SPOKANE -- What has been a downtown fixture in its own right may have met its ignominious end on Thursday.

Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture

The Joel building was erected in 1899.

Built in 1899, the building affectionately known as "the Joel" by Spokanites was all but gutted when a fire started early Wednesday morning.

John Mark, one of the family owners of the Dorian portrait studio estimated the building entailed 54,000-square feet.

KREM 2 News took a camera crew through the Joel last August.

Those images are enclosed in the above slideshow.

Images captured by KREM 2 News, KREM.com staff and station viewers are revealed in the other slideshow.