The History of Spokane's Steam Plant
Before becoming one of Spokane’s most heralded restaurants, our building heated hundreds of downtown buildings with steam. Today, many of the original boilers, smokestacks, and industrial details remain, making every visit part meal and part step through Spokane history.
From Steam Power to Spokane Dining
Application Filed
Spokane businessman Harry A. Flood applies to the city for a franchise to produce steam heat from a single site, instead of every building burning its own coal.
Construction Finishes
The plant begins supplying steam heat to downtown Spokane.
Washington Water Power Purchase
Washington Water Power (WWP) purchases the plant out of receivership.
Powerhouse & Fuel Shifts
The steam plant enjoys its height of power production, burning through 1,200 tons of coal within 72 hours during the winter months. As the 1960s arrived, pollution controls tightened, requiring a fuel shift from coal to sawdust to natural gas. The final two boilers were converted to gas in 1970.
Powering Down
The final boiler shuts down in December. Steam heat is no longer cost-effective to maintain downtown, and the plant goes dark.
Assignment Change
A decade after closing, the building is redeveloped into Steam Plant Square. It's added to the Spokane Register of Historic Places in September and the National Register in December.
Protected Historic Status
Listed as a contributing property in the West Downtown Historic Transportation Corridor, a National Register district.
Redevelopment
Steam Plant Square receives the National Preservation Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
An Event Powerhouse
A $4 million renovation upgrades the kitchen and dining areas and adds the Rooftop Event Center. DCI Engineers doubles the size of the rooftop penthouse as part of the project.
Local Ownership
Jerry Dicker of GVD Commercial Properties purchases the building and reopens it as a Ruby Hospitality property, continuing the preservation work that's kept the equipment in place. Jerry's work added more private dining and event spaces, ensuring guests have the chance to experience the Steam Plant well into the future.
Inside the Engineering of Spokane's Steam Plant
The Central Steam Plant building was the byproduct of two architectural firms.
The exterior was designed by famed Kirtland Cutter, who left his architectural fingerprints throughout Spokane and the United States. The permanent interior was the work of Arnold & Co, from Chicago. The plant was built from steel-reinforced concrete and brick, 140 feet long and 83 feet wide. Its twin smokestacks rise 225 feet, tall enough that if they counted as a building on their own, they’d rank among the tallest structures in Spokane. Each stack used 166,770 bricks, laid in a design meant to sway with the wind rather than fight it.
How the Steam Plant Heated Downtown Spokane
For 70 years, the Steam Plant generated steam that traveled beneath downtown streets, heating businesses, offices, and public buildings throughout the city.
At full capacity, the plant produced up to 370,000 pounds of steam per hour, up from its initial 150,000 pounds per hour when it opened in 1916 with 12 boilers. It took roughly 90 employees to keep everything running. Shoveling coal proved to be the most needed job, especially through the winter.
Average coal consumption ran around 26,000 tons a year, until sawdust and later natural gas took over as main fuels.
How the Steam Plant Became a Restaurant
Rather than removing its industrial past, the renovation embraced it. Original operating panels, boilers, steelwork, coal bunkers, and smokestacks became part of the dining experience while preserving the building’s historic character.
When the plant was redeveloped in the 1990s, the team kept as much of the original machinery as historic renovation guidelines allowed. Four of the original steam boilers became restaurant seating. The 1,200 ton white coal bunker was converted into office space and still hangs suspended over the dining room today. One of the two smokestacks opened to visitors and can still be walked into.
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