architecture

THE HOUSE THAT MARY BUILT

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

“That brown shingle house across from the high school? It’s probably a Julia Morgan,” an architect told me shortly after we moved into the neighborhood in 2006, naming the famous designer of Hearst Castle. In a recently updated survey of work by Brainerd Jones – the architect of Comstock House – it is listed as one of his buildings. Somewhere in the years between, I was told that while it was unlikely to be an actual Frank Lloyd Wright design, it must have come from the drafting table of someone who trained in the master’s office.

930 Mendocino Ave. PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons

For decades, the identity of the architect who designed the lovely home at 930 Mendocino Avenue has been a mystery. Even the late Dan Peterson, who literally wrote the book on Santa Rosa’s architectural heritage, didn’t know who designed it – and he not only had it placed on the National Register of Historic Places, he owned it for a number of years, using it as his architectural office. But it’s now known that the building was designed by Mary Rockwell Hook.

Umm…who?

She was related to the property owners (more about that in a minute) but this was not nepotism at work. Mary was a capable architect as this building shows, even though it was only the second of her designs to be built. She was also a pioneer several times over, for whom recognition is overdue.

Mary Rockwell Hook (1877-1978) decided to become an architect in 1902, during an era when few professions were open to women and any who wanted a career were suspected of being something between an ardent feminist or political radical. She had qualified support from family; her father approved of the artistic aspects of architectural study and paid her tuitions, yet expected she accept no salary when she found a job. And of all the professions to pursue, architecture was among the least welcoming to women at the time, having evolved from the manly building trade. At the first firm she approached for a job she was told, “We’re sorry but we could not take a woman. You can’t swear at women and they can’t climb all over full sized details.” But the next office was glad to accept her. “They never needed to swear and I could manage full size details,” she wrote in her memoir. So rare was her kind that even by the time she reached middle age, you could have assembled every single American female architect in a small school auditorium that seated 200.

Although she was denied entry to the fraternal system that advanced the careers of her male colleagues, she had a major advantage: Mary was a Rockwell. The wealthy and esteemed family (introduced here) spent much of their time traveling abroad or visiting each other; she and her four sisters were immersed in high culture. After she graduated Wellesley College in 1900, for example, the family spent eight months in Italy and Switzerland. They were barely back home in Kansas when her uncle, General Adna Chaffee, was appointed military governor of the Philippines. So off they went again, this time visiting Japan and China and the Middle East as well. The next year were trips to Venezuela and Sicily. And so life went for the Rockwells.

Her architectural studies began in 1903, when she was the only female student in that department at the Art Institute of Chicago. Reference works state she studied and/or graduated from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, but that’s not quite true. According to her autobiography, she was enrolled in an atelier operated by Jacques-Marcel Auburtin, a rising star in French architecture (and who had recently proposed marriage to one of Mary’s sisters). Mary did take an entrance exam – being the first woman since Julia Morgan to get that far – but received a failing grade. In truth, she could not have attended the school for very long, even if she had passed all the exams; although it was no longer off-limits to women, there still was a policy that students couldn’t be older than thirty, and Mary was already 29.

But at the same time, being accepted by an atelier was a not insubstantial achievement. They acted as an adjunct to the Ecole proper; some were even located inside the main building. It was a bit like having workshops training medieval journeymen grafted onto a modern college. You studied – often for years – at an atelier préparatoire to prep for passing all three entrance exams, then once you were admitted your student work was prepared under the guidance of an atelier, possibly the same one. A very good overview of the tradition-bound Beaux-Arts system as it worked around the turn of the century can be found in this book.

Here is exactly what Mary wrote of her Beaux-Arts experience, which biographers consistently misstate:

Through Kitty’s acquaintance with Marcel Auburtin, I arranged to study architecture at his atelier in Paris. He had seven Americans enrolled – all graduated of Yale and Princeton. When these boys heard a girl was coming they didn’t like the idea. They decided to name me “Liz.” It turned out that we all became lifelong friends. These boys worked three years before they passed all the examinations to enter the Beaux Arts.

We all took the first examination. I learned that I was the second woman who had ever taken an examination at Beaux Arts. The other woman was Miss Morgan of San Francisco who later devoted most of her life to the building of the Hearst Palace of great renown in California.

One must pass the first exam to qualify for the second, then must pass the second for the third, and so on for several weeks. None of us passed the first one, but what a memorable day! They put me in a big library with guards and locked the door. Hundreds of French boys begin to take these exams every six months, beginning at 14 or 50 years of age. All day I could hear them yelling and singing.

When the day was over one of the American boys came to rescue me. He said he would take me by the back way because all day the French boys had been planning to throw buckets of water on me as I entered the big courtyard. He had a taxi waiting and we ran, falling into it with our drafting boards, “T” squares and triangles.

Incidents of gender harassment aside, it left fun memories. She and a couple of her sisters lived in the raucous student quarter of the Left Bank and she wrote happily about bicycle sojourns into the countryside. She was still in Paris when the April, 1906 earthquake hit Santa Rosa. Her mother later told her, “On the morning of the earthquake she [mother] appeared fully dressed with hat, veil, and gloves and wondering if she shouldn’t call her sister, Mrs. Finlaw, to cancel their dinner engagement. A call she couldn’t have made. All the phone lines were down.”


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Mary returned to Kansas City later in 1906 intending to join an architectural firm, only to be told by father Bertrand that he would consent to her working in an office only as an unpaid student. It would be easy here to wave off Bertrand as being a paternalistic jerk but he was a loving parent and notably forward-thinking. The Rockwell family has a 1911 newspaper clipping that commented Captain Rockwell had “recently attracted considerable attention by the assertion that the daughter or daughters of a family, no matter what their station in life, should be taught a profession in which they could earn their own living.” It was more likely that he was being protective, knowing she faced discrimination that might be insurmountable and it would be easier for her to walk away from an unpaid internship than bear the professional stigma of quitting a position without expecting references, should she feel a need to leave. And Papa did actively support Mary’s ambitions; he purchased a lot in a Kansas City subdivision for her to build her first house (modern view to right).

She later wrote that house “followed the latest trends of California cottages” and the design, with its asymmetrical saltbox roof with extended eaves and dormer windows, was in keeping with the contemporary Arts & Crafts style. In particular, it resembles Gustav Stickley house design No. 28 (example here) which she could have seen in a 1905 issue of his magazine, “The Craftsman.” After it was completed, she lived it in for a month “to try it out.”

From her autobiography: “Next came a house for my sister Florence Edwards in Santa Rosa, California.” The Edwards’ moved in autumn of 1908, so the home at 930 Mendocino was designed 1907-1908.

She designed a house for a college friend and her father purchased another Kansas City lot, this intended for her to build an 11-bedroom family manse. That home and eight others she designed in the area between 1908 and 1927 are on the National Register of Historic Places (PDF). Together, they describe what might be called a “Mary Rockwell Hook style” that was in step with the progressive craftsman designs coming from leading architects at the same time.

RIGHT: Mary Rockwell c. 1911 PHOTO: Rockwell Family Archives

Her homes were usually asymmetrical, according to the authors of the Register nomination for the Kansas City houses, with a “T” or “L” shaped ground plan instead of a square or rectangular box. Windows were plentiful and also not symmetric, and the floor plan was often multi-level with irregularly shaped rooms. In some, she included an area that could be used as a stage. The home she designed for herself was described as “a rambling aggregation of intersecting wings and extruding gables, dormers, decks and porches.” She incorporated outdoor space into the designs with sleeping porches, upper decks, balconies, patios that were called “outdoor living rooms” and even integrated swimming pools. She gave rooms an Old World touch by often making fireplaces and chimneys out of rough stone and antique tile. “Long before recycling of materials became an economical advantage, Mrs. Hook was rummaging in demolished buildings and salvage yards for useable or picturesque artifacts, which were employed both structurally and decoratively.”

The Santa Rosa house matches her typical style, although in appearance it’s quite different from the Kansas City houses. It fits into the shingle-style “First Bay Region Tradition” that characterizes residential designs from that period by Julia Morgan and others and she may have also been encouraged by character of the neighborhood, where there were new and prominent Brainerd Jones buildings in this style – Comstock House, the Saturday Afternoon Club, and the lost Paxton House – just down the street. Mary would have been very familiar with those shingled places; she was designing the house for sister Florence, who was a past president of the Club, and the Oates family (first owners of Comstock House) threw a party for another of the Rockwell sisters in late 1907, just about when Mary would have been drawing architectural plans.

Mary loved sleeping porches, and wrote in her memoir, “This and That,” of once waking up with snow on her blankets. Her original design for the Rockwell family home had a sleeping porch off of every bedroom, and the Edwards House in Santa Rosa had a screened porch as large as a regular bedroom. Now enclosed with windows, the exterior of the porch can be seen above left, and the door to the porch – shown here opened – has a diamond paned lattice window that lights the second floor hallway.

(As the building has been converted to private offices, only common areas are pictured here. CLICK or TAP on any image to enlarge.)

Similarities to her first home design can be seen above in the dormer windows, strong roof corbels, and square bump out window seat in the living room. The earlier house also had a juliet balcony, although the railing is currently steel and not likely to be original. The balcony on the Edwards House faces south and is now heavily shaded by mature trees, but would have brought considerable natural light into the second floor hallway. Note the decorative balusters that continue the craftsman design of the glass doors, discussed below.

The ground floor plan of the Edwards House is quite novel. From the front door is a large entrance hall with a free standing stairway in the center. Walking directly forward passes under the stairway’s landing and directly into the living room. At the foot of the stairway on the other end of the entrance hall are four matching glass doors partitioned into a Arts & Crafts pattern very similar to Stickley designs of that same period. Above left: The double doors that led to the dining room, and to their immediate right, another door into the living room.

Above: The glass door leading into the panty with the alabaster stained glass illuminated from behind.

The pantry is quite large in proportion to the 3-bedroom house and suggests Mary’s sister, Florence, had quite a dish collection. In a short essay about the 1906 earthquake (transcribed here) she lamented that  “…[We] listened to the crash of our beautiful wedding china and glass as it smashed on the floor. My parents screaming as they both fell down on the floor amid glass and china and cut their knees and hands.”

Although the kitchen is bungalow-sized, the lighting is very good with a pair of east windows and one facing north providing supplemental light. A sunny kitchen was not to be taken for granted; in many home designs of that period the kitchen was an afterthought. In Brainerd Jones’ original 1904 design of Comstock House, for example, the stove was in the least ventilated part of the room with the single source of natural light being a window connected to a porch, several feet behind the cook – it must have been onerous to prepare the simplest meals. Inclusion of a well-designed kitchen shows the architect understood how domestic work functioned, and may demonstrate a significant advantage for architects who grew up in Victorian America as girls instead of boys. Mary wrote in her autobiography that at her first job, the head draftsman asked her, “tell me, what does a butler do in a butler’s pantry?”

Most of the windows in the Edwards House are casements, which were very modern at the time and part of the Mary Rockwell Hook “style.” But the latches on these dual windows above the stairway landing would require a ladder to open, making it impractical to cool the second floor at the end of a hot summer’s day by inviting in the foggy marine layer.

Current owner Trae Seely deserves highest praise for his good taste and judgement in restoration of the house, but the interiors may have been modified by some of the (at least) five previous owners. The complete lack of ornamentation is surprising; except for the alabaster glass doors and picture rail, the house is spartan. There is no wall crown molding, nor basic details such as returns on door or window trim. Missing are typical craftsman style features such as box beams and natural wood paneling, except for the fireplace mantles. As the closeup above right shows, the crown molding above doors, windows and cabinets is not just simple, but minimalist. But while there are examples such as the newel post that do show signs of replacement, why would someone would tear out substantial original woodwork? It would be very interesting to compare these interiors to those in other houses she designed in that period. If original, it would be notable as a pre-modernist take on the general craftsman style.

Mary Rockwell Hook’s career divides neatly into two chapters. The latter part began in 1935 when she purchased 55 acres near Sarasota, Florida for only $10,000 and designed many of the homes there, including an artist’s colony (more about that period here, including another portrait).

But the first part began with the house for her friend and sister Florence, and concluded in 1929 with the final construction of another California house for her sister Katherine in Woodside. That chateau-like manor house, called “Le Soleil,” is as opulent as the Santa Rosa house is humble, with gold leaf ceilings and a 12-car garage. Sister “Kitty” – the same one who was once engaged to the Beaux-Arts atelier master – married Francis Crosby, who was president of the famous Key System streetcar service that linked San Francisco and the East Bay cities (until General Motors, Firestone Tire, and Phillips Petroleum conspired to put them out of business, that is). Like the Edwards House, Le Soleil is mostly unknown as a Mary Rockwell Hook design, and her name wasn’t mentioned in promotional materials when the estate sold in April, 2013 for $8,400,000 (photos here, here and here).

Also in the first part of career she designed most of the campus for the Pine Mountain Settlement School, a boarding school and local cultural center in a remote area of the southern Appalachian Mountains. From her memoirs it is clear this work meant much to her and although the site is now a National Historic Landmark, it never brought her great acclaim. But that certainly was okay with her; while she clearly loved architecture, she did not have the ego driving her to want to be The Great Architect. By the age Mary decided that she wanted to pursue a career in the field, Julia Morgan already had a BS from UC/Berkeley in Civil Engineering and had completed an internship with Bernard Maybeck. There were years that Mary did not practice architecture at all; near the end of WWI she worked for the Post Office translating “Spanish trade mail” and later spent a year working for a charity assisting French peasant-farmers trying to reestablish their lives postwar. She often spent hours a day riding horses and sometimes toured in amateur theatrical productions. It seems that she had a well-balanced and happy life right up to her death at age 101.

As for the Edwards House, Florence and her husband did not live there long. It appears that they moved in during the autumn of 1908, judging by the newspaper clipping mentioned below and because the Rockwell family scrapbooks contain an October 12, 1908 receipt from the Fountaingrove Vineyard Co. for five gallons of “Saut (sweetened)” – presumably sauterne, which was quite popular in the day – that cost 75 cents a gallon, plus another buck for the keg. Presumably there were more gallons of the cloying sweet wine on hand when James was elected mayor of Santa Rosa in 1910 and invited the congratulatory crowd that gathered outside their home to come in and have “something to eat and drink.” Hopefully Florence didn’t lose too many pieces of her replenished dishware collection that evening.

The Edwards apparently sold the house in 1913 to Milton Wasserman, one of the larger hops dealers in the area. Florence and James Edwards moved back to McDonald Avenue, where he had lived most of his life, this time taking up residence at number 925, directly next to the Mabelton mansion.

     The James R. Edwards are now comfortably installed in their handsome new residence on Mendocino avenue. They have certainly good reason to be proud of their new home and the friends who have been privileged with an inspection of the interior furnishing and arrangement cannot say too much in compliment of the taste displayed.

    – “Society Gossip”, Press Democrat, November 22, 1908

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LAST FROM A LOST ERA

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

It’s the “last building” many times over, including being one of the last buildings you would ever think was notable. It was the last work in the North Bay of a great architect, and likely one of his last completed designs. It is the last remaining grand lodge hall in Santa Rosa, a survivor from a time when anyone downtown was only a few steps away from the imposing home of Elks or Eagles or other. It is the last building tied to Santa Rosa’s culture during the early Twentieth Century, when most everyone flocked to weekend dances and big parties. It is still there at 404 Mendocino Avenue, and its doors opened on February 25, 1909.

William H. Willcox was an esteemed architect (introduced here) who created quite a storm in the months before the 1906 earthquake. He presented a vision where Santa Rosa might leapfrog San Jose and other up-and-coming Bay Area communities and become a showcase for modern urban development. Santa Rosa Creek was to be transformed into a waterfront park that would be the centerpiece of an expanded downtown that included a convention auditorium large enough to host statewide and even national events. Investors lined up and he was only weeks (days?) away from having enough funding to break ground for the big pavilion when the quake struck. Money immediately dried up as the bankers and speculators concentrated on rebuilding their downtown holdings. The earthquake and fires not only took 77 lives, but also killed off Santa Rosa’s brightest possible future.

He served as Santa Rosa’s building inspector immediately after the quake, a time when a dozen or so architects in San Francisco and Berkeley were winning contracts to design the town’s new hotels and office buildings. As far is known, Willcox received none of this work (although one building appeared to rip off his convention hall design). It’s possible he had jobs in San Francisco, or was too busy because so much on-site supervision was required of him to enlarge and modernize Hood Mansion at Los Guilicos, which was completed in 1908.

Willcox appeared destined to leave no legacy in Santa Rosa at all, so it was surprising to find in the 1909 newspapers that one of his pre-quake designs was actually built and about to open. The building was the lodge hall for the Native Sons of the Golden West (NSGW, to its friends).


Construction of the building apparently began in late 1907, per the medallion on the wall. It could have started much sooner, had the fraternal society not welcomed Santa Rosa to use their vacant lot as the temporary site of a shantytown for city hall and the rest of the civic center in the sixteen months after the quake. During this time gap Willcox modified the design of the building in several ways, and we’re lucky to have a copy of his original drawing as well as his revision.

All versions of the front face – including what was actually built – were equal parts California Mission Revival Style and Romanesque. With its overhanging tile eaves and Spanish-baroque parapet, the roofline was strongly Mission, particularly when there still was a north tower to showcase more tile. Everything below that is Romanesque, but not busy; even today, the archtop ribbon windows against the smooth stucco wall looks clean and modern-ish. Few architects could blend these very different styles so successfully. “Masterpiece” might be going too far, but it’s truly damned impressive.

TOP: Drawing published 1906 (Mar. 4 Press Democrat)
MIDDLE: Drawing published 1909 (May 6 Republican)
BOTTOM: Circa 1935 postcard

The roof design evolved the most. Originally Willcox plopped a cupola on the north end to be the base for a flagpole. He did much the same in his convention center design, and those two 1906 drawings even show U.S. and state flags fluttering in the same way over the buildings. In the later NSGW drawing, the cupola became a steep pinnacle over columns suggesting a tower with turrets. The California motto, “EUREKA”, was now in framed relief as part of the wall. In the finished version, the pinnacle became squat and more conventional while the turrets became taller and heavier. If you isolated the profile of the northwest corner as shown in the 1935 postcard, it could be the bell tower of a nice Methodist church. Today the north tower is completely gone and as a result, you can’t look at the building from the other side of the street without thinking how strangely lopsided it seems.


On the south end of the roof, design changes were less dramatic. The parapet was simplified and lost its flagpole. Instead, there was a “brilliant electric star that burned on top of the turret outside,” according to the description below. Solomon’s Seal (not a Star of David; the NSGW wasn’t a Jewish group) remained unchanged through all the versions. On the second floor, the Palladian windows at either end of the building became single windows framed by engaged columns, which nicely complimented the entranceway.

With its large upstairs ballroom and banquet facilities, the hall was an immediate hit with the social set, accommodating parties too large – and maybe, too boisterous – for the Saturday Afternoon Clubhouse, which was about Santa Rosa’s only other venue for rent. If you danced before 1940, you danced here. Hardly a week went by in following decades without the papers announcing one or two doings down at Native Sons’ hall, and according to “Santa Rosa’s Architectural Heritage,” the Native Sons of the Golden West only sold the place after it was declared unsafe to continue hosting large gatherings.

Sadly, the only interior view we have shows just the lodge room (besides the large image below, the Sonoma County Library supposedly has a partial view taken from another angle, but the details don’t match). While Willcox went through multiple revisions of the exterior until he elegantly simplified the design, this photo shows a Beaux-Arts mess. Under a breathtaking stained glass skylight were walls smothered with fussy ornament, from swags to thick entablature to oversized corbels to ribbon molding over arches interrupted with band molding. There was an architrave in the arch behind the dais, although that’s the sort of detail you normally only find above the doorway of cathedrals.

In sum: It looked like a wedding cake where the baker kept larding on more layers of mascarpone decorations just to jack up the bill. Except for the skylight, maybe it’s not such a tragedy that the interior has been since remodeled to death and apparently retains no original details (some interior views are available via the leasing agent).

Even while Willcox was collecting Santa Rosa’s praise, he wasn’t collecting money from the City Council that he thought was his due. His lawyer threatened suit over $1,630: $1,000 for plans drawn up before the earthquake for the E street bridge, and $630 for a firehouse design. Whether he was paid or even had a legitimate case is unknown, but Empire Building architect John Galen Howard had also submitted plans for a new fire station, so Willcox probably had cause to believe the city was soliciting designs (the City Council decided to go on the cheap and just build a replica of the old 19th century building). As for the bridge, Willcox had already demanded $300 for the blueprints in 1907, which is probably why the Press Democrat dryly noted, “Mr. Willcox’s claims have been heard from before.”

Willcox probably didn’t work again in the North Bay (although he died twenty years later at the Veteran’s Home in Yountville), but the PD had another little item about him in 1909, noting that he had a commission to design the Elks Hall/office building in Stockton. That turned out to be a nice but undistinguished design in a restrained Beaux Arts style (picture here). He stayed active as an architect through at least part of the 1910s, but it’s unknown if he actually built anything after Stockton. If not, the Native Sons’ hall in Santa Rosa will stand as his last great work.

New Structure on Mendocino Street for Which the Plans Have Just Been Adopted

One of the finest structures to be built in Santa Rosa this year is the handsome Native Sons’ Hall which is to occupy a conspicuous lot within half a block of the Courthouse, on Mendocino street adjoining the Riley property. It will be a building worthy of the advancement and progress of the City of Roses and one that will be redound with credit to Santa Rosa Parlor of Native of Sons of the Golden West [sic], whose home it will be, and an attractive ornament to the city.

As stated in this paper the plans for the building were finally adopted at a meeting of the directors of the Santa Rosa Native Sons’ Hall Association  incorporated, and the accepted design is reproduced in the picture above.

Judge Emmet Seawell is the president of the Board of Directors of the Hall Association. The plans were accepted after very careful consideration, the object being to have a structure that would meet all requirements.

Santa Rosa Parlor has a large and growing membership and the securing of such a commodious and comfortable home, with the additional attraction of the social features that the possession of clubrooms will afford is sure to prove advantageous in an increase of membership. While the social and fraternal sides were considered it was also deemed advisable to see that the building should be made a good financial [illegible microfilm] has been given that it will be so.

The plans adopted call for a two story building, modified Mission style, with handsome entrance and wide stairway to the upper floor. The lower floor will be divided into four stores, 20 feet wide in the clear, with modern plate glass fronts and marble base. The upper floor will include the largest and handsomest lodge room in the city, commodious ante-rooms, handsome club rooms, large banquet hall, with kitchen, pantries, and all necessary conveniences. There will be a stage in the banquet room and a fine floor in the hall for dancing. The estimated cost of the building with the furnishings is $30,000. The plans accepted were those prepared by Architect William H. Willcox of this city.

– Press Democrat, March 4, 1906

NATIVE SONS GATHER IN MAGNIFICENT NEW HOME
Santa Rosa Parlor Officers Are Installed

Santa Rosa Parlor of the Native Sons of the Golden West took formal possession of their fine hall and clubrooms on Thursday night, and right proud are the members over the completion and acquisition of their handsome new home. They have a right to be. The City of Roses is also particularly pleased over the addition of such a noble structure to her newer and greater self.

Thursday night’s installation of the new officers of the Parlor in the new hall was the first regular meeting, for the previous meeting of the parlor held there, was a special one. There was a large gathering of the members present, and they entered heartily into the occasion and its attendant significance. The brilliant electric star that burned on top of the turret outside furnished a suggestion of the welcome inside, and the idea was admired by many who looked up at the lights and were informed of the importance of the gathering within.

Inside and outside the Native Sons’ building presents an attractive appearance. Many citizens have been privileged with an inspection of the building, and have come away expressing their admiration for it. The entrance, with its marble finish, broad stairs and clusters of lights, is very imposing, and a fitting introduction to the fine equipment of the building. The reception hall at the top of the stairs is very neat and right here it can be truthfully said that Architect William H. Willcox planned very cleverly in the arrangement of the building throughout, and is certainly entitled to congratulations. He is personally proud of the successful completion of his plans.

From the hall entrance is gained to the main lodge room, the clubrooms and the dance hall. The lodge room is a beauty. It presents a very attractive picture, particularly with the arch and and dome effects that have been carried out in its construction. The lighting, by stained glass skylight by day, and by a myriad of electric globes by night, is most effective.

The lodge room furnishing is also very tasteful. The mahogany furniture and chairs upholstered in Spanish leather. and the fine Brussels carpet on the floor add a finish that is very pleasing.

Mention has already been made of the dance hall. This will be a thing of beauty and a joy to devotees of the fascinating pastime for years to come. When all is completed and the bevelled mirrors adorn the walls and other artistic furnishings are seen in all their radiance there is no doubt of the popularity of the place for dances and parties. The orchestra will be stationed in the northeast corner of the room.

The same style of elegance that is noted in the other rooms applies to the clubrooms. There is a home-like appearance at once gives the rooms by the large fireplace and its African marble finish. In these rooms there will be billiard tables and other accessories for the pleasure of the members. The possession of this notable home should be the means of bringing into the fold of Santa Rosa Parlor all the available membership.

The banquet room must not be lost sight of, either. It is in the third story, and when fully equipped will be as nice a place for its purpose as could be found anywhere. Then there are the dressing rooms and the other offices, all complete in their details, and designed with the idea of comfort and convenience uppermost.

There is no doubt but that Santa Rosa has one of the finest homes the order has in the Golden West, and there are very few fraternal buildings of the kind to be found anywhere in the state that excell [sic] it.

[..]

– Press Democrat, February 26, 1909
Willcox’s Claims

Attorney G. W. Barlett of San Francisco sent a letter stating that W. H. Willcox, the architect, had referred to him his claim for $630 for plans which Willcox says he once furnished to the city for a fire department station, and $1,000 for plans for the E street bridge. The letter was referred to City Attorney Allison B. Ware for consideration. Mr. Willcox’s claims have been heard from before. Bartlett threatened a suit.

– City Council notes, Press Democrat, September 22, 1909

SANTA ROSA ARCHITECT WINS
Wm. H. Willcox’s Plans for Stockton Elks Hall are Accepted

The plans for the new $100,000 Elks hall and building in the city of Stockton prepared by William H. Willcox, the well known architect of this city, have been accepted and naturally Mr. Willcox and his friends here are very much pleased at the recognition given. Mr. Willcox has a fine record as an architect and has designed many large and important buildings in this and other states. The building in Stockton is to be a magnificent structure and will be modern and unique in many respects.

Mr. Willcox’s friends among the members of Santa Rosa Elks lodge are very much pleased over the fact that his plans have been accepted. Mr. Willcox is one of the “baby Elks” of Santa Rosa lodge, that is he was one of the last of the new members to be initiated.

– Press Democrat, February 1, 1909

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A DAY OF FIRES, A NOT-SO-HOT FIREHOUSE

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

Santa Rosa took three years to replace the firehouse lost in the 1906 quake, and almost all expenses were spared. While the post office and courthouse were being fitted with marble, stained glass, mosaic flooring and other opulent features, the firemen were to make do with what could be built using the leftovers in the town’s construction fund.

What they got was a rebuild of the previous brick building that collapsed after it was swept by flames following the earthquake. There were some inconsequential differences. The upstairs quarters facing the street had five windows instead of three; there was a battery room to keep the alarm box system charged and a gym for “exercises in wet weather,” both rooms probably not found in the old building. But other than that, the new firehouse appears identical to its predecessor, down to the ironwork that decorated the corners of the two bays. The Press Democrat described the new building – as well as the fire fighting equipment – in two articles transcribed below, where you’ll also find the PD repeatedly calling the firefighters “fire laddies.” That was an antiquated nickname even then, and thankfully now almost forgotten (although ye might want to keep the phrase in mind for the next “Talk Like a Pirate Day,” arggh).

 
(TOP: The 1909 Santa Rosa Firehouse in two views. All buildings pictured in this article were located at at 508 Fifth Street, near B St. Both 1909 photos courtesy SRFD
MIDDLE: The pre-1906 earthquake Firehouse
BELOW: The temporary post-1906 earthquake Firehouse. Photo courtesy Sonoma County Library)

 

The new firehouse and the old firehouse – as well as the temporary shack erected after the earthquake – were all at 508 Fifth, near the intersection of B St. (Today it’s the parking lot behind Tex Wasabi’s.) But the new building didn’t have to be at that location, or be of such unimaginative Victorian-era design. The year before, respected architect John Galen Howard presented the city with plans for a state-of-the-art firehouse and adjacent City Hall that was intended to be built next to Courthouse Square. From the drawing that appeared in the newspapers, the design was in the same style as the nearby Empire Building which Howard also designed, but it wasn’t built apparently for reasons both financial and political. And sometime before that (probably 1907), esteemed architect William H. Willcox had also submitted a design, about which nothing is known. So for the next twenty years or more, the rebuilt old-fashioned building served as SRFD headquarters until a larger, modern firehouse was constructed at 415 A Street.

The “laddies” weren’t long in their new digs before they faced their greatest challenge since the earthquake: Three fires within hours, the worst of them spreading fast because of high winds. Before the day was over, two factories, three hotels, a winery, several homes and nearly two square blocks had been destroyed.

The fires began the morning of July 31, 1909 at the pasta factory on Sebastopol Avenue, and the building was lost by the time the Fire Department arrived. The company’s success became its ruin, as nearly three tons of macaroni was about to be shipped and the dry pasta burned well. “Santa Rosa Paste” had become a major source of pasta for San Francisco restaurants and grocers since the 1906 earthquake and fire.

A few hours later, the alarm sounded for the Santa Rosa Woolen Mills on West Sixth (now the large vacant lot west of the train station). Again firefighters found a factory beyond rescue thanks to a highly flammable inventory. But this fire was in the late afternoon, when the winds in the Santa Rosa Valley pick up and shift unpredictably. The firemen were now facing a potential disaster that could burn out of control and sweep the town.

The Press Democrat coverage is abridged below and is a stirring read:


The flames, seeming to mock the efforts of the fire-fighters, shot out over in the direction of the Santa Rosa Flour Mills, immediately opposite on the other side of the track. “Save the mills!” was the cry that was echoed from a thousand throats…Then the wind luckily swerved back on the hotel building and fears for the safety of the flour mills were at an end. In the meantime the fire from the woolen mills had jumped across the street and had caught the D. Cassassa property. The big frame winery, a cottage to the west, a two-story Japanese lodging house to the east, were all enveloped in flame and were burning furiously. Driven by the wind, the flames spread northward and were burning on both sides of Adams street. L. O. Battaglia’s hotel, a small two-story frame structure, and Mrs. Guidotti’s two cottages, just this side of the Toscano hotel, next caught fire. Here was where the battle royal was fought to prevent the further spread of the the flames, and keep them away from the hotel. It was as great a fight as was ever put up by a fire department in a suburban town.

Seemingly everyone in town turned out, and like during the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake, almost everyone helped fight the blaze. Ben Noonan and other automobile owners volunteered to carry equipment and firefighters. Passengers on the train to Ukiah got off and joined the efforts. “Men and boys worked like Trojans in the battle against the fire fiend,” the PD reported. “Drenched to the skin, Mayor James H. Gray, Dr. J. W. Jesse, Sheriff Smith, and the Councilmen, police [and] other officials, and citizens directed the auxiliaries and fought bravely.” It must have been particularly memorable to watch as “a corps of fighters led by Councilman Johnston attacked the flames successfully with sacks soaked with wine flowing from the tanks in the Cassassa cellar.”

Within two hours, the fire was mostly contained, although nearly every building on the first block of West 6th and 7th was destroyed or suffered damage. But while that fire was still raging, word arrived that there was yet another fire underway over in the “Ludwig’s addition” section of town (today, the site of the Highway 101/12 intersection). Some of the firemen raced to that scene to find again members of the community stepping up to bat, with a bucket brigade having the flames under control.

It was a day terrible and triumphant; the firefighters saved what could be saved, and no one was injured. Some of the firemen, certainly sore, smoky, and weary, stayed on watch that night to ensure that the ashes did not rekindle. Some went back to Fifth Street, where the horses were fed and watered and the equipment cleaned in preparation for the next emergency. Only then did the men crawl into their cots, having rescued the town from great disaster for the second time in three years. They must have slept soundly, there in the firehouse that Santa Rosa had built for them on the cheap.

THE FIRE LADDIES IN A NEW HOME
Department Moves Into Its New Quarters on Monday–Description of the Building

The Santa Rosa Fire Department is again housed at the fine, new building on the old site on Fifth street, the apparatus having been transferred there on Monday morning. During the day the alarm indicator was transferred and placed in position and the harness swung ready for immediate use. Later hay and feed for the horses was delivered and Monday night the men slept in the house for the first time.

The new fire engine house, constructed to replace the one destroyed the morning of April 18, 1906, is one of the finest and most modern in the state. It has been arranged with the view of making it comfortable and convenient for the men. On the ground floor is the big new electric switchboard, battery room and apparatus. Up stairs the men have roomy quarters in the rear of which is the store room for hay and grain for the horses.

The fire engine stands on the east side of the building with a horse on either side, while right in the rear of the engine is the hose cart with its horse’s stalls against the east side wall. The hook and ladder track stands along side of the fire engine on the west side of the building with the horse along side of the west wall. The reserve steamer stands back of the other apparatus in easy access in case of emergency.

The upper floor has not yet been put in shape but as the men have the time they will fix it up to suit their taste. There will be bedrooms for those who remain on duty continually and a lounging room. Provision  has been made for an exercise room as well as kitchen and dining quarters. These will be properly provided with all articles necessary so that the men can always have warm meals.

Just as soon as it is ready a manual repeater will be installed so that when a telephone message is received of a fire it can be turned in from the box nearest the fire at once and thus notify the call men. [illegible microfilm] convenience as at present the department is handicapped by phone calls for its service and there is no way to notify the outside men unless the brewery whistle is also blown after a call by phone.

– Press Democrat, January 19, 1909

 

THE SANTA ROSA FIRE DEPARTMENT
Something About the Fire Laddies and the Equipment in the Engine House on Fifth Street

Santa Rosa has one of the best equipped had nost efficient fire departments of any town of its size in the state. The department occupies fine quarters on Fifth street near B, where it is easy of access to the business section and can get to any part of the city with the least possible delay. The personnel of the department and its equipment is as follows:

Chief–Frank Muther.
Chief Engineer–James McReynolds.
Assistant Chief Engineer–Charles Bruckner.
Engine Driver–John Clawson.
Hook and Ladder Driver–Ed Elliott.
Hose Cart Driver–William Duncan.
Call Men–Harry Baker, Len Colgan, Charles Bowman, Fred Mead and A. J. Miller.
Equipment–Metropolitan fire engine, 600 gallons per minute capacity; hook and ladder truck carrying hooks, ladders, picks, axes, and four ten gallon chemicals; hose cart, carrying 1,000 feet of hose, extra nozzles, etc. Reserve–La France engine, capacity 400 gallons per minute;  extra hose cart with 1,000 feet of hose, and 1,400 feet extra hose.

Fire alarm system with nine miles of wire, 23 boxes and automatic alarm system in the engine house.

The two-story brick engine house is fully equipped for four horses and 12 men; and four fine horses weighing between 1200 and 1400 pounds each in the engine house and an extra one at the farm.

The engine house is equipped with every comfort and convenience for the fire laddies. There is a fine dormitory with cots for the men, a dining room with all the necessary dishes, kitchen with furnishings for preparing a meal and baths. There is also a large and commodious gymnasium room for exercises in wet weather.

In the rear of the building is a fine cemented floor machine shop for the use of the engineers so that they can do any small repair work necessary on the equipment from time to time as it is found necessary. The men are all interested in maintaining the department in a high state of efficiency and leave nothing undone to have everything in condition for emergencies.

Few if any cities of much larger size can boast of a better fire fighting force than is to be found here.

– Press Democrat, July 3, 1909

 

Old Fire Bell Rings.

The old fire bell that we were wont to hear before April 18, 1906 we hear again mingling in the din ushering in 1909. It called up old memories. Thorn Gate ascended the tower and with a sledge hammer smote the big bell and gave it tongue. It sounded all right, Thorn.

– Press Democrat, January 1, 1909

 

DISASTROUS FIRE IN SANTA ROSA SATURDAY NIGHT
SANTA ROSA WOOLEN MILLS IS TOTALLY DESTROYED
Cassassa’s Winery, Bettini and Battagia Hotels and Several Other Buildings Are Wiped Out
FANNED BY STRONG WIND THE FIRE BURNS FIERCELY
Heroic Fight Checks Fire at a Critical Time–Toscano’s Hotel is Seriously Damaged

The Fire Fiend dealt Santa Rosa a hard blow on Saturday. Following the destruction of the Santa Rosa Paste Factory at nine o’clock in the morning, came another and far more disastrous conflagration in the evening, which wiped out the Santa Rosa Woolen Mills, D. Cassassa’s winery, the Hotel Italia Unita, a Japanese hotel, Battaglia’s hotel, and several smaller habitations, and scorched and damaged the Toscano hotel and other buildings, and for two hours caused the greatest fire-fighting and excitement the city has seen since the memorable morning of the holacost of April 18, 1906.

It was exactly half past five o’clock Saturday evening when the steam siren at the Santa Rosa Cannery gave out a series of quick shrieks. These were followed a few moments later by the ringing of a general fire alarm. The Santa Rosa Woolen Mills, located nearly opposite the Northwestern Pacific Railroad depot, were afire. In a few seconds the entire upper story was a mass of flame. The tongues of fire, fanned by a strong wind, held angry revel, leaping here and there, sweeping the big building until it was one huge fiery furnace.

In a short time it was seen that the mills were doomed to destruction. The inflammable contents were just so much flimsy fuel to add to the fierceness of the blaze. The outbuildings and storerooms went with the main structure. It was a spectacular blaze. The flames shot out through every one of the scores of windows, and soon the crumbling walls alone marked the place where the big institution half an hor previously had stood.

Wind Drives Fire
The strong south west wind drove the huge masses of flame and fiery fragments clear across West Sixth street and Adams street. It was seen that the three-story hotel, Italia Unita, occupying the block between Adams street and the railroad, was in imminent danger. Smoke was noticed issuing from the roof. In five minutes the whole top of the structure was a mass of flames, and the wind was blowing almost a hurricane. It was readily seen that nothing could save the hotel property.

The flames, seeming to mock the efforts of the fire-fighters, shot out over in the direction of the Santa Rosa Flour Mills, immediately opposite on the other side of the track. “Save the mills!” was the cry that was echoed from a thousand throats. Two streams of water were poured on the building which was then so hot that the water boiled when it drenched the corrugated iron exterior. Once in a while a bit of fire would appear which was immediately checked by the watchers.

Wind Veers Again
Then the wind luckily swerved back on the hotel building and fears for the safety of the flour mills were at an end. In the meantime the fire from the woolen mills had jumped across the street and had caught the D. Cassassa property. The big frame winery, a cottage to the west, a two-story Japanese lodging house to the east, were all enveloped in flame and were burning furiously. Driven by the wind, the flames spread northward and were burning on both sides of Adams street. L. O. Battaglia’s hotel, a small two-story frame structure, and Mrs. Guidotti’s two cottages, just this side of the Toscano hotel, next caught fire. Here was where the battle royal was fought to prevent the further spread of the the flames, and keep them away from the hotel. It was as great a fight as was ever put up by a fire department in a suburban town. Had the fire once caught the hotel the flames would easily have jumped across Seventh street and caught residences and the big warehouse of the Merritt Fruit Company, and goodness knows how much worse damage would have been done.

On Fire Three Times
As it was the Toscano hotel, owned by Mrs. Guidotti, caught on fire three times, but the flames were happily checked. Everything was removed from the three-story structure. The building was drenched with water.

Heat Was Terrific
All this time the heat was terrific and this made it all the harder for the firemen and their scores of assistants. Men and boys worked like Trojans in the battle against the fire fiend. Fire Chief Frank Muther directed the efforts as general. Drenched to the skin, Mayor James H. Gray, Dr. J. W. Jesse, Sheriff Smith, and the Councilmen, police [and]  other officals, and citizens directed the auxiliaries and fought bravely. It was no time for standing idle. Men had to work might and main and pay no heed to any who held back and criticized on the outskirts of the crowd of thousands that gathered at the fire.

Tear Down Building
Directly adjoining the Hotel Unita on the railroad track was a wooden building that had been used as a bowling alley. Men tore this down and did a good job, for it helped to check the flames in that direction. It gave a better opportunity of getting at the seat of the fire.

The Toscano hotel stables caught fire two or three times, and a corps of fighters led by Councilman Johnston attacked the flames successfully with sacks soaked with wine flowing from the tanks in the Cassassa cellar.

Burns for Two Hours
For two hours the fire burned in the building mentioned. About half past seven o’clock the mastery had been gained and the danger had passed. It was midnight before the fire department left the scene. All this time water was poured on the smouldering embers, and a strict watch kept on property in the neighborhood.

[..]

Trains are Held
When the northbound Ukiah Express arrived at Santa Rosa the fire was at its height and its passage was blocked until after seven o’clock , owing to the fact that the hose was laid across the track and could not be moved. The train officials and the passengers took the delay good naturedly. They could not do otherwise. Quite a number of the passengers got in and helped fight the flames.

The railroad employees got hose and kept the freight warehouse roof and sides well soaked with water.

Ambulance in Readiness
The city ambulance was in readiness at the scene of the fire, and there were a number of doctors handy. A number of the fire-fighters were overcome with the heat and smoke at times, and many of them had their clothes burned and damaged. Several people received slight burns.

Some Accidents
Fire Chief Frank Muther hurt his leg. He fell down the stairs in the woolen mills. J. L. Roberts had his leg cut while kicking out a window at the mills.

Another Fire Alarm
While the big fire was in progress another alarm came from Ludwig’s addition, where the L. W. Carter cottage was in flames. Happily the fire was put out by a bucket brigade after a big hold had been burned in the roof. The cottage being located almost adjoining the paste factory premises destroyed by the morning fire, it is quite possible that a spark from the ruins may have caused the trouble.

Automobiles in Service
Ben Noonan put his auto to good use. He made several trips for coal and oil and other equipment from the engine house.

James Ramage also did good work with his machine, carrying firefighters to the Ludwig’s addition fire.

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– Press Democrat, August 1, 1909

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