Vancouver Barracks, Paint Shop and Central Heating Plant, East Fifth Street southeast of McLoughlin Road, Vancouver, Clark County, WA

Significance: The Paint Shop/Fire House, Buildings No. 302 and 305 (currently Building No. 408), is a contributing building to the Vancouver National Historic Reserve District in Vancouver, Washington. The Vancouver Barracks is significant for its role in the defense of the Pacific Northwest and its place in the administrative history of the United States Army (U.S. Army). The Paint Shop/Fire House is a good example of a utilitarian building type erected in the 1930s during the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) tenure at the Vancouver Barracks.
The Paint Shop/Fire House reflects the building development within Vancouver Barracks that occurred during the Great Depression when the post was designated as one of the induction centers and a headquarters for the CCC. In 1935, over a dozen support buildings were constructed to accommodate the influx of enrollees, and the Vancouver Barracks' role as a CCC supply and administrative center.
Completed in 1935-1936, the Paint Shop/Fire House was part of a complex of motor pool buildings built on the south side of East Fifth Street (originally Evergreen Highway), the main east-west road through Vancouver Barracks. These utilitarian buildings were vital to the operations of the CCC camps. The structure was originally constructed in 1935 as a Paint Shop (No. 302), with a separate Central Heating Plant (No. 305) constructed in 1936. The two structures were later altered into a single structure for use as a Fire House and renumbered as a single building (No. 408), with an added hose drying tower, sometime between 1936-1944.

Survey number: HABS WA-269
Building/structure dates: 1935 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: ca. 1944 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1936 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: after 2009 Demolished
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 06001216