[2] The Knickerbocker was financed by local civic leader and mining magnate Graham B. Dennis at a price of $200,000 in 1911.

Architect Albert Held, who designed many other luxury apartment buildings of the day, was expected to produce the “finest apartment house west of New York.”[2] At the time of construction, Spokane was experiencing a population surge as well as an accompanying housing shortage.

However, there was still a stigma against apartment homes for middle and upper class residents, so early designs that of the Knickerbocker took on the appearance of a grand hotel or exclusive club to help disguise their true purpose.

[3] When the building opened in 1911 it was hailed as the grandest apartment home in the city,[3] and its units rented for higher prices than any others in Spokane.

[6] Knickerbocker is a three-story, H-shaped building made of red brick with terra cotta trim.