Post Street Electric Substation
 | This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. (July 2020) |
| Post Street Electric Substation | |
|---|---|
Romanesque Revival | |
| Location | Washington |
| Address | 331 N. Post Street Spokane, Washington |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 47°39′40″N 117°25′25″W / 47.66112°N 117.4237°W |
| Current tenants | Mobius Science Center |
| Groundbreaking | 1909 |
| Completed | 1910 |
| Landlord | Avista |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Kirtland Cutter |
The Post Street Electric Substation (also called the Washington Water Power Building, The Washington Water Power Substation) is an electric substation on the Spokane River next to the Spokane Falls in the city of Spokane, Washington. Built in 1910, the Post Street substation served the needs of the city's growing electric grid as well as the surrounding area.[1] The substation consolidates and delivers power generated by the Upper Falls Power Plant and the Monroe Street Dam hydroelectric plants.[2] The building is one of many contributions to Spokane's downtown area by renowned Pacific Northwest architect Kirtland K. Cutter.[3]
History
The Post Street Electric Substation was designed by Kirtland K. Cutter for the
Mobius Science Center
After renovations, the building opened to the public as the new home of the Mobius Science Center on July 1, 2016.[7] Although Avista retains ownership of the building, as a tenant Mobius pays rent of just $1 per year.[8]
Design
The Post Street Electric Substation is of brick construction and a concrete base[2] with a foundation on the stony south bank of the Spokane River. The exterior of the building is a façade built to complement the surrounding downtown area as well as to protect the internal electrical equipment, with the interior being mostly empty and containing the transformers and switches necessary for the building's primary function as an electrical substation.[1] As part of Cutter's early contributions to the Spokane downtown landscape, the building is definitive of the area's architectural identity.[3] The sides of the building have tall rectangular glass windows curved off at the top. Originally the substation had skeletal dome frames atop each corner of the building, each flying an American flag.[2][9] On top of the eastward and westward facing sides there are large signs which read "Washington Water Power" in capitalized green letters, one of the largest such Washington Water Power signs in Washington State[6] and the only remaining publicly-displayed sign bearing the company's former name.[5] Local Spokane columnist Shawn Vestal praised this sign in a 2019 editorial piece, calling it "one hell of a vestige" of the building's past as a fixture of the Spokane landscape.[10]
References
- ^ a b "Post Street Substation - The Spokane River: People, Place & Revival - Local Guides - The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
- ^ a b c d e Electrical World. McGraw-Hill. 1912. pp. 1430–1432.
- ^ a b c "Spokane Historic Preservation Office". Kirtland K. Cutter. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
- ^ OCLC 22213108.
- ^ a b "Washington Water Power/Avista". historylink.org. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
- ^ a b "Lewiston Morning Tribune - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
- ^ "PHOTOS: 'Bodies' exhibit opening at Mobius Science Center's new location July 1".
- ^ "Science | Bodies Human".
- ^ "Early Photo of Exterior of Post Street Substation". 1912.
- ^ "Shawn Vestal: Avista, whatever that means, should rename itself something meaningful. How about Washington Water Power?". Associated Press. 2019-05-19. Retrieved 2020-03-03.