Spokane Convention Center is the primary convention center in Spokane, Washington, in the northwest United States, and consists of two interconnected buildings along the south bank of the Spokane River in downtown Spokane. The facility, owned and operated by the Spokane Public Facilities District, is part of a larger campus, historically referred to as Spokane Center, that also contains the adjacent First Interstate Center for the Arts.
Designed by the Spokane-based architecture firm, Walker, McGough, Foltz & Lyerla, the original part of the convention center was constructed from 1972-1974 as a part of a single auditorium-convention center building that would serve as the Washington State Pavilion for Spokane’s Expo ’74. The 117,000-square-foot (10,900 m2) pavilion consisted of two components: a 40,000-square-foot (3,700 m2) exhibit hall on the east side of the building and a 2,700-seat opera house on the west side. These programmatic elements were strategically located in this fashion to allow for future expansion of the exhibit hall onto vacant land to the east and north of pavilion once it became a convention center.
Reborn as the Spokane Convention Center
The exhibit hall component was converted into a convention center after fair ended and the opera house portion of the facility became Spokane Opera House (now known as the First Interstate Center for the Arts). The architecture firm that originally designed the Washington State Pavilion was retained to design the $2 million conversion of the exhibit hall space into a convention center. Over the course of its history, the Spokane Convention Center has had two major expansions, with a third set to break ground in July 2013.
Spokane Convention Center
Place ID: ChIJe5vwwIoYnlQRDVRCkgPG4UM
334 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201, USA