If you’re looking for Parkade Plaza, look for a tall, white, futuristic concrete structure with vertical columns and a dramatic tower, right on Main Street between Howard and Stevens-the one that kind of looks like it could be blast off for a spaceship parking lot!
Alright, you’ve made it to a local legend-Parkade Plaza! Now, don’t let those rows of cars fool you; this isn’t just a parking garage. Imagine yourself standing here in the swinging late 1960s. Downtown Spokane was at a crossroads. This very site was once filled with old, creaky buildings, including the grand Pantages Theater-later called The Orpheum-where music, drama, and dreams echoed every night. By the late 1950s, though, the theater closed. The curtain fell, the lights faded, and by 1967, the only drama left was the daily hunt for a parking spot.
Enter Parkade Plaza, a concrete marvel with a flair for the dramatic and a determination to save downtown Spokane from what civic leaders called “creeping blight.” Instead of letting the city be swallowed by crumbling buildings and empty storefronts, a group called Spokane Unlimited-imagine the city’s business superheroes-decided to radicalize parking. They wanted a showstopping structure that would draw people, shoppers, and maybe even a bit of optimism back to the city center. According to them, you don’t just stop downtown decline with speeches. Nope, you need a place to stash every car in Spokane, stylishly!
This was where architect Warren C. Heylman stepped into the spotlight. With a great big grin (I can only assume), Heylman designed this 11-level spectacular, crowned by a 175-foot sculptured tower-part elevator shaft, part glowing beacon. And let me tell you, it stands out. Heylman believed every inch of Parkade Plaza lived for the people. The Skywalk circles the building-a futuristic way for rain-soaked pedestrians to swoosh right into the shops on the second level. And the roof! One of the first modern garages to have one, so your car can snooze dry through Spokane’s infamous weather.
But if you think “parking garage” sounds boring, think again. When Parkade opened, there was more than just parking here. The second level was buzzing with ice cream shops, art galleries, interior design studios, a radio and TV store-even a newsstand and a city ticket booth with bright umbrellas, where you could imagine yourself sipping coffee and feeling like the king or queen of downtown. The day before Christmas in 1969, this place packed 3,878 cars-four times what it was built for! Now that’s a crowd!
Parkade Plaza captured enough imaginations to win an award for “excellence in the use of concrete.” Yes, concrete can win prizes-who knew? And if those walls could talk, they’d tell you stories of bustling downtown days, shifting traffic patterns, and a city that refused to fade away.
The latest chapter? In 2020, Parkade got a facelift-stronger supports, new lights, fresh paint, energy-saving equipment, all ready for the next wave of visitors, dreamers, and, well, parkers. So next time someone tells you parking garages can’t be exciting, you tell them to stand right here and look up. They might just spot the future... hiding in plain sight, right above Spokane’s Main Street.
