Up On The Roof

When this old world starts getting me down
And people are just too much for me to face
I climb way up to the top of the stairs
And all my cares just drift right into space

I had a chance to go on the roof of a big movie theater building today. As I mentioned in an earlier post, some friends of mine are on the board of a non-profit group that is restoring a 1930s Art Deco Movie House. They had a big clean up day today and ask me if I would come by to take a group photo of all the Board Members. Naturally, I said yes. While I was there they had the hatch to the roof open and so I went up and snapped a few shots of the city.

You can click the images to enlarge them and the larger pictures have markings indicating which buildings I’m referring to.

The first image is of The Eureka Inn...uh, excuse me, The Historic Eureka Inn. It was built in 1922 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. From a Housebloggers perspective, the most interesting thing about it is that last year it was painted and they stripped the whole thing with Peel-Away. And you think you have a lot of woodwork to strip. The siding is 1X12 coved redwood siding. The domed building in the foreground is a Carnegie Free Library (1904). I wish I had gotten a picture of the front because it has some stunning detail. It is now The Morris Graves Museum of Art.



This is St. Bernards Catholic church built in 1888. The Victorian home next door, which is only partially in the picture, is the 1895 Rectory, a nice Queen Anne that looks similar to my own house.



These two buildings are 2 of my favorite in town. Building 1 is stone and Building 2 is wood. They both have a lot of nice detail that doesn’t show up in the pictures. Dr. Thomas Petch had an office in Building 2 around the turn of the century. In between them you can see a great Victorian office building from the 1870s.



The 3 buildings of note in this photo are The Professional Building (Building 1 - 1933), The Gross Building (Building 2 - 1903), and The Carson Block (Building 3 - 1892). The Professional Building was built by Lloyd Bridges’ father who was a developer here in the 20s and 30s. Dr. Thomas Petch had an office in The Gross Building in 1905, and The Carson Block was originally a very fancy Victorian Building with a theater in it. It was stripped of it’s decoration in the 50s and then stuccoed. Grrrr! Beyond those buildings you can see Humboldt Bay. There are a series of islands and then a peninsula. Beyond the peninsula is a the Pacific Ocean.



This is The Odd Fellows Hall (Building 1 - unknown), The Federal Building (Building 2 - 1901), and the new, butt-ugly County Building (Building 3 – Doesn’t matter). You mostly see the back of The Odd Fellows Hall here but it has some wonderful detail to it. It is stone but unfortunately the first floor is mostly obscured by the worst metal façade you have ever seen in your life. They (who ever owns it now) is trying to get money together to restore the first floor façade. Although I’ve never been in it, apparently the entire 3rd floor is a large ball room. The Federal Building is a post office on the first floor. This is where I have my PO Box so I’m in there several times a week. The whole thing is done is quarter swan oak and white marble. Very, very cool. The windows are 20 over 20. There is a great vestibule and it is really just a great building.



It ain’t the Manhattan skyline, I know, but I still enjoy looking at it.