The corner stone for the building, located in the center of the plaza, was laid on February 22, 1906. On December 9, 1908, the building was dedicated and is still in use.

The building is of Early Mission Revival design and is in good condition.

Source: NRHP nomination form.

When the Sonoma Plaza boundaries were expanded in 1992, Sonoma City Hall was listed again with a more detailed description of the property.

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In 1847, Nicholas Carriger, from Kentucky, constructed Sonoma's first redwood house and Sonoma's first well on this site. The redwood structure was in the 1850's incorporated into the present structure of Gothic revival style. The Julius Poppe family came to Sonoma from Germany in the 1850's. The present structure has been restored and is an excellent example of California Carpenters Gothic.

Source: NRHP nomination form.

When the Sonoma Plaza boundaries were expanded in 1992, the Julius Poppe House was listed again with a more detailed description of the property.

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Brick Victorian store is of mixed Classic Revival style. The building is in fair to good condition and is used as a hardware store.

Source: NRHP nomination form.

From about 1849, an adobe building was on this site. It was purchased by Frederick Duhring in 1879, and operated as the Duhring Clothing Store and agency for Wells Fargo and Company.

In 1891 he replaced the adobe building the current brick building designed by A.C. Lutgens, who designed City Hall.

An early morning fire in October 1990 completely destroyed the building. The façade was restored with the original bricks.

Source: NRHP nomination form.

The building was listed on the NRHP as Mission Hardware, not Duhring Building.

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This Gothic Revival building was constructed in the early 1850s as Ames Chapel. Ames Chapel was possibly the first Protestant church north of San Francisco.

Ames Chapel originally stood on Napa Street, between 5th and 6th Streets. It was moved here in 1868, and the Christopher Wren steeple was added.

In 1950, the structure was sold to the Baptist church.

Source: NRHP nomination form.

Buildings that Moved

It's not just that the people of the American West are restless, the buildings themselves sometimes pack up and move when - for one reason or another - the neighborhood no longer suits them or the neighbors no longer want them or opportunity waits down the road.

And when buildings remain in place, they are often searching for their identities.

Of the buildings and structures we have visited, the original Reno Arch holds the record for number of moves. It has been moved five times since it was built in 1926.

Jax Truckee Diner holds the distance title. The building moved from New Jersry to Pennsylvanis in 1948, then from Pennsylvania to Califonia in 1992.

Probably the most ambitious relocation occurred on July 4th 1904, when the Southern Pacific Railroad loaded most of the town of Wadsworth, Nevada, onto rail cars and transported the town thirty miles west to create a new town which became known as Sparks.

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The wood frame structure is of Italianate Victorian design. The building perhaps dating from the l870's is in good condition and is used as a Boutique and Music Store.

Source: NRHP nomination form.

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The wood frame structure is of Classic Revival design and is in good condition. Used as an antique shop, the plain building is characteristic of the early 1850 period

Source: NRHP nomination form.

When the Sonoma Plaza boundaries were expanded in 1992, this property was listed again with a more detailed description.

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The Batto Building is of Classic Revival style and was constructed in 1912. The structure is used for commercial offices.

When the Sonoma Plaza boundaries were expanded in 1992, the Batto Building was listed again with a more detailed description of the property.

Source: NRHP nomination form.

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Of late Victorian design and was constructed in 1909. The brick structure has metal fire shutters.

Source: NRHP nomination form.

When the Sonoma Plaza boundaries were expanded in 1992, Masonic Temple was listed again with a more detailed description of the property.

Some Masonic Halls in California

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Built in 1841, by Jacob P. Leese, a brother-in-law of Vallejo, this house is a two- story adobe in the Monterey Colonial style with a wooden balcony across its front. This balcony may have been reduced in width at a later period.

Originally the balcony was supported by two- story columns made of ship's masts. From June 18^9 to October 1851, the Pacific Division Headquarters of the War Department, commanded by General Persifer Smith was located in Sonoma in the structure. From July 1851 to January 1852, except for a period of duty in Oregon, Companies "A" and "E", 1st United States Dragoons commanded by Brevet Major Phillip H. Kearny, Jr., was stationed in Sonoma.

Many junior officers, later to achieve fame and advancement, were associated with the adobe during the military period; including Colonel Joseph Hooker, later known as "Fighting Joe" Hooker, Ulysses Grant, Andrew Smith, Lieutenant William T. Sherman, General Gibbs, John C. Fremont, and Kit Carson. The building is in poor condition and houses an art gallery and tavern on the first floor and small patio, the apartments on the second floor and are not occupied. The structure is in need of rehabilitation.

Source: NRHP nomination form.

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Constructed in 1880-1881, the Italianate style house was the home of Sonoma merchant Johann Frederick Clewe. Mr. Clewe died in 1902 and Mrs. Clewe in 1917.

Source: NRHP nomination form.

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Constructed by 1860 by Frederick Duhring, the structure was originally a modest two-story frame building. Later, a Duhring daughter, Agens, married Judge Thomas Denny and lived in the house; who probably in the early 1920's added to the house and modified it to colonial-revival style. In 1960, on Judge Denny's death, the house was sold to Albert Domerigue.

Source: NRHP nomination form.

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The house was built by John C. Ray, an American Settler. In 1848 the first section of wood was erected and in November 1851, the original section was incorporated with the more recent adobe half of the residence at a cost of $4,000.

The two-story structure has a hipped roof and a borad veranda around all four sides. The front section of the adobe has 22 inch thick walls and the rear section of the structure is of redwood.

The adobe section, added in 1851, was evidentally added for rental purposes and the building was called Ray's Hotel. The dirt for the adobe came from across the street.

In 1851, Lewis Adler purchased the structure and it continued under the name Ray's Hotel. On Adler's death, the property went to his wife and on her death, it went to Amelia Adler Bates, who sold it in 1902.

The structure is well preserved and apparently little altered. It is now used as a private residence.

In 1851, the house was used as the Officers' Mess for Colonel Stevenson's detachment; the New York Volunteers, the 160th Regiment.

On May 6, 1851, Masonic Temple Lodge number!4, received its charter. A Masonic meeting hall was established in the upstairs of the Ray House, Colonel Stevenson was the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge in California.

Members of Lodge 14, meeting in the structure, included Stevenson, Johnston, Hooker, Sheridan, Grant, Braekett and Sherman; most junior officers at the time and later to gain fame in the Civil War.

Later, Heinrick Schleimann, often called the Father of Archeology, lived in the house while courting Adler's sister. Schleimann is known for his discovery of ancient Troy.

Source: NRHP nomination form.

When the Sonoma Plaza boundaries were expanded in 1992, the Ray-Adler Adobe was listed again with a rewritten description.

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This structure greatly resembles the enclosed adobes of 1847-1851 period. However, it has always been of frame construction.

The house, of Monterey Colonial Style, has a long front porch and has wide horizontal redwood siding with butt joints on the front of the house which is original. Redwood stumps were utilized as a foundation for the front porch which were replaced in recent years. The house has been restored with a garage and a rear wing added about 20 years ago.

The property was part of the original grant to Don Marieno G. Vallejo. The property has also been owned by Lilburn W. Boggs, the American Alcalde of the District of Sonoma, Territory of California, who sold the property to John G. Ray on January 11, 1848. Exactly when the house was constructed is not certain.

The earliest occupant was named Cook (or possibly Cooke) who sold the house in 1861 to a wagon maker named Hope.

A Martin E. Cooke, came to Sonoma in 1852 as General Vallejo's attorney. In 1856, he purchased the Blue Wing Inn and later served as State Senator.

In the 1940's a Fred Jenner owned the house and sold it to Dr. Taylor in the 1950's, who restored the house. The house is in excellent condition.

Source: NRHP nomination form.

This property is included in the Sonoma Plaza Boundary Increase as the Cooke House.

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In 1850, Lewis Alder moved into the new frame building which was known as Meyer and Alder's Store. The building was located on East Spain Street across from the Blue Wing Inn.

In 1856, it was purchased by another merchant and moved to the southwest corner of First Street East and Napa Street.

The building was later purchased and moved to 256 East Spain Street for use as a residence. Later, probably in the 1880's a second story was added.

Source: NRHP nomination form.

Buildings that Moved

It's not just that the people of the American West are restless, the buildings themselves sometimes pack up and move when - for one reason or another - the neighborhood no longer suits them or the neighbors no longer want them or opportunity waits down the road.

And when buildings remain in place, they are often searching for their identities.

Of the buildings and structures we have visited, the original Reno Arch holds the record for number of moves. It has been moved five times since it was built in 1926.

Jax Truckee Diner holds the distance title. The building moved from New Jersry to Pennsylvanis in 1948, then from Pennsylvania to Califonia in 1992.

Probably the most ambitious relocation occurred on July 4th 1904, when the Southern Pacific Railroad loaded most of the town of Wadsworth, Nevada, onto rail cars and transported the town thirty miles west to create a new town which became known as Sparks.

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Casa Grande, the home of General Vallejo, was constructed approximately 1836-1840 on Spain Street, between Sonoma Barracks and Swiss Hotel. Destroyed by fire in 1867.

Drawings, 1846-1851, indicated a two story adobe building with a second floor balcony running the length of the building facing the plaza. On the west side of the building was a tower. Nothing remains of the structure or tower above ground. The structure was the center of the Sonoma Pueblo administration and social life in its period.

The surviving Casa Grande Servants Quarters is a long two-story adobe structure, with a covered balcony on its east facing side was erected in 1837 as the servants quarters for Casa Grande. The structure is of Monterey Colonial Style.

Source: NRHP nomination form.

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A Victorian Italianate, 2 story wood frame building, constructed 1900 to 1910. The structure provided hotel rooms on both floors. The structure s in excellent condition. Nearby is a small wooden two story structure.

When the Sonoma Plaza boundaries were expanded in 1992, the Toscano Hotel was listed again with a more detailed description of the property.

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The nomination form reads: "A Victorian structure, classic revival, originally called Weyl Hall, of wood construction. Originally a theater was located on the second floor of the structure. Purchased by Sebastiani who rebuilt the structure and probably added the yellow stucco finish with white trim. Presently, the structure is used as a hotel and bookstore. Date of construction is uncertain. The hotel keeper thinks that the structure was built about 1896."

When we photographed the building, it housed the Sonoma Hotel and the highly-regraded restaurant, The Girl and the Fig.

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