Eureka Old Town Waterfront Self Guided Tour

  • Address: 422 1st St.
  • Eureka, CA 95501

Step back in time and take a self-guided tour through Eureka’s Old Town Waterfront District. 

Walk the blocks of this restored commercial area of Eureka’s original waterfront district where time remains in the Victorian era of the late 1800s.  Having missed the Urban Redevelopment phase of the 60's, Eureka now finds itself as one of the few remaining reminders of the old commercial centers.


Eureka was established in 1850, not as the lumber town it eventually became, but as a transportation and supply center for the Gold Rush that was happening along the Klamath and Trinity Rivers. Since Humboldt Bay was the source of all commerce at that time, a business district developed along the shoreline with offices, merchant shops and saloons.

Today, these blocks of vintage commercial buildings have been lovingly restored, and now contain bookstores, restaurants, coffee houses, galleries, museums and a variety of unusual boutiques. 

Oberon Saloon on 2nd St
1. 516 2ND
   (2nd between G & F St)
Originally: THE OBERON SALOON
Style:  Classical Revival     Built:  1886

Clientele from the Vance Hotel frequented this saloon where the walls were once decorated with oil paintings and tapestries.  It is most remembered  for a fight started by Jack London in 1910.
 

Orginally the Vance Hotel
2. 525 Second ST
 (2nd & G St) 
Originally:  THE VANCE HOTEL
Style: 2nd Empire / Classical  Built:  1872

Built for the lumber pioneer John Vance, as a first class hotel.

The Vance Hotel was the social and commercial center of town for many years.

 

Originally Buhne General Store
3. 423 FIRST ST (1st & F St.)
Originally:  BUHNE GENERAL STORE

Style: Greek Revival  - Built:  1869
This is one of the oldest buildings in Old Town.  Constructed as a general store for Captain H.H. Buhne (who also brought the first large group of settlers into Humboldt Bay in 1850).
 

 Janssen Building on First St
4.   422 FIRST ST JANSSEN BLDG.  (1st & E St)    
Style: Italianate   Built: 1875

Highlights of this building are the six cast-iron columns on the main floor in front and the corniced label moldings located above each of the five second floor windows.   Housed the first elevator in Northern California.

Waterfron Cafe
5.   102 F ST – CAFÉ WATERFRONT (1st & FSt)
Originally: THE WAVE SALOON/THE WEAVER BLDG.

Style: Eastlake   Built:  1892 

This building remains substantially unaltered from its original design.   Originally the Wave Saloon, a gathering place for fishermen, stevedores and  later on, loggers.  “The Bluebird Rooms”  (a brothel) were on the second floor.  Today:  You can still get a drink, but it’s going to be a micro-brew or  chardonnay to accompany the daily seafood special.
  

 Orginally McDonald Supply
6.  108 F ST  (1st & F St)
Originally: D.C. MCDONALD BLDG. SUPPLY STORE
Style: Classical Revival   Built: 1904

Constructed in brick and molded concrete designed to imitate stone.   This was the site of a building supply outlet up until the early l960’s. Today: A boutique clothing store.

 Gazebo at the foot of
7.   THE GAZEBO   (2nd & F St)
The Ferry Terminal that was located at the foot of F street, original entrance to city, made this the busiest street in town.  Today:  A Gazebo occupies this old town square.  Still a gathering space, especially on the 1st Saturday of every month when the pigeons make way for vendors and entertainers.

 Originally Odd Fellows Hall

8. 123-131 F ST– (2nd & F St)
Originally: Odd Fellows Hall
 
Style: 2nd Empire/Italianate Built:  1882

The original main entrance on Second St. is a two-story classical pavillion supported by cast-iron Ionic & Corinthian columns.   The second floor was a meeting hall for the Odd Fellows until the early 1950’s.  The main floor, a dry goods store. Today The Linen Store, - fine linens & sleepware among an eclectic assortment of other items.

Originally Pacific Pharmacy Bldg.  
9. 208 F ST
- MANY HANDS GALLERY (2nd & F St)
Originally: The Pacific Pharmacy Bldg. 
 
Style: Queen Anne 
Built:  1893
The gables, roof and façade are representative of the Queen Anne style.  Started out as the Pacific Pharmacy and continued as a pharmacy until the 1980’s.  Today:  You can find many fine art and fun collectables at Many Hands Gallery.  Here you will find a nautical section complete with pirate flags.  Some of the other shops in this complex offer fine arts, jewelry, antiques and beads.
  

 Originally Lowenthal's Haberdashery
10.  320 2nd St. – EUREKA BOOKS (2nd & F St)
Originally: Lowenthal’s Haberdashery – The Louvre Café in
1925     
Built:
1873  With humble beginnings as a café, the Louvre transformed into a  tough logger bar, the ‘High Lead Saloon,’ as the logging industry grew in this area.

Today:  A treasure trove of old and out of print books.


Lourve Cafe back alley
11.     (Alley way 2nd & FSt)
Back entrance in alleyway to the old Louvre Café, now Eureka Books.  This sign  is probably over 100 yrs old.
 

12.   416 Second St  - (between E & F St)
Originally: The Cousins Building.
Style: Classical/Mission Revival
Rebuilt: 
1905 after a fire.Constructed in the 19th century & rebuilt with this eclectic façade.  The scroll parapet – a Mission Revival style also has elements of Classical Revival.  One standout is the window frames with "bound" garland.

403-11 2nd St. Italianate 1877 

13.    403-11 2nd   (2nd & E St)
Originally: C.W. Long Building
Style: Italianate     Built: 1877

This commercial building has the standard Italianate simple detail, brick with a decorative cast-iron storefront, representative of the commercial buildings of this era.  Today: You can stop in at Los Bagels for breakfast, lunch or a snack and then browse the retail  shops along this block.

 

 325 2nd St. Classical Revival  1908

14.   325 2nd St (2ns St between E & D St)
Originally:  DREAMLAND
Style:
  Classical Revival    Built:  1908
Originally known as Dreamland, where you could buy a dance for a dime.   It  then became a  theater, skating rink and  Old Town Bar & Grill.  Special features of this building are the highly decorative concrete window surrounds.

 

15.   217 D ST    (2nd & D St)
Originally:  The Metropole Hotel
Style:  Classical Revival    Built  1903

20th century Classic Revival style in wood.  The upper floors were furnished rooms and the corner was once the Eureka Chop House restaurant.  Today:  Apartments occupy the upper floors with retail at street level. 

Ground floor corner is Humboldt Herbals. 

 The Inn at 2nd & C  1886

16.   THE INN at SECOND & "C" (2nd & C St)       
Built:  1886

This Eureka Landmark began as a hotel & restaurant. In 1893. Competition from a nearby hotel inspired the owners to split the building into two sections, move them aside and erect a three story edifice on the site, incorporating the original sections as wings.  Alteration in 1984 added a theater &  penthouse giving the structure a 4th floor. 

 

 Clarke Museum & Visitor Center originally Eureka Bank  1911

17.    240 E ST (3rd & E St)
Originally:  THE BANK OF EUREKA
Style:  Classical Revival   Built: 1911

Constructed for the Bank of Eureka and designed by Albert Pissis an important San Francisco architect.  This building features a  granite base with brick walls covered in glazed architectural terra cotta, typical of this style.  Today:  The Clarke Historical Museum and the Eureka Visitor Center.  Houses artifacts of Humboldt history with ever changing displays, including the Victorian period.  The Native American Wing features a world-recognized collection of baskets, regalia, stone and wood objects.

 

18.    227 F ST   (3rd & F St)
Originally:  THE INGOMAR THEATRE
Style:  Sullivanesque   Built:  1892
The Carson Block
-  In the face of a logging and milling recession, Wilam Carson decided to erect this building, designed by Samuel Newsom.  In addition to office, commercial and residential spaces, it contained the Ingomar Theatre, an opera house designed to seat 1,400.  The theater closed in 1912. Today: Totally refurbished to its original state.

 

19.  527- 531 3RD ST  (3rd between F & G St)
Originally:  The J RUSS BUILDING
Style:  Queen Anne Commercial 
Built: 1883 
This building stylizes a commercial building with Queen Anne features.  The main floor officed a real estate firm that handled many of the timberland sales.  Upstairs was a private men's club.

 

20.    600 2ND ST   (2nd & G St)
Originally: THE BUHNE BUILDING
Style:  Renaissance Revival   Built: 1884

The outstanding features on this building is the cast iron storefront and brick elevations and arched windows.  This was designed for commercial and residential use with a public hall on the 3rd floor for social events.   Today:  Artist studios have taken over the offices.

 

21.   203 - 215 F ST  (2nd & F St)
Originally: C.S. RICKS BUILDING
Style: Italianate    Built: 1878 
Iron columns graced with Corinthian capitals.  Built for C.S. Ricks who established the first water company in Eureka.

 

22. 117 F ST – VANITY  (F between 1st & 2nd)
Originally: THE SNUG BLDG., A Saloon
Style: Italianate   Built:
1890
Originally outfitted as a saloon, then a barbershop and bathhouse.  Located at the very entrance to town from the port, it would have been a very busy place.   Today: From “hair raising” to “hair styling,” it is now  Vanity, a hair salon and spa.


STYLES:
Classical Revival
– Based on the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome, was one of the most widespread styles in the United States during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Its versatility was adaptable to a wide range of building types and budgets. Common characteristics: Symmetrical facades - Minimal use of bays, towers or other projecting building elements - Classical ornament, including columns, cornices, and triangular pediments -Variety of materials, including brick, stone, terra cotta, and wood.

Greek Revival
- Based on ancient Greek temples.  Common characteristics: Overall cubic form – Classical Greek ornament, such as columns – Gable roofs combined with pediments.

Italianate -
One of America's most popular 19th-century styles, derived from the architecture of Italian villas. It was popular in the late 1800’s for a wide variety of building types, from houses and small apartment buildings, to institutional structures.  Common characteristics are: Vertical proportions - Tall, rounded windows and doors - Stone trim with incised foliated ornament - Intricate wood or pressed metal cornices.

Eastlake/Stick -
The decorative possibilities inherent in machine-manufactured wood were promoted by late 19th century architects.  Name refers to Charles Eastlake, an English architect and the use of wooden “stick work.”  Common characteristics: wood construction – Decorative wooden planks (stick work) outlining the underlying wood frame structure – intricate wooden details such as lathe-turned spindles & jigsaw-cut brackets.

Queen Anne -
Buildings in this style have asymmetrical shapes characterized by bays and prominent, varied rooflines.  Common characteristics: Rich but simple ornament – Expansive porches – Pressed metal bays & turrets – Irregular roofline with many dormers & chimneys – variety of materials.

Second Empire -
Inspired by the elaborate architecture of the late 1850’s & 60’s in Paris – when it was rebuilt by Napoleon III.  Common characteristics: Intricate stone ornamentation surrounding doors & windows – Sloping “mansard” roofs, often with multi-colored sate shingles & elaborate dormers – Prominent cornices.

Mission Revival
– derived from Spanish missions of California.   Common characteristics: Smooth stucco – fluid arches, arcades & balconies – Tiled roof

Sullivanesque -
An influential architect in the late 1800’s, Louis Sullivan developed this style using terra cotta.  Common characteristics – Masonry walls – Terra cotta ornament.


Eureka’s waterfront could give the Barbary Coast a run for its money, so much so that writer Jack London came here in search of authentic tough guys on which to base his characters. People still talk about what happened to London when in 1912 he got on the wrong side of a local lumberman in the Oberon Saloon.

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