Address: 565 Broadway
Construction date: 1915-16
Architects:
Edouard Frere Champney, Architect (Seattle).Cornell Brothers, Contractor. Percival Collins, Interior Designer (Peoples Store of Tacoma).
Architectural/Historic Significance:
Architect Edward Frere Champney made his reputation as lead designer of Seattle’s 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. His flair for the dramatic is expressed in the lodge and its adjacent “Spanish Steps” which link Commerce Street and South Broadway. The lodge building’s reinforced concrete construction was modern for its time but its facade is Neo-Classical in design.
Status:
Listed as part of the Old City Hall Historic District on the Tacoma Register of Historic Places, State Register of Historic Places, and National Register. The building, which totals 33,685 square feet, was stabilized and protected by the previous owners.
The sale of the Elks building to the McMenamins closed on Oct 30, 2009. The failure of a proposal to construct an adjoining mixed use building on the vacant property to the north has driven changes to the McMenamins' original plans for a hotel and entertainment venue. Because of that change, the 1937 annex will be retained and changes made to the Elks building to accomodate the hotel rooms originally slated for the mixed use building. Once people are sleeping in a building, the complexity of the code issues increases so the rehab schedule has been delayed.
Construction, originally slated to begin in spring 2012, has not yet started. They are still in the permitting phase after revisions to the skylight and window designs and the addition of hotel rooms to the interior plans. Artifacts Consulting is working with the McMenamins to revise the tax credit application.
Revised 1/23/2013
