Winery Icon Stands Up to Fire

Arbor Crest's historic Cliff House gutted in holiday blaze; owners will restore the Spokane Valley landmark
 
 

 
The gutted interior tells a different tale, but Arbor Crest's owners were fully insured, and hope to restore the historic building to its former grandeur.

Spokane, Wash. -- The imposing Cliff House mansion that loomed over Spokane Valley for 85 years was partially consumed by fire in the early morning hours of Dec. 23, but its owners at Arbor Crest Wine Cellars vow to restore it. Arbor Crest purchased the National Historic Landmark in 1985, and it has since become both a drawing card for winery visitors and the centerpiece of Arbor Crest’s annual series of concerts and events.

Arbor Crest’s production facilities and tasting room are housed in separate parts of the property, and remained open for business after fire crews completed their mop-up around 9 a.m. The blaze had first been reported by a passing motorist around 4 a.m. and eventually required some 18 engines from Spokane Valley and the city and county of Spokane, according to Jim van Loben Sels, Arbor Crest’s general manager.

Set among manicured gardens, the three-story Florentine-style structure rises atop a 400-foot sheer basalt cliff above the Spokane River. Access is via a narrow, steep serpentine road, and the nearest fire hydrant is a half-mile distant; tanker trucks piggy-backed water to the parking lot, where most of the firefighters were staged.

The fire appeared to originate from an electrical problem in a ground floor office, van Loben Sels said; all three floors and the roof were involved before firefighters arrived on scene. Although the interior was almost entirely gutted, he told Wines & Vines, “The family is determined to put it back in its original state.” The winery is owned by Harold and Marcia Mielke, whose daughter Kristina is winemaker and van Loben Sels’ wife.

 Even with boarded windows, Arbor Crest's Cliff House mansion remains an imposing structure from the outside.

The mansion’s sturdy stucco exterior shows minimal signs of damage, but most of its European antique furnishings, collected over years by the Mielkes, were lost. Van Loben Sels said the property was insured, and that “Probably it was saved by its thick concrete foundation.” Materials similar to the originals are available, he said, including the tongue-and-groove beams. “Its ornateness can be retooled,” he said.

Built in 1925 by Royal Newton Riblet, the eccentric inventor of, among other devices, a pattern sprinkler system, a mechanical parking garage and a “square-wheeled” tractor, what was then known as “The Eagle’s Nest” intrigued generations of Spokane residents during its early decades, when it was off-limits to the public. 

The fire briefly knocked out the winery’s water and phone systems, but offices and production were unscathed and, van Loben Sels said, “Only about 10% of the business was affected.” Spokane’s daily Spokesman Review announced on its front page that the tasting room would maintain normal business hours. The news drew curious throngs throughout the holiday season. “Business is up,” van Loben Sels said. “We’re in a good space for such a tragedy. If you want to help us out, buy a bottle of Arbor Crest.”

Producing about 20,000 cases annually from six or seven Eastern Washington vineyards, Arbor Crest remains one of the state’s largest family-owned wineries.