Location: 507 W 7th Ave Contact: 509.625.6677
For over fifty years the Center has been providing affordable, quality fine arts and crafts programs for children and adults. Our programs are developed to foster cognitive, creative and personal growth, and classes are small so participants receive maximum attention from the instructor.
The Corbin Art Center supports the cultural arts throughout the Northwest. Originally operated by Washington State University as the Spokane Art Center from 1952 until 1963, the program became the Corbin House Arts and Crafts Center until early 1970, when it was renamed the Corbin Art Center. The Center has been offering affordable, high-quality cultural arts education in a creative environment for over fifty years.
Corbin Art Center is housed in the historic D.C. Corbin House located in the Marycliff-Cliff Park Historic District, an area rich in early-Spokane history and architecture. In the Colonial Revival architectural style, the house was designed for Daniel Chase Corbin by his former son-in-law Kirtland Cutter and completed in 1898. A significant historic landmark for its affiliation with the original owner and prominent architect, the house was placed on the Spokane Register of Historic Places in 1997 and the Washington Heritage Register and National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
Mr. Corbin was a pioneer in transportation and other successful business ventures in the Inland Northwest. He realized the need for transportation and built feeder railways to the Bunker Hill and Sullivan mines and Weyerhauser pine forests in Idaho, British Columbia's Kootenay and Rossland copper-gold mines, and the Fernie coal mines. Corbin's railroads were pivotal in establishing Spokane's position as a railroad center in the Inland Northwest at the turn of the 20th Century.
Renovation projects to refurbish the building began in 1994. The projects included revealing doors, refurbishing hardwood floors, refurbishing and repairing woodwork, restoring the second floor exterior balcony, replacing and repairing electrical wiring and lighting, cleaning and repairing exterior masonry, restoring and repairing the wraparound veranda, and restoring light fixtures, the parlor, dining room, foyer and vestibule.
The original Corbin grounds, adjacent to the home, included an elaborate basalt children's castle-like overlook, pathways, footbridges and a rose garden. Based on historic photographs and recovered site plans, the grounds were restored in 2003. In 2007, the Moore-Turner Heritage Gardens, adjacent to the D.C. Corbin House, were restored to the period they flourished following their redesign in 1911.
The City of Spokane Parks and Recreation Department, the Comstock Foundation, the Corbin Art Center Association, the Foseen Foundation, the Johnston-Fix Foundation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, WAMPUM, the Washington State Building for the Arts Program, the Washington State Historical Society Capital Projects Fund and Washington Trust Bank have demonstrated a strong commitment to the building and grounds. Maintaining and enhancing the site provides for year-round cultural programs and services in the Spokane community and the Northwest region.
The D.C. Corbin House is part of Edwidge Woldson Park. Formerly Pioneer Park, the Park was renamed in 2010 to honor Edwidge Woldson for her contributions to the community.
The City of Choice
509.625.6200
parks@spokanecity.org
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd # 5, Spokane, WA 99201
