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Dateline: 7/23/2008

GONZAGA UNIVERSITY NEWS RELEASE
Dale Goodwin, Director
Peter Tormey, Associate Director

Gonzaga's Moveable Mansion Rests in Place

Not the First Massive Move for Gonzaga University

The historic Huetter Mansion was moved July 24 to its destination on the northeast corner of Addison Street and Sharp Avenue. It had resided on the northwest corner of the same streets for more than a century. Photos by Dale Goodwin
The Huetter Mansion made it halfway to its destination Wednesday and will stop for the night in the middle of Addison Street. Crews arrive Thursday morning to shepherd it another 20 yards to its final resting place on Gonzaga soil.

The historic 840,000-pound Huetter (Huh-ter) Mansion -- a fixture at the northwest corner of Sharp Avenue and Addison Street for more than a century -- moved inexorably July 23-24 to its final destination on Gonzaga University soil.

[View an online Slideshow about the move.]

After hours of adjustment and readjustment of cables, tires, winch and workers' belts, the house moved approximately 110 feet to the precipice of its final destination: a big hole on the northeast corner of Sharp and Addison. It will rest there until workers are able to set it into its final location.  The move was accomplished by Catlow Structural Lifting in the Spokane Valley. For a while, it sat in the middle of Addison as drivers craned their necks and crowds gathered at the peculiar sight.

The move of the former Bishop White Seminary to its new destination was a crowd-pleaser as people stood, sat and leaned on each other chatting and gawking for hours.  

The structure, which has served as the Bishop White Seminary for more than 51 years at 429 E. Sharp Ave. The massive wooden undercarriage built to support the house in the initial part of its move was removed and will be placed in the hole where the house will be placed. Gonzaga plant department officials noted a total of 96 wheels attached to 12 dollies straining under the load of this moveable mansion. Once in place at its final destination, a foundation will be built up around the structure to support its gargantuan girth.

Another perspective of the Huetter Mansion, which captivated crowds all morning and afternoon Wednesday.
The mansion was originally constructed by John Huetter as a private residence. Gonzaga construction officials believe the house was built in approximately 1897. Huetter, a contractor, worked on several of Gonzaga’s early construction projects, including the Administration Building (now known as College Hall). Since 1956 the structure has served as the residence and training center for Catholic seminarians pursuing their undergraduate studies at Gonzaga.

The Catholic Diocese of Spokane donated the building to Gonzaga, which will likely use the structure for University Relations activities. The total cost of the move and its realignment is estimated at around $500,000. The other structures that made up the seminary have been razed. Bishop White and its seminarians have moved to temporary quarters pending construction of a new diocesan seminary – at the same location at 429 E. Sharp Ave. – by approximately spring 2009.

Gonzaga undertook a similarly massive move in 1900 when the original Gonzaga building, all 2.5 million pounds of it, was moved 500 feet from 300 E. Boone Ave., near the current site of Knights of Columbus, to a site near where the Jesuit House sits south of St. Aloysius Church.

That move cost approximately $6,000, plus another $2,500 for a new foundation, and it took two months to complete with eight horses and a winch. The site of the original college was too close to the train tracks, creating noise and air pollution. That building was used to house Jesuit scholastics until 1963 when it was razed to build Jesuit House.