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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCHC B 5 18 Johnson Block Data Sheet 1 JOHNSON BLOCK DATA SHEET: 778–796 HIGUERA & 1035–1041 CHORRO STREETS This sheet aggregates documentary, oral, and physical evidence on 782–790 Higuera to assist in evaluating what the resource is, whether it is significant, and whether it has the integrity to convey its significance San Luis Obispo Fire Department, Souvenir of San Luis Obispo, 1904 Contents Property or Resource 2 Age 3 Eligibility for Listing 3 Period of Significance 7 Character-Defining Features 7 Integrity 8 Maps 13 Construction Chronology 16 Norther Italian Towers and Curtain Walls 19 Documented H. S. Laird Buildings 22 2 Torsade, Johnson Block facade, Chorro wing PROPERTY OR RESOURCE The Johnson Block (778–796 Higuera Street and 1035–1041 Chorro Street) was designed in 1899 as a two-story office and mercantile tower with flanking one-story mercantile wings by architect Hilamon Spencer Laird for Charles Henry Johnson, whose previous buildings on the site burnt down 13 February 1899.1 The land had been acquired by Isabel Gomes de Johnson, C. H. Johnson’s first wife, from the Town of San Luis Obispo for $5 during or immediately after her husband’s service as the town’s first president of its first Board of Trustees, although in surviving maps from the early 1870s (see pages 12–14) the land is shown with C. H. Johnson’s name.2 The wings and tower are documented to have been not only designed but built at the same time.3 Tenants moving into the wings and the tower were both referred to as moving into “the Johnson Block,” and the wings and tower were referred to together as “the Johnson Block” in news stories into the 1920s.4 The tower and wings share interior structural walls. “Block” in San Luis Obispo in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries referred to a multi-unit commercial building. Hence the Sauers’ two-story wood building at 846–848 Monterey and three one-story brick shopfronts at 779–787 Higuera Street were both referred to as “the Sauer Block.”5 In the Johnson Block’s first known photograph, in the 1904 Souvenir of San Luis Obispo, the photograph of the “Johnson Block,” shows the entirety of the tower and both wings. The tower and both wings of the Johnson Block were owned by the Johnson family for 118 years and sold to the Davis family in 2018. 782–790 Higuera (part of the Higuera wing) was placed on the Contributing List in 1983, 778 Higuera (the rest of the Higuera wing) on the Contributing List in 1987, 796 Higuera/1041 Chorro (the tower) on the Master List in apparently 1983, and 1035–39 Chorro (the Chorro wing) was never listed. 1. San Luis Obispo Tribune: “A $25,000 Blaze,” 14 Feb. 1899; “Work Will Soon Commence,” 8 Apr. 1899. See Construction Chronology, pp. 15–17. 2. “Another deed dated June 13, 1860, showed a transfer made by the town trustees to the first wife of Mr. Johnson for a consideration of $5 for a lot ‘commencing at the intersection of the wall of the Priest’s garden and the creek line to the principal gate of the garden, embracing part of lots 5 and 6 in block 10’ and which is the land on which the Johnson block stands at corner of Higuera and Chorro sts” (“Back in 1859 the Trustees Made Conveyances to Those Holding Lands Within the Old Boundary Lines,” Tribune, 29 Mar. 1918). 3. Tribune, “The Johnson block is finished … ,”17 Feb. 1900. See Construction Chronology. 4. Tribune: “Moving In,” 7 Mar. 1900, and “New Millinery Store,” 27. Mar. 1900; Telegram, “Johnson Litigation Over Business Block Is Finally Settled,” 3 Jan. 1920. 5. Tribune: “Sauer block, opposite Sinsheimer Bros.” (21 July 1893); “Mrs. Ellen M. Stevenson will soon occupy the new storeroom in the Sauer Block in Higuera Street” (Tribune, 15 Apr. 1913). 3 Egg and dart above cyma reversa, Johnson Block facade, Higuera wing AGE The resource, built in 1900, is 120 years old. ELIGIBILITY FOR LISTING Standards for eligibility: Contributing List A building or other resource that maintains its original or attained historic and architectural character, and contributes either by itself or in conjunction with other structures to the unique or historic character of a neighborhood, district, or to the City as a whole. Original architectural character The Johnson Block was built in San Luis Obispo’s Fire Proof Building District (created by City Ordinance 45, 1890) as a fireproof curtain wall structure incorporating iron or steel posts and beams in the tower, brick interior supporting and separating walls and wood beams in the wings, with pressed brick and glass street facades. The wings and tower incorporate the classical reference of the Tuscan order in exterior pilaster terminations of interior structural walls, as well as the ground-floor corner column; in a horizontal arrangement of architrave, frieze, and cornice; and in classical molding such as cyma recta, cyma reversa, ovolo, and egg and dart. The tower and Chorro wing incorporate Romanesque Revival cable molding (or torsade), the tower and Higuera wing belt courses of Romanesque Revival rusticated bricks. The tower and wings use Romanesque Revival nailhead molding and crenellation, and the tower 14th-c. crenellation, machicolation, Castello Sforzesco, Milan; parapet, cornice, Johnson Block tower, 1934; Johnson Block pilaster, Higuera wing alone employs Romanesque Revival pellet molding and elaborate corbelling suggesting faux machicolation. The tower and wings together invoke the tower-and-curtain-wall 4 Terra cotta pellet molding, Johnson Block facade, tower arrangement in the style of trecento Northern Italian castles and analogous civic buildings as Italy transitioned from the late Middle Ages to early Renaissance. Contribution in conjunction with other structures to the character of a district The Johnson Block occupies the same intersection in the Downtown Historic District as two Master List buildings by H. S. Laird: the Commercial Bank (1891) and the Warden Junior Building (1904), a rare combination of separate projects by one historic architect.6 • Master List One of the most unique and important historic properties and resources in terms of age, architectural or historical significance, rarity, or association with important persons in the City’s past. Uniqueness in terms of architectural significance The Johnson Block was designed by Hilamon Spencer Laird, one of the first three people documented to have practiced solely as an architect, not an architect-builder, in San Luis Obispo and the only one of them to have done so for more than a year or two, 7 spending an almost forty-year career here until his death in 1914. He is documented to have designed nine structures on the Master List, including two on the National Register of Historic Places, as well as other notable buildings in San Luis Obispo’s architectural history since demolished.8 6. Tribune: “Progress. The Growth of the First National Bank Building,” 25 Nov. 1891; “Splendid Workmanship is Evident in the Construction of the Warden Jr Block Just Completed,” 8 Dec. 1904. 7. Tribune, “ME Church,” 14 Mar. 1874. R. E. Osgood advertised in the Tribune as an architect 1874–1877 but then departed to supervise construction of the new port at San Simeon; F. Mallet advertised in the Tribune as a civil engineer and architect 1875–76. 8. In addition to the Commercial Bank and Warden Jr. Building, the Shipsey House (Tribune, 10 July 1894) and 1909 Carnegie Library portico (Telegram, “To Contractors,” 30 Oct. 1909) (both on the NRHP) and the Kimball House (Tribune, “It Is One of Many Now Being Built in San Luis Obispo,” 13 Feb. 1903), Upham House (Tribune, “Building Still Continues,” 8 Mar. 1903), Hourihan House (Tribune, “Work to Begin,” 15 Sep. 1904), Greenfield Building (Tribune, “Building permits were granted …,” 6 Aug. 1909) (all, with the tower section of the Johnson Block, on the Master List). Demolished buildings include the Bank of San Luis Obispo (1877), first First Presbyterian Church (1884), 16th Agricultural District Pavilion (1887), and the Crocker Block (1888) (Tribune: “The New Bank,” 14 Apr. 1877; “The frame is up … ,” 4 July 1884; “Another House,” 28 July 1889). 5 Strap molding, Johnson Block facade, tower, above the second-floor windows The Johnson Block is the only crenellated resource in the Downtown Historic District, the only Northern Italian castle style building in the city, and the only commercial building in the city in the form of a main block (corps de logis) with flanking wings.9 Importance in terms of association with important persons in the City’s past The Johnson Block is associated with Charles Henry Johnson, an early local, state, and federal official, as the Port of San Luis customs inspector 1852–60, president of the town’s first Board of Trustees in 1859, and State Assemblyman from 1860,10 whose wife acquired the Johnson Block’s valuable land from the township for a mere $5 during or shortly after the time C. H. Johnson was board president, thus associating the Johnson Block with his political career. • California Register of Historical Resources A resource associated with the lives of persons important to local, California or national history; embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, region or method of construction; represents the work of a master; and possesses high artistic values. Association with the lives of persons important to local, California, or national history The Johnson Block is associated with pioneer local, state, and federal government official C. H. Johnson and pioneer architect H. S. Laird, who is also documented as having designed schools in Coral de Piedra and Cambria and a newspaper block in Arroyo Grande (all demolished) and a house in Salinas (extant).11 Embodiment of the distinctive characteristics of a method of construction The Johnson Block embodies late-nineteenth-century fireproof curtain wall construction, its tower supported by columns and beams probably of iron (possibly steel) and wings by interior brick dividing walls, allowing large glass-walled shop 9. The Master List First Presbyterian Church (Thornton Fitzhugh, 1905), with crenellated tower after St. Giles, Stoke Poges, and neighboring crenellated Frederick Hart Building (1928) stand outside the Downtown Historic District, the crenellated Master List Channel Commercial Company (1912) is in the Railroad District. The IOOF Hall in Arroyo Grande (A. F. Parsons, 1902) is a crenellated Northern Italian castle style commercial and social building on the National Register of Historic Places. 10. Myron Angel, History of San Luis Obispo County, California (Berkeley: Howell-North, 1955), pp. 357–58. 11. Tribune: “Notice to Contractors,” 17 July 1889; “T. R. Nott has let the contract … ,” 2 Aug. 1898; “Notice to Contractors,” 28 Mar. 1906; “H. S. Laird, a well known architect … ,” Arroyo Grande Recorder, 6 July 1906 6 Nail-head molding, Johnson Block pilasters, Higuera wing fronts and preventing fire spreading between shops or damaging exteriors.12 Embodiment of the distinctive characteristics of a type of construction The Johnson Block embodies Classical Revival architecture in its use of the Tuscan order for column and pilasters, classical molding, and horizontal architectural divisions, The Johnson Block embodies Romanesque Revival architecture in its use of a rusticated brick belt course and torsade molding and the crenellated and machicolated defensive arrangement of Medieval corner tower and curtain wall (from Middle English curtine, from Late Latin cortina, Latin cohors: enclosure, court)—possibly intended as architectural pun on the new meaning for curtain wall just coming into use. Representation of the work of a master H. S. Laird was fluent in a variety of contemporary and historicist architectural styles: Colonial Revival, Richardsonian Romanesque, Stick, Eastlake, Queen Anne, Neoclassical, and American Craftsman. He designed unique, memorable, and often genre-bending structures, like the unusually circular Nott House (Salinas, 1898) and angular, richly textured, complexly gabled 1894 Shipsey and 1903 Kimball Houses, the former with its crenellated roof cresting and latter with Romanesque arches and oriel window. These latter show the influence of Philadelphia architect Frank Furness. Possession of high artistic values The Johnson Block, in which Laird melds the modern, Classical, and Romanesque, is his most complex genre-bender, melding not only style with style but style with function. The use of Classical reference to emphasize structure rather than cover it up, by turning wall terminations into pediments, is particularly inventive. Adding weight and dignity to a revolutionary structural form, the modern curtain wall, with an analogical and equally angular historic form, the Medieval curtain wall, is also groundbreaking. There is copious but controlled use of detail and an overall structural drama and balance. • National Register of Historic Places A property associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction; represents the work of a master; and possesses high artistic values. See above, California Register of Historical Resources. 12. “Fireproof Buildings: Lessons Taught by the Great Conflagration in Baltimore,” Hanford Journal, 20 April 1904. The article defines fireproof buildings as those “where the steel frames are protected by noncombustible material, such as brick and terra cotta, with a thin curtain wall on the outside, attached to the steel frame, and with floors and partitions of brick or terra cotta.” It is the earliest use of “curtain wall” in its modern sense in the California Digital Newspaper Archive as of 4 May 2020. 7 Crenellation, Johnson Block facade, Chorro wing PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE The period of significance in association with C. H. Johnson would begin with the Johnson Block’s construction in 1899 to Johnson’s death in 1915. The period of significance in association with H. S. Laird would be design and construction 1899–1900. CHARACTER-DEFINING FEATURES • Two-story corner mercantile and office tower with flanking one-story mercantile wings, resembling, with crenellation and faux machicolation, a medieval corner tower and curtain walls of Northern Italian style. The distinctive late-Medieval Northern Italian castle—particularly in Tuscany but also in Lombardy, Umbria, Emilia-Romagna, and the Veneto—is characterized by plain, rectilinear merlons, of width generally equal to crenels, on straight walls with square towers, the latter often with vaulted machicolation. Already by the late thirteenth century it was being used symbolically for urban architecture of more civic than defensive nature, e.g., the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena and Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. (See pages 18–21.) • Street-facing cream-colored pressed brick, requiring minimal mortar, in running bond Ground floor, tower and wings • Widely-spaced ground floor structural elements—interior brick walls perpendicular to the street in the mercantile wings and supporting wood beams; square iron or steel columns in the tower building—terminating on the ground-floor level with Tuscan pilasters and one corner Tuscan square column, with curtain walls of plate glass fronting the shops and brick curtain walls elsewhere • Pilasters and one corner column in the Classical Tuscan order faced with buff brick in running bond, with stone pedestal and—applied in terra cotta or concrete—base with torus, Classical cavetto molding, two lines of applied Romanesque Revival nailhead molding, and Tuscan astragals and capital • Applied Classical ovolo molding below and cyma recta and egg and dart molding above the architrave of the tower and wings and below the second-floor windows of the tower building and the frieze of the wings Wings • Indented panels in the wing frieze topped with egg and dart molding • A belt course of Romanesque Revival rusticated brick on the Higuera wing and string course of Romanesque Revival torsade on the Chorro wing • Cyma reversa cornice on the wings 8 Pressed brick ovolo molding in variant color, Johnson Block facade, tower • Cream pressed-brick crenellation, with crenels and merlons both topped with molding, and, on each wing, a single rectangular parapet projection with indented panel and egg and dart molding and flanking square columns with domed copper caps Second floor of tower • Ovolo molding in variant-colored brick at the capital level of the tower building • Four twin sash windows with muntined panels above, on the southeast facade of the second floor of • Single and twin sash windows with muntined panels above, on the northeast facade of the second floor • Bas relief panels of birds at the Higuera-Chorro corner of the second floor, above the ground floor architrave • Terra cotta torsade and Romanesque Revival pellet molding between the windows at lower and upper sash rail height • Strap molding above the windows • Five courses of running bond rusticated brick above the second-floor windows • Egg and dart molding above the rusticated brick • Deep horizontal overhang with sloping roof and extended corbels with fluting and bosses, possibly intended to convey Northern Italian vaulted machicolations of the kind seen in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Palazzo Pubblico in Siena, and other widely published Medieval Northern Italian structures. • Crenellation, with five wider merlons at corners and centers with domed caps INTEGRITY “Integrity is the ability of a property to convey its significance. …. The evaluation of integrity is sometimes a subjective judgment, but it must always be grounded in an understanding of a property's physical features and how they relate to its significance. … Within the concept of integrity, the National Register criteria recognizes seven aspects or qualities that, in various combinations, define integrity. To retain historic integrity a property will always possess several, and usually most, of the aspects. The retention of specific aspects of integrity is paramount for a property to convey its significance. Determining which of these aspects is most important to a particular property requires 9 Terra cotta egg and dart molding, Johnson Block facade, Higuera wing knowing why, where, and when the property is significant” (National Register Bulletin: How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation). Restoration of the tower section of the Johnson Block to 1904 appearance, during its period of significance, took place in the mid 1980s under architect J. Michael Brady, including reconstruction of the crenellated parapet and cornice. Restoration of the Higuera wing to 1904 appearance took place in 2008–09 under Pierre Rademaker, including reconstruction of the crenellated parapet and cornice. The Chorro wing was restored in 2014; it is unclear what, if anything, was reconstructed. “Restoration is the treatment that should be followed when the expressed goal of the project is to make the building appear as it did at a particular—and at its most significant— time in its history” (The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties With Guidelines for Preserving, Rehabilitating, Restoring, and Reconstructing Historic Buildings [Washington: US Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Technical Preservation Services, 2017], p. 165). Restoration to Secretary of the Interior Standards may include reconstruction: “7. Replacement of missing features from the restoration period will be substantiated by documentary and physical evidence. A false sense of history will not be created by adding conjectural features, features from other properties, or by combining features that never existed together historically.” The Guidelines recommend “recreating a missing storefront or storefront feature that existed during the restoration period based on documentary and physical evidence”; the Guidelines do not recommend “constructing a storefront feature that was part of the original design for the building but was never actually built or constructing a feature which was thought to have existed during the restoration period but which cannot be documented” (“Storefronts,” op. cit., 195). According to multiple conversations with Pierre Rademaker, in 2009 the masonry of 782– 790 Higuera below the cornice had survived under later stucco and was preserved in restoration, so the “remodel plans” on file with the city did not have to be carried out. Comparison between the plans and current facade features bears out this testimony. Further, the Rademaker restoration appears to follow all Secretary of the Interior Standards for Restoration: (1) The resource is used as it was historically; (2) materials and features from the restoration period have been retained, (3) stabilization work is identifiable, (4) removed materials and features have been documented, (5) distinctive materials, features, and techniques from the restoration period have been preserved, (6) deteriorated features have been repaired, (7) missing features have been replaced with documentary evidence, (8) physical treatments were as gentle as possible, (9) (archaeology is not applicable), (10) designs never executed historically [defined by the Guidelines as conjectural, borrowed, designed but not built, or from different periods] were not constructed. 10 Egg and dart molding above a belt course of rusticated brick, Johnson Block facade, tower The Seven Aspects of Integrity 1. The location of the Johnson Block is the same as during its period of significance 2. The design of the Johnson Block appears to be the same as during its period of significance, with the exception of the following features: in the tower’s ground floor: • new solid material fronting at least one original pilaster and possibly up to five original pilasters on top of the pressed brick • four moved or new, presumably reconstructed pilasters with solid facing • reconstructed corner square column • the two shops of the ground floor being combined into one, with the loss of one recessed entry and shifting of the other, possibly in the period of significance but possibly as late as 1924 for the Norton Pharmacy • two display windows added to the northeast facade of the shop, with the two pilasters between the corner column and right pilaster moved to regularize widths and one high window removed (additional windows to this corner are documented to at least 1934) • lowering of the architrave with the resultant loss of capitals and reduction of shop window height (documented to 1934) • replacement of the upper panes of the shop windows with opaque material in the tower’s second floor • two windows added to the northeast facade • loss and reconstruction of the tower cornice, corbels, and crenellations, with 6 instead of the original 7 merlons topping the reconstructed parapet between the wider merlons on the northeast facade of the tower, 5 instead of the original 6 on the southeast facade; copper instead of molding capping merlons and crenels; and 24 instead of the original 28 corbels supporting the reconstructed cornice on the southeast facade and presumably a comparable diminution on the northeast in the Higuera wing • replacement of the 2 most westerly of the 5 shops with a modern facade • in reconstruction of the parapet, placement of the projection above the second rather than third bay to maintain the symmetry of the original • solid glass wall with floating pediment in the most westerly of the three surviving shop fronts 11 Terra cotta torsade, Johnson Block facade, tower in the Chorro wing • possible bulkhead and recessed door rearrangement, though photographic documentation from the period of significance is unclear Behind • brick extensions added in 1915 and 1922 by Jennie Johnson, C. H. Johnson’s widow, which were not then visible because of the presence of structures between West Monterey Street and San Luis Creek (Historic Building Permits File, Cal Poly Special Collections) 3. The setting of the Johnson Block remains a small-town downtown, a low-built crossroads, though with tarmacadam on the road and electrical and telephone wires now under rather than over it. Substantially the same individual buildings as from the 1899– 1915 period of significance surround the Johnson Block, in a city showing the success of its new Fire Proof Building District. The 1891 Commercial Bank and 1904 H. M. Warden Jr. Building, both by H. S. Laird, remain on two of the other three corners, though both have lost their towers, and the Commercial Bank has had its magnificent brickwork covered by stucco, though unlike the Warden Jr. Building, it retains its original fenestration. Cater-corner, the Italianate Goldtree Block has been replaced by the vaguely Mission Revival three-story Wineman Hotel, though with little additional height. The 1909 Wade Building, Classical Revival in similar cream-colored pressed brick to the Johnson Block, still takes up the rest of the opposing Chorro block with Warden Jr., and the one-story Dughi and Wickenden Buildings, extant by 1913, still abut the one-story Chorro wing of the Johnson Block. The buidings along West Monterey have been removed, however; San Luis Creek is visible; and the front of the Mission, with columns and porch and loft removed and much of its tile and adobe covered with wood till the 1920s, has been reconstructed. The Higuera wing of the Johnson Block retains the setting of the nearby 1894 Warden (Sr.) Building, as well as the opposite 1901 Bank of America Building and the nineteenth- century brick shopfronts of the Sauer Block, 779–787 Higuera. 4. The exterior materials of the two most westerly shops of the Higuera wing (778 Higuera) have been lost. New materials were added by Jennie Johnson’s expansion to the back, unless the original brick was reused. New materials were used circa 1985 and 2009 in the reconstructions of the parapets and cornices of the tower and Higuera wing and the roof cresting of the tower. The wood sash windows and muntins of the tower’s upstairs windows have been replaced by double-glazed windows; it is doubtful there is original glass in the tower or either of the two wings, and shop bulkheads have been resurfaced. The interior brick, wood, and cast iron or steel structure appears to be original, as is the most of the pressed brick and decorative features of the exterior walls, except where, in the tower, pilaster surfaces have 12 been covered, pilasters and the square corner column have been reconstructed, and windows have been added. 5. The workmanship of the Johnson Block’s period of significance survives in the high quality original exterior brickwork, applied pilaster features, molding, and decorative bas reliefs, as well as in the more utilitarian interior structure, much of which is exposed. 6. Feeling is a “property’s expression of the aesthetic or historic sense of a particular period of time.” The Johnson Block remains a structurally innovative and stylistic historicist mercantile and office complex of the turn of the century in the center of San Luis Obispo’s shopping and business district. It possesses the ability to impress tenants, customers, and passers-by with an open curtain wall structure, fire safety, high quality brick and terra cotta work, and Classical and Romanesque aesthetics. 7. A resource’s association is “the direct link between an important historic person and a historic property”: “It is the place where the event or activity occurred and is sufficiently intact to convey that relationship to an observer” (“National Register Bulletin: How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation”). Johnson’s wife, Isabel Gomes de Johnson, acquired the land for the Johnson Block at $5 from the township in 1860, during or immediately after Johnson’s service as president of the Board of Trustees, clearly an advantageous transaction and eventually the source of much of the family’s fortune through 2018. The Board of Trustees placed the old wood Johnson Block in the Fire Proof Building District in 189013; it burnt to the ground in 1899; and in 1900 it rose in magnificent cream-colored pressed brick, Classical pilasters, and Romanesque crenellation like a phoenix from the ashes, built by the man who listed himself in the census that year simply as “Capitalist.” Structural brick wall, metal seismic retrofit, and pilaster termination, Chorro wing The vision of pioneer architect H. S. Laird in creating a mercantile and office complex with the most modern curtain wall structure while referring to the Medieval curtain wall and terminating structural walls in Tuscan pilasters— simultaneously invoking the Romanesque, Classicism, and Modernism—is additionally associated with the Johnson Block for the latter’s placement between two other Laird structures at the same intersection of the Downtown Historic District: the 1891 Richardsonian Romanesque Commercial Bank and the 1904 Neoclassic Warden Jr.–Tower Building, another curtain wall structure. James Papp, PhD Historian and Architectural Historian, Secretary of the Interior Professional Qualification Standards 10 May 2020 13. Tribune, “Ordinance No. 45,” 22 April 1890. The idea of the fireproof building district appears to have been introduced immediately after the Great Chicago Fire (F. Baumann proposes it in a letter to the Chicago Tribune on 21 Nov. 1871) and caught on in the 1890s. 13 MAPS Harris and Ward Map, 1870, detail, with Chorro Street not yet running through to Higuera but the Priests’ Passageway, which survived between the H. M. Warden Building and Johnson Block until the expansion of the Johnson Block for Woolworth. 14 Map, source unknown, from early 1870s, with George Sauer’s tavern having moved from the south side of Monterey and taken over Juan Cappe’s saloon as Sauer & Little, and showing an adobe at the Johnson Block property. By th 1874 Sanborn Map the same corner has the legend “Vacant.” History Center of San Luis Obispo County. 15 Map from Fred Gist’s file on Johnson property, printed in Telegram-Tribune date unknown. Purported date before 1860 appears unlikely, given Chorro Street running through to Higuera and C. H. Johnson’s name on the corner lot. 16 CONSTRUCTION CHRONOLOGY San Luis Obispo Tribune 14 February 1899 A $25,000 BLAZE. Higuera Street Swept by Fire. TEN STORES GONE. A Gasoline Stove in the Olive Branch Saloon Starts the Fire and a North Wind Fans it Furiously. STOPPED BY THE WARDEN BLOCK. The Ancient Buildings Known as the Johnson Property Have Gone Up in Smoke. What has been expected in this city for several years, happened last evening shortly before 7 o’clock, when a fierce conflagration mowed down the entire Johnson block from the Warden building on one side to Dutton’s grocery store on the creek bank on the other. Many persons have remarked that if a fire ever got a start in the Johnson block it was doomed, and it has been proven too plainly. Shortly before 7 o’clock C. H. Meyer, proprietor of the Olive Branch saloon at the corner of Higuera and Chorro streets, commenced to make some coffee on a gasoline stove behind the lunch counter. Suddenly, without warning, the gasoline tank exploded and scattered the burning oil over the floor, and in an instant the entire room was on fire. An alarm was turned in, but the first few taps of the bell were so slow that many people thought it meant a drill, as it had been intended to bring the engine out last night night to pump water for the benefit of the surveyor for the fire underwriter, Mr. Harrison, who is in town. However, the bell soon sounded a different tune and the department got to work in good time. By this time the entire corner was doomed with all the remaining wooden buildings in that part of the block. Then while the firemen were l working on the north side the building occupied by Chiesa as a grocery, soon was in flames, and then a stream was turned on the adjoining buildings, but it was of no avail, and the old wooden structures were mowed down like grain before the reaper. It was the same result on the Chorro street side. The vacant store room next to the saloon went up in smoke, together with Woods’ cigar store, Pinho’s barber shop and the best part of Dutton’s grocery store on the creek bank. The establishments of Chiesa, grocery store, Fleugler, bakery, Hoefer, harness shop, Steinhart, cigar store, Marshall, jewelry store, and the empty store room formerly occupied by O’Sullivan’s shoe store, were the places destroyed on Higuera street. 8 April 1899 WORK WILL SOON COMMENCE. Plans are Drawn and the Buildings Are To Be Finished by July Next. OVERHAULING FIRE DEPARTMENT APPARATUS. Repairing the Steamer—Truck and Hose Carts To Be Painted. We are pleased to be able to announce that the work of rebuilding on the Johnson property on Chorro and Higuera streets will commence very soon. Architect Laird has the plans drawn, and only a few details remain to be worked out. All the space swept by the fire is to be filled with brick structures, from the creek on the north to the Warden building on the south on the corner of Chorro and Higuera streets, where the old Olive Branch stood, will be erected a handsome two-story modern building, and flanking it on either side will be one-story stores. Mr. Johnson believes in building for the future, and feeling confident that 17 the town will soon outgrow these small buildings, will construct them so that another story can be added when he feels justified in doing so. This improvement is right in line with the feeling that is beginning to be felt here that the better times we have been looking forward to are coming at last. The buildings are to be ready for tenants by July Ist, and the tenants are ready to move in when that time comes. Advertisement: 6 September–28 November 1899 Troubles Never Come Singly. My first trouble is that I am blocked by the construction of the Johnson block, and my next trouble is that I am overstocked, so I am compelled, in order to get trade, to dispose of my stock at-reduced prices. I shall give you No Baits or Prizes to sell my goods. One price to all. Palace Shoe Store. Warden Block J. J. O’SULLIVAN. 6 February 1900 Mr. F. C. Cherry was busily engaged yesterday moving into the Johnson block, where he will engage in the cigar business at the old stand formerly occupied by Netter, then Cherry, and then Steinhart. 16 February 1900 J. KNOWLTON, M. D. Office in Johnson block, second floor, corner of Chorro and Higuera streets. 17 February 1900 The Johnson block is finished, and is a great credit to the city. It supplants some ancient rookeries, which were a terror as a firetrap and an eyesore as far as looks went. Luckily for the town they burnt up utterly and completely, and thanks to the architectural skill of Mr. Laird and the enterprise of the owner of the land, Mr. Johnson, the ground is covered with buildings which are in all respects satisfactory. 7 March 1900 MOVING IN. The Johnson Block Filing Up With Tenants. The Johnson block is rapidly filling up with tenants and Higuera street in that vicinity presents a busy appearance. The corner room is being rapidly filled up for the San Luis Jewelry Co., and Mr. McManus expects to be in is new quarters in a few days. Messrs. Throop and Kaetzel have already received their stock of stationery which they are now opening and putting on the shelves. They have christened their place of business the Mission Bazaar. F. C. Cherry has had his cigar store open and has been catering to the wants of consumers of the weed for several days. The next store to him will be occupied by Dutton and Bobo, who are now preparing to move their stock of groceries to their new location. Further down the street Arthur Vollmer is preparing to open a grocery store. His stock is ordered and he will soon be serving his customers. Dr. Knowlton has been domiciled for quite a while in the corner rooms upstairs where he has fitted up a very handsome office. 15 March 1900 F. C. Cherry, the Higuera street cigar man, says he has a horse that is a world beater, and he don’t bar anybody’s horse, not even Peter Bank’s wind splitter. 18 27 March 1900 New Millinery Store Miss Josephine Pollard will open on Wednesday, April 25th. a millinery store in one of the new stores in the Johnson block, on Chorro street, with a full stock of goods of the latest and most fashionable styles. Miss Annie Fairbanks, of Oakland will assist her as trimmer. Miss Pollard has every confidence that her infinite variety of elegant and tasteful goods cannot fail to delight the ladies of our city. Detail of 1903 Sanborn Map showing F. C. Cherry’s former cigar store and Josephine Pollard’s millinery store in the mercantile wings in the spaces next to the tower, with the Priests’ Passage still extant between the Warden and Johnson Building, later subsumed in the Woolworth and subsequently the Network. 19 NORTHER ITALIAN TOWERS AND CURTAIN WALLS: Late-19th-/early-20th-c. views Late thirteenth-century Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Tuscany (1895 engraving): the tower and curtain wall form already adapted as a tower flanked by wings for civic aesthetics Castello Carrarese di Este, Veneto, in its 14th-century form (late 18th-century engraving, republished 1886, at the time of the castle’s acquisition for public use by the Town of Este) 20 Castello di Passignano, Tuscany (1891 print) 1298–1314 Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Tuscany (1884 engraving) Castello di Pratelli, Tuscany (early 20th-c. postcard) Castello di Spadaletto, Tuscany, refortified in the 14th century (1899 engraving): corner towers and curtain walls, the latter adapted for habitation 13th- to 14th-century Palazzo Pretorio, Prato, Tuscany (postcard presumably after restoration circa 1909): decorative emphasis of corner merlons IOOF Hall, Arroyo Grande, designed by A. F. Parsons, 1902. The following year Parsons was appointed county surveyor. 21 Castello di Vincigliata, Tuscany, drawn by Emilio Burci, 1836; Emilio De Fabris, 1842 Castello di Vincigliata as reconstructed by John Temple Leader circa 1855–1870; early 20th-c. postcard. Queen Victoria visited and sketched it. Henry James wrote, “It is a disinterested work of art and really a triumph of aesthetic culture. The author has reproduced with minute accuracy a sturdy home-fortress of the fourteenth century, and has kept throughout such rigid terms with his model that the place is literally uninhabitable to degenerate moderns.” (“Florentine Notes,” Transatlantic Sketches (Boston: James R. Osgood, 1875), p. 284). 22 DOCUMENTED H. S. LAIRD BUILDINGS Methodist Episcopal Church, 1874 (demolished) Tribune, 14 March 1874: ME Church.— We were shown this week by Rev. Mr. Haskins, pastor of the ME Church of this place, the plans for a new church building, to be erected shortly on a lot on Garden street, in the Mission Vineyard lately purchased by the members of that denomination for that purpose. … The [illegible] are drafted by Mr. H. S. Laird, and reflects credit on that gentleman’s architectural ability. 23 Bank of San Luis Obispo, 1877 (demolished) Tribune, 16 September 1876: It is well known that when the of the Bank of California upset the money market of the Pacific Coast, that the Bank of San Luis Obispo halted all arrangements to build a bank worthy the name and the institution, but the demoralized situation of affairs admonished them to defer it for a season. Since the bottom has been reached, and financial mutters are again in the ascendency, the directors have decided to build at once. We saw the plans that have been adopted on Thursday last, and pronounce them as near perfection as possible. … The two fronts will have French plate windows of large dimensions. It will be of iron and brick, built in the most substantial manner; H. S. Laird, architect. Tribune, 14 April 1877: THE NEW BANK The new building has been in course of construction for the past six months … .The construction of the building has been under the immediate supervision of Mr. H. S. Laird, and the convenient arrangements in all parts of the building, together with the workmanship, is proof positive that he is an architect of no mean order. County Hospital, 1878 (demolished) Tribune, 17 Aug 1878: The County Hospital, now being built by Mr. H. S. Laird, is beginning to assume the proportions of a fine building. It is situated on high ground about three-quarters of a mile east from the court-house and makes a very showy appearance. First Presbyterian Church, 1884 (demolished) Tribune, 4 July 1884: The frame is up for the new Presbyterian Church on the southeast corner of Morro and Marsh streets. The new building occupies the site of the former edifice, now attached to Laughery’s Hotel, the lot being 60 feet on Morro street by 110 feet on Marsh. The new building will be [illegible] feet in length and 32 in width with an outside tower on the corner toward the streets, of 8 by 10 feet in dimensions. The architecture is in the Queén Anne style, Mr. H. S. Laird of the firm of Walker & Laird being the architect, and 24 Messrs. Wilson and Weaver the builders. The ground plan and architectural drawing show quite an irregular structure, but the whole has a pleasing effect, if we except the spire, which is to be but 46 feet to the topmost point, leaving it rather dumpy and unfinished. We would suggest a good belfry story of ten or twelve feet to add the height. The stated capacity of the Church is calculated at 210. The drawing of the altar and pulpit show a pretty design, and other truss ties and finishings give promise of a handsome interior. It is expected to be ready for occupation about the 15th of September. The cost is placed at $2,500. Pavilion of the 16th District Fair, 1887 (demolished) Crocker Block, 1888 (demolished) Norton House, 1889 (demolished) Tribune, 28 July 1889: Another house which is well under way and which will cost about the same, is that of Mr. Norton’s on Monterey street, nearly opposite Broad. The architect is H. S. Laird, Esq. of San Luis, who designed the Pavilion, the Crocker block and a number more of our prominent public and private edifices. The plan of the Norton residence is related to the class of architecture which has been developed largely in California with special reference to the importance of sunlight, and its numerous bay windows would seem to guarantee a liberal absorption of the rays of the great luminary. Commercial Bank, 1891 (extant; Master List) Tribune, 25 November 1891: PROGRESS. The Growth of the First National Bank Building. The progress of the Reed vs. Norton case, and the progress of the bank building constitute about all the [illegible] that our aristocracy have to attend. … The bank building makes a steady growth generally satisfactory to the volunteer overseers and superintendents, who manage to make time, at least two or three times a day, to drop in and inspect the work. Architect Laird does a little grumbling at times. Almost everything in the way of material which goes into the building is to be brought from Los Angeles or San Francisco, and although every last bit was ordered at once, ‘as soon as the contract was signed, yet it takes time to get out the orders and forward them. The castings for the building are large and, although they might have been gotten out at Waite and Ryan’s foundry, yet the making of the molds for such large and handsome work would have taken all the profit from the job. Naturally we have no terra cotta manufactory since there has been as yet no 25 demand here to call for it. Ditto, ditto pressed brick. And the bank vault, of course, had to be manufactured elsewhere, although the steel sheets of which it is largely composed, are put together here by our own mechanics. Shipsey House, 1894 (extant; National Register of Historic Places) Tribune, 10 July 1894: Another Improvement. The construction of a residence by Mr. William Shipsey has been on the carpet for quite a long time, but for various reasons has been postponed from time to time, but we learn that' he has at last made his arrangements and ordered the work to proceed. Maino & Moore have the contract and will go ahead at once. The house will cost about $3,000 and will be a striking addition to the residence property of the town. Architect Laird furnished the plans. It will be situated on the corner of Essex and Peach streets, from which point there is a magnificent view. Call Building, 1895 (extant) Tribune, 12 February 1895: Sometime since it was noted that it was the intention of Mrs. Call to remove the wooden 26 structures on the corner of Monterey and Morro streets and erect a brick building in their place. Work on the building is soon to commence. The Forrester Bros., whose business is that of moving houses, came up yesterday from Guadalupe and are figuring on the removal of the old buildings from Monterey street to another portion of the city, possibly to the corner of Osos and Higuera streets. H. S. Laird, the well known architect, has the drawing of the plans and specifications completed. The building is to be a modern two-story one and the lower part will be divided into store rooms, while the upper story will be fitted up for office purposes. It to be hoped that the erection of more brick buildings will follow. Nott House, Salinas, 1898 (extant) Tribune, 2 August 1898: T. R. Nott has let the contract for building a two-story frame cottage on the corner of Cayuga and San Luis streets to George C. Thompson. The new house will have five rooms on the first and four on the second floor, will cost $2,490, and must be completed within 90 days. H. S. Laird is the architect.—Salinas Index. Kimball House, 1903 (extant; Master List) Tribune, 13 Feb 1903: It is One of Many Now Being Built in San Luis Obispo. BEAUTIFUL IN ITS DESIGN. H. S. Laird is the Architect and Grimm and Rasmussen the Builders. CONVENIENT IN ARRANGEMENT. Brief Description of John F. Ingram’s New Home—lt Will Be Occupied About March 1st. Of the many nice home-houses recently built in San Luis Obispo perhaps none excels in convenience of arrangement as well as style the nine-room residence of John F. Ingram, designed by Architect H. S. Laird, and built by Stephen Grimm and Jas. P. Rasmussen. Mr. Ingram's location is on the northwesterly corner of Islay and Broad streets. Upham House (extant; Master List) Tribune, 8 March 1903: BUILDING STILL CONTINUES. Description of houses under construction. Design and Arrangement of Fine Residence of Mrs. Elliott Soon to Be Completed. Residences of the better class continue to be erected in San Luis Obispo as fast as workmen can be found to construct them. New ideas and designs are constantly being introduced and the Tribune believes the description in brief detail of some of the 27 houses being built is of interest to all, especially to those who contemplate building, and that includes nearly everyone in San Luis Obispo who does not already occupy a new house. Through the kindness of Architect Laird we are enabled to describe the new residence of Mrs. Mary Elliott now well on toward completion on the southerly side of Buchon street, between Chorro and Garden streets. Hourihan House, 1904 (extant; Master List) Tribune, 15 September 1904: WORK TO BEGIN. Work commences on the new residence of Mr. and Mrs. T. Hourihan next week. The plans were drawn by H. S. Laird and John Chapek has the contract. This location is on Buchon street near Chorro, opposite the new residence of Wm. Albert. H. M. Warden Junior Tower Block, 1904 (extant, Master List) 28 Tribune, 8 December 1904: Splendid Workmanship Is Evident in the Construction of the Warden Jr Block Just Completed. … The building was designed by Architect H. S. Laird of this city who never designs a homely or poor structure. Greenfield Building (extant; Master List) Tribune, 6 August 1909: Building permits were granted as follows on motion of Trustee McCaffrey: A. F. Fitzgerald, two story brick, 20 by 50, on block 80 [86, as per Historic Buildings Permit File, Cal Poly Special Collections], Higuera street, cost £5,000, H. S. Laird architect, J. Maino and Sons, contractors. Carnegie Library portico, 1909 (extant; National Register of Historic Places) Telegram, 30 October 1909: TO CONTRACTORS.—The Free Public Library of the City of San Luis Obispo hereby invites sealed proposals for furnishing materials and constructing a portico to the library building, with walks, etc., according to plans and specification by H. S. Laird, architect, on file with the undersigned, to which reference is hereby made for particulars. … Sealed proposals must be filed with the undersigned on or before November 16, 1909, at noon, and shall be endorsed “Portico Bid.” By order of the Board of Trustees of said library. FRANCES M. MILNE, 10-30 11-13 Clerk of said Board. Nelson House, 1104 Palm, 1911 (extant) Tribune, 7 July 1911: Nelson for cottage 32x46 on lot 4, blk 32, to cost $2700. H. S. Laird architect, Maino & Sons contractors.