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THE BACK PORCH PICKLE

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

Only luck and a lack of wind kept all Santa Rosa from burning down in the 1906 earthquake, so it’s a bit of a surprise that just eight months later, downtown property owners told the Fire Chief to shut his yap about fire safety.

On the agenda at that January, 1907 City Council meeting was yet another debate on the “back porch” problem, which had become one of those issues that the Council slogged through at every session with no end in sight.

In one corner of the ring was respected Fire Chief Frank Muther, who had witnessed fires spreading through the alley behind Fourth Street on the morning of April 18, 1906, and wanted the new buildings at those locations to have porches made of fireproof materials instead of the rough wood construction that might be found on a back porch. The Builders’ Exchange supported him by endorsing a solid concrete porch floor. In the opposite corner were some of the wealthiest property owners in town, who said that would be too expensive – and that the Fire Chief had too much influence in the matter.

The Council clearly took the fire danger seriously; at the same meeting, they gave Muther powers to order any rubbish removed and impose a fine if he was ignored. But money talks loudly, and once again, they listened to the sound of rich men pinching pennies. One of them suggested that the problem could be solved if they could just line porches with asbestos.

The City Council was in an awful pickle. There was no building code in Santa Rosa before the earthquake, and since then, the Council had created new rules and regs on an ad hoc basis. Since there was not yet an ordinance prohibiting the use of wood in the rear of the same properties that had earlier spread the fires, the landlords were well within their rights to build their porches out of rice paper, if so desired. And so much for the authority of the Fire Chief to make the town safe.

To break the stalemate, Mayor Overton called on architect Victor Dunkerly (also spelled, “Dunkerley”), who had designed the newly-built Overton Hotel. His solution showed political skill; use less of the expensive concrete, but build the porch out of iron, which cost about the same as wood. After a little more chew-over the following week, peace was finally declared in the back porch war.

MATTER OF PORCHES PRECIPITATES DISCUSSION

The mooted question of back porches to business blocks on Fourth street and other business streets bobbed up serenely at the meeting of the city council Tuesday evening. After considerable discussion, in which there were some lively call down for various speakers. Architect Dunkerly hit the matter a solar plexus blow in a few words, practically settled the question to the satisfaction of all and gave the council the best advice that they had received on the subject.

The Builders’ Exchange prepared an ordinance for the council for a fire proof back porch and specified that it should have a concrete floor five inches thick. This was objected to by property owners as being too expensive and they wanted something more moderate and at the same time fire proof. They did not desire to take any chances on having their structures burned through inflammable rear porches.

John F. Kinslow addressed the council, advocating a floor dressed with asphaltum, while Albert Jacobs, another property owner, was wedded to the theory of asbestos, which experience has shown cannot be burned. Contractor Kobes was worried to know why the council insisted on having a fire proof porch and still permitted the use of wooden stairways leading to the porch and said the stairs would require more lumber than the remainder of the porch. Fire Chief Muther injected a few remarks into the discussion at intervals, and to this there was strenuous objection on the part of Kinslow, ably seconded by Jacobs, when Kinslow declared the chief “tried to be the whole thing.” Contractor Rushing spoke in favor of asbestos lining for porches.

Matters were waxing exceedingly warm when Mayor Overton thrust himself into the breach in the sake of peace and harmony and asked belligerents to confine themselves to the question before the council and to refrain from indulging in personalities.

Briefly stated, Architect Dunkerly suggested that the proposed ordinance was severe on the property owners. He said that a porch could be constructed of two inch galvanized iron pipe, thoroughly put together, with slabs of concrete two or three inches in thickness, and that it would sustain almost any weight which would be put upon it. He also suggested iron stairways and in comparison with ngures [sic] for wooden stairs submitted by Mr. Kobes, it was found the iron stairs would be no more expensive than the wooden ones. The features of the mayor and council relaxed when the suggestion was made, for they saw a method of construction that would be superior to the one under consideration and they felt relieved. The matter went over one week to give the ordinance committee time to prepare an ordinance covering the architect’s suggestions. Chairman Johnston voted against postponing the matter further, saying it had been before the council for months and he believed it should be disposed of at once that builders might erect porches for their tenants.

– Santa Rosa Republican, January 16, 1907

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BOULEVARD DREAMS

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

Priorities, priorities: Five days after the catastrophic 1906 Santa Rosa earthquake, bodies were still under the rubble, the town was still patrolled by armed soldiers and dark at night because there was no electricity or gas – and not to mention that the community was still reeling from the marathon of forty funerals held the day before. Naturally, the powers-that-be in town decided that it was a swell time to ram through major civic improvements.

That first salvo appeared in the April 23 edition of the Democrat-Republican: “One of the first things the City Council should attend to is the establishment of the new street lines. All the business streets should and must be widened, and now is the time to do it.”

The proposal made some sense, in a morbid, Albert Speer-ish way. The quake and fires that had killed so many had wiped clear most of the downtown core from 3rd to 5th streets around the courthouse square, as well as much of 4th street down to the railroad station. But why widen the streets at all? The answer came in another Democrat-Republican op/ed on April 30:


For a long time it has been generally recognized that the majority of Santa Rosa’s business streets were too narrow, and now that the opportunity for widening them has arrived it must be embraced. It will only be a few years until electric cars are occupying all our principal streets, and in addition to this the ordinary demands of business must be considered. Third, Fourth, Fifth, A, B, Main, Mendocino and D streets can now be improved in the respect noted without difficulty and practically without cost, and the authorities should see to it that the lines are set back before any of the foundations of the new buildings talked of are laid. We have it in our power to make Santa Rosa one of the finest and most attractive little cities in the whole country, and we will be playing false to our own best interests if we fail to do so.

There was the vision laid out: Santa Rosa would become San Francisco, maybe Manhattan in matchbox scale, a little California town of expansive boulevards with plenty of room for the new electric streetcars to share space with the new automobiles. It would be a town that had the bones to grow, and maybe even sprawl over the entire Santa Rosa plain.

Alas, like other failed schemes to bolster Santa Rosa during this era , it mostly went nowhere. Self interest trumped the common weal. A setback of a dozen feet or more would not have been a hardship for most businesses because the buildings often had behind them a shed, large porch or an open yard that formed an ad hoc alley with other yards. Such a space was even a hazard; on the day of the earthquake, Fire Chief Muther witnessed the fire spread because of empty boxes and crates piled high behind these buildings, and not getting too far ahead of the story, such conditions would become a fire risk again in early 1907.

But aside from a single meeting of 5th street property owners to discuss widening that street, the debate was reduced to widening two blocks on 4th, between Hinton Ave. (the east end of Courthouse Square) and E Street. And even that caused an ugly fuss.

For two months between May and July there were heated debates over who would donate how much and who would be compensated. The man who owned the corner of 4th and D wanted the city to give him $2,800 and part of his neighbor’s lot for “damages,” and a bank demanded over five thousand dollars to move their vault back a few feet. It was suggested that money be drawn from the General Fund (empty, because of the earthquake) or the street improvement bond (impossible, because this was not an anticipated use by the voters). A petition was submitted to the City Council demanding for the frontage on 4th street be taken by eminent domain. Most of these tedious arguments are not reproduced here (you’re welcome).

A potential breakthrough offer came from the Masons on May 23rd, as the lodge volunteered to give up fourteen feet of their lot if other property owners did likewise. No one did, and the fighting seemed to intensify even more. After all this tussle, it was finally agreed that the two blocks of 4th street between Courthouse Square and E street would be widened – slightly. From Hinton Avenue to D, the town’s main drag was just stretched from 66 feet to 81 feet; for the short block between D and E street, it was expanded from 60 to 78 feet.

Goodbye, San Francisco’s Market Street – hello, a little more room for the buggy at the hitching post.

WIDEN FIFTH STREET

The movement in favor of the widening of Fifth street is to be commended. It is not an effort to injure anybody, but to help all having property on that street and the city generally. All our people admit that most of our streets are too narrow. Most of them admit that property values would be increased by quite general street widening. This is especially true of the business and residence portion of Fifth street. At the same time, it is a fact that the interior lots will receive more benefit than those at the corners of blocks. These differences should be adjusted by mutual conference, if possible. If this cannot be done the courts should be called upon to determine damages and benefits. At all events, the street should be widened, and now is the time to do this. It is not a pleasant task to interview people and endeavor to make them see what is best for them and the public generally, but the committees having this matter in hand will certainly do the best they can to bring about the desired result.

– Santa Rosa Republican, May 25, 1906

MOTION PREVAILS TO WIDEN BLOCKS

There was a meeting of the commission on widening Fourth street between Hinton avenue and E streets Saturday evening at the city hall, at which many Fourth street property owners were present. These had come by special invitation to discuss the matters in hand. It was stated that the Women’s Improvement Club are willing to give $1000 toward the project, and other encouraging matters were reported. On motion of C. C. Farmer it was unanimously agreed that the street should be widened in the blocks mentioned. The only persons who will be paid damages for their property are Willis W. Gauldin and the Union Trust-Savings Bank. The former asks $2800 for the alleged damages to his property. while the bank wished to be reimbursed in the sum of $5077. The destruction of their vault, and a large slice of property on Fourth street, is taken from the financial institution. At the meeting of the city council this evening it is anticipate that some definite action will be taken toward the proposed widening of the street.

– Santa Rosa Republican, June 27, 1906

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1906 EARTHQUAKE: RACE TO REBUILD

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

Downtown Santa Rosa was like an obstacle course following the 1906 earthquake, and three months later the streets were still cluttered with lumber and bricks – only now these were piles of new bricks and wood being used in building an entire business district from the ground up.

The rapid pace of construction in those months is mind-blowing. At the June 22 City Council meeting, it was mentioned that in the two months since the earthquake, Building Inspector Willcox had reviewed nearly two dozen plans, and at that meeting alone, permission was granted for construction of five major commercial buildings downtown.

Despite the belief that poor construction was a factor in the collapse of some buildings, there was still resistance to Santa Rosa’s first attempt at enforcing building codes; Willcox issued a stop-work order to one developer for using bad mortar, only to return and find that they had constructed the wall anyway.

Alas, details about this important period in the town’s history are slim. There are no known photos from the rebuilding period, and the papers offered little more than an occasional architect’s sketch of a major building that was underway and a pair of articles that are transcribed below (note that almost all of the buildings described there were at the end of Fourth St. which was obliterated by the mall).

But glimpses of those days can be found in other newspaper items, particularly in requests and complaints made to the City Council. As construction was underway, merchants were still attempting to run their businesses alongside. “In some places where walls have been left standing owners have placed roofs on the structures and completed store rooms,” one article noted. Many of the “temporary structures” approved by Council were little more than wooden tents intended to shade open air tables. At every Council meeting there were approvals for temp buildings, typically described as “40×80 feet,” a “lean-to corregated iron shed,” and most ambitiously, a “small galvanized iron building in the rear of his new building on Fourth street to be used as a kitchen by the new grill room.”

Shoppers also had to be adventurous and nimble because of “dangerous holes and planks across sidewalks, projections from buildings and piles of materials on sidewalks.” An item in the May 13 San Francisco Call compared downtown to the chaos of a mining camp:


On all the side streets leading to the burned portion of the city numerous one-story frame buildings are being erected for temporary use as stores. This gives the city the appearance of a mining camp of the days of ’49.

It was Santa Rosa nightlife that was most transformed, however. The evenings streets were now illuminated only by moonlight; Press Dem editor Ernest Finley told the story that travelers who arrived after nightfall were drawn to his newspaper office because they had the only light visible downtown, and someone would be dispatched with a lantern to lead visitors to their destinations. Fire Chief Muther complained that it was only luck that a fire wagon didn’t collide with one of the “immense heaps of sand” in the street. There was great relief when finally a single electric street light illuminated the town’s main intersection of Fourth and Mendocino, three months after the disaster.

BUILDING GOES MERRILY ON

It is very gratifying not only to the people of this city, but visitors from other sections of the state, to see the progress made in the way of building.

Already the erection of the big C. C. Donovan building at Fourth and Washington streets and the Dougherty-Shea building at Fifth and Mendocino streets, are well under way. The walls of the Morris Prince, T. T. Overton and William Sukalle buildings on Fourth street are also arising.

Material is being hauled to the Con Sheas lots at Fourth and B and Fourth and A streets, and Mr. Shea will soon begin building.

Other property owners are getting ready to build and next week and the week after will see the commencement of several new buildings.

The P. Towey building, occupied by the Noonan Meat Company’s market is about ready for occupancy on Fourth street, and the Shea and Prince buildings are being repaired.

Mr. and Mrs. B. F. McDannell are getting ready to erect their building on Fourth street. The ground floor is already leased and if a fraternal order desires to lease the upper story for a hall it will be built.

Santa Rosa’s new business section promises to eclipse the old one. There are many fine buildings in prospect, including the five-story Livernash Building, the bank buildings, the Overton and Shea buildings, and those to be built by other property owners all along the street, B street, A, Mendocino, Third, Main, Hinton and Exchange avenues, etc.

– Press Democrat, June 28, 1906

SOLID BLOCK OF CONCRETE
Santa Rosa Will Have Substantial Structure

Arrangements are being perfected for the construction in Santa Rosa of reinforced concrete buildings. There is every reason to believe that in the near future work on this mammoth structure will begin, and that it will be enclosed before the rains of the coming winter set in.

The block of reinforced concrete buildings will be located on the south side of Fourth street between Exchange avenue and B street. The property in this block is owned by Mayor John P. Overton and Tol T. Overton with the single exception of the one piece owned by Mr. and Mrs. B. F. McDannaell. These three owners have been considering the matter for some days and have about completed their investigations and concluded that for safety their best interests lay in the reinforced concrete formation.

A solid block of these concrete buildings would certainly be a substantial thing, and the news is pleasing to Santa Rosans that the owners are considering the matter favorably.

Work was begun Monday morning on the foundation for the Towey building at the southwest corner of Fourth and A streets. This structure is to be constructed especially for the use of J. C. Pedersen, the furniture man, and will be rushed to completion as rapidly as possible. The foundation will be sufficient to carry a building of several stories.

Con Shea has begun work on the block of stores he proposes to construct on the southeast corner of Fourth and A streets. Workmen were busy early this morning making the boxes for molding the foundations, which will be heavy with cement. It is expected to have these stores ready for occupancy before the rains of winter begin.

The Coughran, Parsons and Proctor reinforced concrete block, consisting of five stories on Fourth street between Hinton avenue and D street is well under way. The rear walls and side walls are under construction, and the front will be held in abeyance until the matter of widening Fourth Street has been definitely determined by the city council.

Morris Prince and Dougherty and Shea will be among the first property owners here to construct an entirely new business block in the Greater Santa Rosa. In some places where walls have been left standing owners have placed roofs on the structures and completed store rooms. Mr. Prince began from the bare lot and has two handsome buildings already under construction, both being on Fourth between A and B streets. Both of these structures are already one story high and will be carried up another story. Mr. Prince realizes the demand for apartments here and will build as rapidly as he can get men for the work. Messrs. Dougherty and Shea have their building completed to the one story line, but will make it a two-story structure. This will provide elegant offices for attorneys and professional men, something that is badly needed at the present time.

The C. C. Donovan building has reached the second story and is being rapidly completed. The window frames for the second story have been placed in position. Many other buildings are projected for the City of Roses and in a short time there will be even greater activity than is noticeable now.

– Santa Rosa Republican, July 16, 1906

It is indeed remarkable how rapidly the scars of the recent disaster in Santa Rosa are disappearing. The city will be rebuilt sooner than any of us have supposed. Three months have passed since the trouble came upon our fair city. What busy months they have been. First there was the clearing away of the debris then the making of plans, and now there is building activity all along the line. Dozens of fine business blocks will be completed before the winter rains are upon us. These business blocks will be filled with splendid stocks of goods just as soon as they are completed. Everybody notes the progress of our city. Everybody has a good word for the rapidly rebuilding City of Roses. Visitors are thoroughly surprised at what is doing here. They note our progress with great satisfaction and are giving Santa Rosa favorable advertisement wherever they go.

– Santa Rosa Republican, July 19, 1906

MUST OBEY ORDINANCE OR BE ARRESTED

Contractors who refuse to obey the orders of Building Inspector William H. Willcox in future in regard to the building ordinances of Santa Rosa will be arrested and punished. This was officially determined at the Council meeting Tuesday evening. Inspector Willcox reported that he had ordered the work stopped on a certain structure on Fourth street because sand was being mixed with the slacked lime before the lime had an opportunity to cool. This is in violation of the ordinance. The inspector then left town for a couple days, and declared on his return the mortar so made had been used in the building. It is contended that the mixing of sand with hot lime takes the textile strength from the mortar and makes it unfit for use. The councilmen were angry at the treatment accorded the building inspector and notified him in the future to call on Chief of Police Rushmore to arrest any one violating the building ordinances of the city. It is proposed to have this ordinance respected in every particular. The councilmen also discussed the advisability of compelling the tearing down of the wall in which the improperly mixed mortar had been used.

– Santa Rosa Republican, July 25, 1906

A petition for an arc light on Fifth street, between A and B streets, was referred to the Street Committee.

– Press Democrat, May 26, 1906

Light on Fourth Street

An electric light has been placed at the corner of Fourth and Mendocino streets, where it was greatly needed. Many favorable comments were heard Thursday night.

– Press Democrat, July 22, 1906
OFFENDERS WILL BE ARRESTED
Negligence on the Part of Contractors and Property Owners Will be Punished

Fire Chief Muther called the attention of the Council last night to the negligence of contractors in leaving obstacles on streets in the city, on dark nights without any warning lights being placed thereon. He instanced Monday night when the town was in darkness by reason of the shutting off of the lights and stated that lanterns were missing on a number of immense heaps of sand, etc., and piles of lumber. The fire department had a call and it was only by the sheerest good fortune that an accident was averted.

Attention was also called to the negligence of property owners and contractors on Fourth street and on other streets, who have dangerous holes and planks across sidewalks, projections from buildings and piles of materials on sidewalks without lights to warn pedestrians.

The Street Commissioner and Chief of Police were instructed to enforce the law and if necessary arrest and see that the offenders were punished.

– Press Democrat, December 12, 1906

The Overton Building, designed by San Francisco architect Victor Dunkerley, who is said to have worked for Frank Lloyd Wright. This intersection at the southeast corner of 4th and B was seen also in an earlier post – note the W.C.T.U. water fountain in the foreground of both pictures

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