Tacoma Rehabs its Spanish Steps
By Margaret Foster | Online Only | Aug. 31, 2010
The Spanish Steps of Tacoma, Wash., were featured in Partners in Preservation in spring 2010, but did not win a grant.
Credit: Partners in Preservation
Since 1916, the Spanish Steps in Tacoma, Wash., have been a gathering place and a popular backdrop for tourist photos.
But the steps' condition has deteriorated, and vandalism has compromised their beauty. The steps hit a new low five years ago when a car thief drove a stolen vehicle down the aging staircase, damaging the arched balustrade at the landing.
City officials literally picked up the pieces, storing concrete chunks until restoration could begin. Fortunately, the city had commissioned a detailed report on the steps, completed in December 2004, just before the illegal joy ride. That historic structures report became the blueprint for repairs.
Earlier this month, rehabilitation of the Spanish Steps finally began.
"They've been a state of disrepair for probably the past 20 years," says Reuben McKnight, the city's historic preservation officer. But "even in their bad shape, you walk up on them, and they're just a fantastic architectural statement."
The Spanish Steps are listed as a contributing element within the Old City Hall Historic District and were added to the National Register of Historic Places and the Washington Heritage Register in 1977. They were designed by Édouard Frère Champney, a French-born architect who trained at the École des Beaux-Arts and later established a thriving practice in the Pacific Northwest.
The rehabilitation project is funded by a $944,000 grant from the state department of transportation and the Federal Highway Transportation Enhancements program. Work began Aug. 2 and is scheduled for completion in December. Tacoma preservationists are eager to see the Spanish Steps regain their beauty.
"They're sadly neglected; they look like ruins of Rome," says local architect Brett Santhuff , former board member of Historic Tacoma. Once reopened, the site will be popular with locals and tourists, he says. "The Spanish Steps have a view out to the port—they knew what they were doing when they laid it out. Either going up or down the steps or sitting there, you could see ships coming and going."
Revival of the staircase is linked to the revival of the adjacent Elks Temple, a 1916 Beaux-Arts building also designed by Champney. The temple has been abandoned for about 30 years, but Oregon-based McMenamins plans to renovate it as a restaurant and events center. That restoration is scheduled to begin next year, according to company spokeswoman Renee Rank.
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