Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Downtown Hollister Historic District: The Old and Current City Hall Buildings


On the south side of Fifth Street, between San Benito and Monterey Streets, are the old and current City Hall buildings, which are both contributing historic structures in the Downtown Hollister Historic District.

339 Fifth Street — The Old City Hall



The Hollister City Hall was originally located at 339 Fifth Street. The first building was destroyed in the 1906 Earthquake. Two years later, the new beautiful two-story City Hall, designed by William H. Weeks, was completed. The west side of the building housed the Hollister Fire Department.

The building has many interesting decorative features. Click here to see a close-up of one of the figurines—brackets—at the top of the building. Once upon a time, the Old City Hall had a cupola. Click here to see vintage postcards of how the building looked over 100 years ago.

Today, the City of Hollister uses the first floor of this building for its utility payment center and offices for its building and planning divisions.

375 Fifth Street — The Current City Hall



Some of you may recognize the Classical Revival style of the current City Hall as being a design of many Carnegie Libraries. You're right. The current City Hall was once the city library. In 1910, the City of Hollister received a grant from the Andrew Carnegie Library Foundation to build the one-story reinforced concrete building. Completed in 1912, the building was designed by William Binder and constructed by E. J. Sparling. In the 1980s, the City built an addition at the rear for the City Council chambers.

There are so many wonderful elements to this building, such as the Ionic columns that flank the entry way and the fine details of the cornice across the top of the building. What impresses me the most is that the concrete was scored to look like granite blocks.

The Hollister Carnegie Library is entered in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Downtown Hollister Historic District as well as individually. Want to see what the library looked like back in the day? Then, click here.

Today is Our World Tuesday, and that's where I am linking up. Click here to check out what's going on in other parts of the world.


2 comments:

  1. I like how both buildings..old and newer, blend in with each other. So many new buildings don't , especially in historical areas.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That block has different architectural styles from different eras, but, somehow they harmonize with each other. Of course, it could also be that my eyes are so used to the buildings. :-)

      Delete

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