Carnegie Library, Main Branch (Spokane)

Following Spokane's rapid growth after the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1881, the city's library services had operated for two decades from rented and borrowed spaces. Concerned about women and children having to walk past saloons and gambling halls to reach the library, civic leaders organized a campaign for a dedicated library building. Local mining and timber magnate Amasa B. Campbell donated the land at the corner of Cedar and Riverside.

The Spokane architecture firm of Preusse & Zittel — which also designed Our Lady of Lourdes Cathedral, the Fernwell Building, and Holy Names Academy — was selected to design the building in the Neo-Classical style favored for Carnegie libraries. The cornerstone was placed in September 1904; reports note that Campbell was annoyed his name appeared above Carnegie's on the cornerstone. The building was completed and opened in 1905, with $85,000 of the $100,000 construction cost coming from Andrew Carnegie's library-philanthropy program.

The Carnegie building served as Spokane's main library until a new central library was built decades later. After the main library moved, the building stood vacant for over a decade before architecture firm Integrus Architecture undertook a 1990s adaptive-reuse renovation, converting it to their primary office. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 3, 1982.