investors to purchase the entire property.[15]
The hotel abruptly closed in August of 2008. Due to the fact that multiple owners own different portions of the building, the complex has been tangled in a web of foreclosures due to the bad economy.[16] Additionally, many legal battles have arisen regarding shared costs, maintenance, and code-compliance of the building. In June 2011, the property owners were ordered by the the City of Spokane to clean up the property[17] and the property had a no-occupancy order declared just 6 months later due to a lack of a functioning fire-suppression system.[18] As of March 2012, the hotel still remains vacant.
Preservation and redevelopment
References
- ^ "WestCoast Ridpath Hotel". Emporis. 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
- ^ Vestal, Shawn (June 19, 2011). "Ridpath Hotel's future still in doubt". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
- ^ "Option Is Taken on Spokane Hotel". Spokane Daily Chronicle. April 20, 1961.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help), - ^ Daniel Walters. "A Path Unknown". Inlander. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
- ^ "Option Is Taken on Spokane Hotel". Spokane Daily Chronicle. April 20, 1961.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ Wayne Carlson (February 28, 1970). "Ridpath Hotel Fire recalled". Spokane Daily Chronicle.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "Ridpath Will Add Four Floors for 12-story Structure". Spokane Daily Chronicle. April 21, 1950.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "2 Spokane Firms Win Ridpath Jobs". The Spokesman-Review. August 11, 1950.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "History of the Ridpath Hotel". The Spokesman-Review. June 18, 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
- ^ Vestal, Shawn (June 19, 2011). "Ridpath Hotel's future still in doubt". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
- ^ "History of the Ridpath Hotel". The Spokesman-Review. June 18, 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
- ^ "Hotel to Expand". The Spokesman-Review. May 14, 1971.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "Hotel Work is Started". Spokane Daily Chronicle. July 18, 1973.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "Ridpath Hotel may be sold within a month". The Spokesman-Review. February 9, 1988.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ Daniel Walters. "A Path Unknown". Inlander. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
- ^ Stucke, John (January 6, 2012). "RiverBank seizes Ridpath floors in foreclosure auction". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
- ^ Vestal, Shawn (June 19, 2011). "Ridpath Hotel's future still in doubt". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
- ^ Clouse, Thomas (December 23, 2011). "City orders no occupancy for Ridpath Hotel". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved 16 March 2012.