Photo: Petaluma Educational Foundation
This photo is from my Southern Sonoma Country Life files dating back to the fall of 2008 when the beautiful and soulful old relic of what was once the only silk mill west of the Mississippi, Petaluma's historic 1892 Carson-Currier Silk Mills (Later, in 1917 the Belding-Heminway and Corticelli Silk Mill & in 1940 the Sunset Line & Twine) Building was transformed for one night into "The Brick House", a Studio 54 fundraiser for Petaluma Educational Foundation in the sophistication and style of the groovy, urban seventies.
Flash forward a decade and the following photos are from a visit I recently paid to the newly opened 76 room Hampton Inn, a Hilton hotel that has transformed this old treasure into stylish lodgings at the Gateway to Wine Country.
Except for two season's of fabulous fundraising galas in which I will personally testify to the party decor outdoing any possible concern of falling through the upstairs floor while dancing to the band, the building has been derelict since fishing line manufacturer Sunset Line & Twine closed its doors in December of 2006.
I toured the building for a piece in my column in the Argus Courier during the months after trading stopped between China and the line and twine company, which had most famously manufactured silk parachutes during World War II as well as parachute chords that were a part of the Gemini and Apollo Space missions.
It was a haunted, graffiti filled and frequently vandalized space and old machines and working conditions looked to have been barely updated in all the decades of its operation, at one time, continuously around the clock on shifts. Carson-Currier was a major employer in the area in the Victoria era. I interviewed an elderly lady a couple years back who remembered walking to work there across open fields.
The building, on Jefferson Street, fronting Lakeville Highway a block or two off D Street in central Petaluma was granted national historic landmark status in 1986.
Palo Alto-based BPR Properties purchased the building a couple of years ago after several attempts at historic renovation by other concerned groups in the area failed to raise sufficient funding to save it from near ruin given its sensitive brickwork and seismic retrofitting requirements.
It's interesting to note that BPR Properties owns several pretty unique hotels in its Northern California portfolio, one of which, Hotel Paradox, in Santa Cruz, sprang to mind during my visit. I've stayed at Paradox and appreciated its art-filled, contemporary renovation, boutique touches in the landscaping and cruiser bikes to take out for a whirl.
The decor and attention to detail is clear in the renovation of the silk mill but I would like to see some more upscale additions in the public spaces, which I hope will be a part of the ongoing gentrification of the space that sits in a fairly industrial stretch of the outer downtown area.
Front landscaping and parking is still under construction, once that is complete, the place will have a more polished look. Some of the guests checking in were seeking assurance that the hotel was in fact, open, though in talking with reception staff and a very responsive and welcoming general manager, Max Childs, it's clear the actual room accommodation is fully up to par with what hotel guests would expect for a brand new inn of this standard. Max showed me a couple of the rooms, lovely exposed brick in some, loaded with wifi, floating side tables and vanities, modern bathrooms and appealing blinds printed with the street map footprint of the historic area. There's a gym on the second floor and a luxury suite in the works incorporating one of the front towers.
I was happy to see local beer and wine in the nicely styled and spacious bar/breakfast room that is housed at the back of the building in the old dye house. Disappointingly, however, the City of Petaluma won't allow any one other than limited number of folk accompanying paying hotel guests to use the bar at this initial point in time. I was hoping it would be an appealing space to have a meeting or quick drink with friends in the downtown area, but clearly, not yet, at least until parking is fully sorted out in the area around the hotel, which is always an issue in this town. I'd imagine that it would be more of an inviting atmosphere to have some positive community activity in the hotel bar and upcoming outdoor recreation area than have it take on a bit of a ghost town atmosphere by barring use by anyone other than those staying over.
A revamp by the developer of "Sunset Park", a former pocket park hangout for homeless in recent years in front of the hotel, will, on the other hand, be open for use by the general public in passing with seating, drought tolerant landscaping and a water fountain.
Back to the bikes from the Paradox. Those would be an awesome addition to this new hotel, so close to town but not necessarily appealing in its walking route as yet.
The late Bill Hammerman, historian, wrote about the building in in his Petaluma 360 blog:
An Historic Resources Inventory document from the California Department of Parks & Recreation includes this brief description of its historical and architectural importance:
“The Carlson Courier Company bought the Petaluma property from John McNear in 1892 and built the Petaluma Silk Mills. This building was the only silk mill of its kind when built and was today is the only Georgian Colonial Revival style industrial building in Sonoma and Mendocino counties. It is representative of the New England mill town buildings of the 1870’s. The silk for the Petaluma mill was obtained from China. The mill had the capacity of manufacturing into thread 250 lbs. of raw silk per day. The company made several kinds of spool silk, knitting silk and it was bought by Sunset Line and Twine in 1940 for the manufacturing of fishing line and related nylon twines. It continues its manufacturing today with Arthur Agnew of Santa Rosa as company president.”
Bill wrote that Two interesting bits of information about the Silk Mills/Line & Twine are: (1) the first cross-continental delivery of anything in the U.S. (silk soap) was made from Philadelphia to Petaluma in 1912, a journey of 4,100 miles in 91 days, by three drivers; and (2) one of the reentry ropes used by the Apollo capsule was made by the Sunset Line & Twine Co. in 1963.
And by the way, this year's PEF fundraising gala, the Bourbon Street Bash, a benefit for all public and private schools in the Petaluma area takes place on September 8th at the Veterans Memorial Building. Click here for tickets.
Comments