Nettleton's Addition Historic District
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Nettleton's Addition Historic District | |
 Sign at the entrance to Nettleton's Addition on Boone Ave. | |
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| Location | West Central, Spokane, Washington, United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 47°40′01.6″N 117°26′54.7″W / 47.667111°N 117.448528°W |
| Area | 236 acres (96 ha) |
| Built | 1887–1954 |
| Architect | Multiple |
| Architectural style | Queen Anne Revival, Shingle style, Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Bungalow, American Craftsman, Ranch-style |
| NRHP reference No. | 06000176[1] |
| Added to NRHP | March 22, 2006 |
The Nettleton's Addition Historic District is a historic residential district in the West Central neighborhood of Spokane, Washington. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 2006 because of the concentration of historic homes in one of Spokane's oldest residential neighborhoods and for its significance as an example of community planning and development and in the area of architecture. It is the largest national historic district in the state of Washington.[2]
Located on a flat plateau surrounded on three sides by a bend in the Spokane River about a mile-and-a-half northwest of the center of Downtown Spokane, the area's proximity to the city center made it one of the first residential areas developed in Spokane. The neighborhood was platted in 1887 and largely developed by 1911. Architectural styles represented in the district include Queen Anne Revival, shingle style, Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Bungalow, American Craftsman, as well as a dozen ranch-style homes which were built after 1937 and are not considered to be contributing properties to the historic district. At the time of its listing on the NRHP in 2006, Nettleton's Addition consisted of 949 properties on 1002 parcels, of which 536 are considered to be historic contributing buildings. Notable architects who worked in the neighborhood include Kirtland Cutter and Karl Malmgren.[3]
A working and middle-class neighborhood from the time of its development through to the present day, Nettleton's Addition consists primarily of one-to-two story single-family homes built of wood. Nettleton's Addition was laid out in a grid pattern with sidewalks on every street and alleys running east-to-west in the middle of each block. The only disruptions to this pattern come in the northern and southwestern edges of the district where the terrain drops off dramatically to the river and in one block in the northeastern portion of the district where the Holmes Elementary campus takes up the entire block.[3]
Nettleton's Addition is located in the western portion of the West Central neighborhood of Spokane, about a mile-and-a-half northwest of the center of Downtown Spokane. The district is located on a flat plateau at approximately 1,880 feet above sea level. The Spokane River bends around the district to the south, west and north forming a deep gorge which falls off from the plateau more than 200 feet over a distance of less than one city block.[4] The historic district is bounded by Summit Boulevard and Mission Avenue on the north, Chestnut Street on the east, Bridge Avenue on the south, and A Street and Summit Boulevard on the west.[5]
The neighborhood, like those which surround it, was platted on a grid system with east–west blocks roughly 600 feet long and the north–south blocks varying between 250 and 360 feet. Mid-block alleyways run through the middle of each block east-to-west. Streets in the area are 60 feet wide with sidewalks separated from the road by a planting strip.[3] While surrounded by the river on three sides, the district is mostly inland from the river with the exception of two blocks in the north and one block in the south that overlook the river gorge.[5]
To the south, beyond Bridge Avenue, is the Kendall Yards development which was built in the 2010s on the site of a former rail yard.[6] This new development across the street from Nettleton's Addition has sparked fears that gentrification will come to the longtime working-class neighborhood.[7]
