Order The Green Book Order
In 1987, The Society published the outstanding document,
"Eureka, An Architectural View"
Also known as The Green Book, it contains photographs of 1200 homes
and is considered one of the finest collection of details on historic homes
ever published.
Order The Green Book, which costs
only $33 including shipping and handling, directly through our secure PayPal online system:
Order The Green Book Online!
The Green Book is also available at these fine local retail outlets and heritage resources in Eureka:
The Booklegger, 402 2nd Street, Eureka, (707) 445-1344
Eureka Books, 426 2nd Street, Eureka, (707) 444-9593
The Humboldt County Historical Society, 703 8th Street, Eureka (707) 445-4342
The Clarke Museum, 240 E Street, Eureka, (707) 443-1947
and in Arcata:
Northtown Books, 957 H Street, Arcata, (707) 822 2834
For any questions or if you have difficulty in ordering The Green Book, please contact Mary Ann McCulloch: mcculloch.m@sbcglobal.net or
call (707) 445 8775
Below is an excerpt from the forward of The Green Book; an explanation of the Survey Process:
The Survey Process
This survey of Eureka's rich architectural heritage — the culmination of twelve years of
work by volunteers , concerned citizens, architectural historians, and
preservation specialists — began with a visit to Eureka by
Robertson Collins, a trustee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation,
and Bill Murtagh, Keeper of the National Register. While Eureka had
long been known for its colorful architecture, these men felt that a formal
survey of our city's built environment would clarify Eureka's place in the
architectural history of the West and help to preserve our city's unique
past. Such a survey, it was felt, could also become a useful tool for
future city planning efforts.
This idea was presented to Mayor
Gibert Trood, who set up a steering committee for the survey with Dr. Walter
Dolfini as chairman. Community interest in the survey proved widespread,
and the Eureka Heritage Society was formally established a year later in 1973,
with Dr. Dolfini serving as its first president. Meanwhile, the Western
Regional Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, under the
leadership of John Frisbee, presented a workshop in Eureka on surveying
techniques, fund raising, local ordinances, and preservation law.
After this workshop, a few dedicated
volunteers began the arduous task of surveying Eureka's architecture. In
order to avoid overlooking any significant property, it was decided that the
entire city should be photographed building by building — some 10,000 structures in all.
Milton Phegley, then a student at Humboldt State University, cheerfully
volunteered for this difficult job. At the same time, an army of
volunteers went out to canvass the city, checking on addresses and gathering
pertinent information on the structures that had been photographed. The
position of Survey Coordinator was established to oversee these efforts, and
funding for the project came from two "Heritage Fairs" presented in
consecutive years by the Eureka Heritage Society.
The Society agreed that qualified
outside evaluators who could view our city with a fresh eye, should review the
results of our survey. To the end, the Society retained the services of
Mrs. G. Bland Platt, then the president of the San Francisco Landmarks
Commission; Charles Hall Page, a San Francisco urban planner specializing in
preservation; and John Beach, a noted architectural historian.
This team of evaluators reviewed or
survey results over a period of several weeks. They began by looking at
all the photographs and grading the buildings. Those that were clearly
outstanding or questionable were retained in one group for additional study; the
rest were filed away separately. All of the outstanding and questionable
buildings were visited by the evaluators for further on-site review, some 1,500,
were then ready to be researched. The criteria used by the evaluators
throughout this review process were those of the National Register. In
this way, after research was complete, these structures would be eligible for
nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.
The goals of the research were to
establish a construction date for each structure, to identify the original owner
and his or her place in Eureka society, and to discover — insofar as possible — the identity of the architect who
designed that structure. Enthusiastic student volunteers worked for two
summers on this research effort. First, a title search was conducted on
every structure. Then all of Eureka's old newspapers — the city has had eighteen newspapers
to date — were culled for information on new
construction. Finally, researchers consulted city directories, old
telephone books, the Susie Baker Fountain papers, early Sanborn insurance maps,
old utility records, and most importantly, the old assessor records at Humboldt
State University in order to establish the dates of construction or
improvements.
When we had organized the results of
our research, our project evaluators again reviewed the assembled information,
regraded, and wrote short architectural descriptions of significant
structures. At this point, the survey was entrusted to the Society's Book
Committee which worked with Architectural Resources Group, a San Francisco
architecture firm specializing in historic preservation. They brought
their expertise to the task of editing and organizing our information for
publication and handling the design and production of this volume.
This book, we hope, will stand as a
testimony to the uncommonly rich architectural heritage of our city, as well as
to the dedication, enthusiasm, and talent of all those who contributed to its
realization. Moreover, the entire Eureka survey will be placed on
microfilm in our area libraries, where it will be available for consultation and
further research by generations of Eurekans to come.
Dolores Vellutini
Eureka Survey Coordinator
1987