WOOD FRAMES CALIFORNIA'S HISTORY

Some of California's most acclaimed structures share a strong link to the state's forests.

People think of the Gold Rush when they think of California's early rise to prosperity and statehood. But few know that lumber was the reason for that first gold strike.

It was the trees and their sturdy lumber within that brought John A Sutter and James Marshall to Coloma. During a routine inspection of Mr. Sutter's sawmill on the south fork of the American River, James Marshall discovered the gold that started a frenzy.

California forests, which today stand on over 30 percent of the state's land, provided good jobs then, and powered California's economic growth. California as we know it today was built on the very timbers that inspired Marshall and Sutter to Gold Country. From the cozy cottages of Pasadena to the elaborate Victorians of Eureka, many of California's most beloved and iconic buildings were constructed with wood.

Gamble House, (c) Alexander Vertikoff

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Pasadena's bungalows are some of the most distinctively "Californian" buildings, including the flagship David B. Gamble House. Designed by architects Charles and Henry Greene, the Gamble House is now a National Historic Landmark.

The Greenes were inspired by England's Arts and Crafts aesthetic movement, which championed craftsmanship over mass production; artistry over the mechanization then characterizing the industrial world. Wood was the natural choice for this magnificent home, which showcases varieties from all over the world. The Greenes used hardwoods such as mahogany and ebony from Central America, Asia and Africa, and softwoods like cedar, sugar pine, Douglas fir and redwood grown in California.

Even Southern California's middle classes could afford to live in the more modest Craftsman-style bungalows that dotted Pasadena. On a smaller scale, these casual, one-story wood structures featured the natural materials and handmade craftsmanship championed by the movement.

Julia Morgan Center for the Arts
Originally designed in 1908 as St. John’s Presbyterian Church, today visitors to the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts in Berkeley can still see the exposed wood beams and shingles characteristic of the Arts and Crafts vision. Photo courtesy of Julia Morgan Center for the Arts.
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Arts and Crafts pioneer and celebrated female architect Julia Morgan designed some of the San Francisco Bay Area's most beloved buildings using California wood throughout. Morgan favored redwood--which still covers more than one and a quarter million acres in Mendocino, Humboldt, Santa Cruz and other California counties--in her buildings like Berkeley's Julia Morgan Center for the Arts on College Avenue. Originally designed in 1908 as St. John's Presbyterian Church, today visitors can still see the exposed wood beams and shingles characteristic of the Arts and Crafts vision.

The use of wood in homes and public buildings goes beyond the Arts and Crafts adherents. The richly detailed Victorian-era homes of San Francisco were primarily built with redwood because of its low cost and abundance. Moreover, this "softwood" was ideal for artisans who made their mark carving ornamental elements into beams and furniture with an emerging woodworking technology that made elaborate decoration inexpensive and quick.

Haas-Lilienthal House, photo by Douglas Keister, courtesy of San Francisco Architectural Heritage

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Builders in San Francisco also had earthquakes to consider when choosing materials. Engineers at the time knew what modern science has shown -- wood is uniquely suited to withstand California's earth-shaking events, giving and bending when other materials collapsed altogether. Consider the castle-like Haas-Lilienthal House on Franklin Street. Built in 1886 and now managed by San Francisco Architectural Heritage, this Queen Anne Victorian beauty survived the 1906 earthquake and has required little restoration.

Even San Francisco's favored nightspots featured wood. One remains a popular gathering place today. The Redwood Room of the Clift Hotel, designed in 1934 by architect G. Albert Lansburgh, is dominated (as the name suggests) by redwood that the hotel's official history claims came from a single tree.

When Studio 54 co-creator turned international hotelier Ian Schrager announced plans to renovate the hotel with designer Philippe Starck, he was deluged with letters from concerned citizens. They quickly formed a local "Save the Redwood Room" committee to encourage him to retain the room in all its grandeur. Sure enough, the room unveiled retained the original's distinctive redwood paneling. As Schrager told the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine in July 2001, just before the hotel's much-hyped relaunch, "We really left the star of the lobby the redwood, it sets the tone."

Second Parlor, Haas-Lilienthal House. Photo by Douglas Keister, courtesy of San Francisco Architectural Heritage.
The second parlor of the Haas-Lilienthal house uses redwood extensively.

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Another nightlife landmark that stands out is the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego County--better known as "The Del." This National Historic Landmark was originally the idea of hunting buddies Elisha Babcock and H.L. Story, who were determined to build a hotel that would be "the talk of the western world."

A mill was built on-site to process logs that were bound together and floated down the Pacific coast. Douglas fir provides the Del's framing and flooring. Redwood gives its exterior siding charm and accentuates the interior and exterior woodwork. The enormous Crown Room ceiling was done in sugar pine, and held in place without a single nail.

Travel out to California's Gold Country, Sierra Nevada and North Coast, and you'll see wood's historic role throughout. From the ghost town of Bodie, a one-time mining center in the eastern Sierra where nothing remains but weathered wood buildings, to the historic village of Mendocino where wood provides shelter from the ocean winds, wood has formed a significant foundation for California's history. Wood built the company mill town of Scotia on the North Coast and was used to create the world's largest single-span covered bridge on the Yuba River in Bridgeport.

Crown Room, Hotel Del. Photo courtesy of Hotel Del Coronado.
The Crown Room's sugar pine ceiling was held in place without a single nail.

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Many of the forests that built California remain abundant and productive today. While homes, office parks, and freeways have replaced the trees that once covered Mill Valley and Redwood City, California's Sierra Nevada and North Coast are home to a deep blanket of forestland.

Their continuity is due to modern forestry practices. Today, California's licensed foresters perform to some of the highest environmental standards in the world and must pass educational requirements and board exams similar to those of doctors and lawyers. An average of seven trees is planted for each one harvested for wood products. Wildlife and fisheries biologists, soil specialists and other scientists work alongside foresters on timber harvest plans that protect natural resources while providing the wood products modern society needs.

As forest science has progressed, so too, has harvesting and processing technology. Mills have become high-tech facilities that use nearly 100 percent of each tree, run on clean energy and often provide electricity to California's energy grid.

With all these changes, today's forest products companies and the lands they manage in our state continue to grow Douglas fir structural lumber, sugar pine paneling, and of course that quintessential California product--the redwood deck. Produced under modern sustainable forestry practices, these high-quality California-grown wood products are building the homes, offices, and infrastructure to frame this generation's history.

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Donn Zea is president of the California Forest Products Commission and past chairman of the California Grown campaign.