Section C | The Union | Thursday, October 7, 2010 | C3 HISTORY 


Mid-WPA moderne architecture is collectable W


E LAUGH WHEN The Union’s ace Editorial Cartoonist, R.L. “Bob”


Crabb, points his piercing “It Takes A Village Idiot” pen at the rear of Nevada City Hall on Spring Street and depicts it as the Starship Enterprise of Star Trek fame, and launches it into orbit to “boldly going where no one has gone before!” That’s okay,because it calls atten-


Photos by Bob Wyckoff No. 1- PELTON WHEEL is located, where?


tion to that very narrow period of 20th century architecture; the Art Deco and Art Moderne styling popular in public buildings built by the Works Project Administration (WPA) during Franklin Roosevelt’s depression era Presidency of the 1930s and early 1940s. Probably the most universally familiar examples of this period are New York’s Chrysler (1930) and Empire State Buildings (1931). Nevada City is fortunate to have two public building examples of that style: the Nevada County Courthouse and the Nevada City Hall, 1937. A number of years ago I stood in


front of our courthouse on Church street and listened to the then California State Architect explain, “Your courthouse and city hall are fine examples of the Art Deco, Art Moderne period. Please do not try to ‘improve’ on their facades, they are to be respected and preserved.” Both structures are located in Nevada City’s National Register of Historic Places District. For whatever reason, when the


#2- PELTON WHEEL is located where?


supervisors decided to build the court- house annex in 1963, they did not carry over that style. The City of Nevada City must have heeded the architect’s pronouncement and ...well, Bob Crabb has great material. The September 30, TIME-


#3- LESTER’S WHEEL is located where?


LINES! photo is of construction of that rear portion of the remolded city hall which faces Spring Street. The building now contains mainly police department parking on the street level and the city council chamber on the second floor. Today’s photo (October, 2010) shows that facade as construct- ed in the Art Moderne style to resemble the Broad Street building’s front. However, it might be advanta-


BOB WYCKOFF bobwyckoff@sbcglobal.net


geous for the city to consult a horticul- turist regarding the encroaching ivy which in time will either cover the front or dissolve the plaster or both. I hope this helps answer the oft


posed question; “Why in the historic district did they allow such an obvious non-Gold Rush look on our new city hall addition?” And what did what was there


before look like? We thought our new- er Risers would like to see what was deleted to make way for the present structure. It was a storage for public works vehicles and equipment and is pictured in today’s photos. Our TIMELINES! guy chuck-


led when he read last week’s “R-fest” put forth by Dennis Babson. He was so taken with all the “Rs,” that he came up with a new “R” of his own “RT,” (no, not rapid transitor) which he translates to “Riser Team,” to be used by group answerers. This week TIMELINES! inau-


gurates its first “RT:” Dolly and Ken Jaynes, Sis Schwilke, Margaret Gallego and Brenda Apple and their jointly submitted answer was correct. Congratulations, and please continue as an RT-ers. And now: “Mirror, mirror on the


wall, who is the Earliest Riser of them all?” “Beyond the seven hills ...” Okay, now comes the coveted ER, award for the first correct in, and this week we have repeat awardees: JOHN PAR- ENT and NIEL LOCKE logged in at 7:25.05 a.m.PDT and told us it was the city hall addition on Spring street which also qualifies them for “CR” (Compleat Riser) award, a double whammy! And now comes Akela followed


by the rest of the pack: Jim Evans,Ed Hayden,Margaret Forbes,Toni Laub, Susan and Leonard Forte, Kenneth


Holbrook, Frank Bennallack, David Unterman, “(looks like) the classy Art Deco restoration...;” Jim Dierberger who got it on the second try and Seth and Tara Kellermann. Melanie Wellner writes, “(The


photo) must be the site of the recon- struction of City Hall ...Hope I’m not as far off as I was last week,” Mel, you’re right on;Alice Bertoli, “proud to say I am from Nevada City and love living here!” Aren’t we all?; Camille Muir, Bobbie Pickering, Dennis Babson, Betty Berggren and Stan Dundas, Anita Rossovich, Ernie Sowell and Jim and Debbie Luckinbill. And last,but definitely not least is


David and Viki Ray, who waxes nos- talgic about his service as a Nevada City fireman, he writes, “I proudl drove fire engines out the front (317


Broad Street) of this


building.This is the back end ... look- ing from Spring St. ... Thank you for the memories,” and David, thank you for your support of TIMELINES! This week our TIMELINES!


guy got a little carried away and was greatly influenced by with last week’s wheelies and decided to ask where do we find today’s pictured Peltons?


BOB WYCKOFF is a retired Nevada County newspaper editor/publisher and author of local history. His most recent work is “The Way It Was, Looking Back at Nevada County,” published by and available at The Union newspaper office, 464 Sutton Way, Grass Valley CA 95945. E-mail: bobwyckoff@sbc global.net or P.O. Box 216, Nevada City, CA 95959; a 28 cent post card will suffice.


Photo by Bob Wyckoff SPRING STREET face of today’s Nevada City’s Hall.


THE WAY IT WAS. Public Works garage was demolished to make way for city hall addition. Photo c. 1950s.


Photo from the Wyckoff collection


NEWSPAPERS IN EDUCATION PROGRAM


Puzzle answers, games, opinion polls and much more at:


www.kidscoop.com


Make a guess and then cut out the puzzle pieces and put them together to reveal the answer.


Where have your feet taken you? Draw a picture of a favorite place your feet have taken you.


Are you ticklish? Feet are one of the most ticklish places on your body. Find out why at:


www.kidscoop.com/kids Do your feet ever get sweaty? And stinky?


Bacteria are the reason. They eat the dead skin cells on your feet.


After eating the dead skin cells on your feet, the bacteria have to get rid of their waste. Itís the bacteriaís waste that smells bad. Yuck!


1. 2.


3. 4.


When you take a step, your weight falls first on your heel.


Then your weight moves to the outside edge of your foot.


Then it moves to the ball of the foot.


Finally your weight moves to the big toe, which gives you a push forward.


Feet are full of action. In fact there are many verbs that describe what people can do with feet. Match these verbs with a picture showing that action. What other verbs can you think of that feet can do?


When these bacteria are in dark, damp places, like the insides of shoes, they start to multiply, eat more, and stink more! Socks help to keep feet a bit drier and can help keep the stink down.


TOENAILS BACTERIA INSIDES WEIGHT ACTION STINKY SWING CLIMB FIRST DANCE GRASP TOES DAMP DARK


Find the words in the puzzle, then in this weekís Kid Scoop stories and activities.


F T D A M P O G D


S I


H A O R B L A


E O R G N M A I


R


D G E S I


C R D K


I


O N L T E E E T


S K C I


T E


W O L


N B O C W Y E U E


I


N A F P S A R G


L B S T I


N K Y A


S L I


A N E O T P


Try to put the bottoms of your feet together.


How long can you hold a ball with your feet?


Try holding a pencil with your toes and writing your name.


Cut out a list of 10 or more verbs from the newspaper.


ï ï ï


ï


Find at least ten verbs in the newspaper that describe something you enjoy doing. Write a paragraph about things you like to do, using all the verbs you selected.


Organize them into four groups:


Verbs that your hands can do Verbs that your feet can do Verbs that both your feet and hands can do Verbs that neither your feet nor your hands can do


Try to touch your nose with your big toe.


Hereís a real challenge!


Write a report on Stinky Feet. What makes feet stink? What can people do about stinky feet?


different from monkey Human feet are


feet. The big toes on monkey feet are long and can grasp like a thumb on your hand. This helps monkeys climb and swing in the trees.


The human foot has a shorter big toe. Our big toe helps to push us forward when we walk.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27