On July 7, 1889, a massive fire consumed most of Bakersfield. Gone were fifteen blocks, 147 businesses, 44 homes, 5 hotels, and about 1,500 people were left homeless. Rebuilding Bakersfield after what came to be called “The Great Fire” was rapid. Less than a year after the fire, California Superintendent of Public Education commented, “No better evidence is needed of the energy, enterprise and true pluck of the people of Bakersfield, than the fact that since the great fire, there has been completed, or are now in process of completion $620,000 worth of new and substantial buildings.”
To complete the work, architects, contractors, carpenters, and brickworkers flocked to Bakersfield. Having already designed two substantial buildings in Bakersfield, one architectural firm was well situated to take advantage of Bakersfield’s post-fire building boom. McDougall and Son had come to Bakersfield in 1888 to design two buildings - the Southern Hotel (Chester Avenue and 19th Street) and Kern Valley Bank (Chester Avenue and 18th Street). The fire destroyed the Southern Hotel, which was completed in March, and only the walls were left of the Kern Valley Bank, which was under construction at the time of the fire. Soon after the cinders cooled, construction of the Southern Hotel and Kern Valley Bank resumed, and both were completed in 1890. McDougall and Son was the architectural firm chosen in the majority of instances following the fire, and, as noted by The San Francisco Call, immediately following the fire “erected some thirty buildings there to replace those burned down.”
McDougall and Son consisted of Barnett McDougall (1825-1905) and his sons, Charles C. (1857-1930), Benjamin G. (1865-1937), and George B. (1868-1957). After Barnett retired in the mid 1890s, the brothers renamed the firm McDougall Bros. Barnett McDougall was born in New York and came to California in 1856. During the 1860s through the 1880s, he was a pioneer builder/architect with offices in San Diego and San Francisco. Charles, Benjamin, and George, along with their sister Nellie (1863-1898), were born in San Francisco. All three sons trained in their father’s office while Benjamin also studied at the California School of Design (now San Francisco Fine Arts Institute).
In 1890, Benjamin and George, who had just recently joined the firm, represented the firm in Bakersfield while Barnett and Charles managed the main office in San Francisco. In 1891, Benjamin, George, and Nellie boarded at the house newly completed by William Howell. When corresponding with her brother, William Howell’s sister Teresa frequently wrote about the comings and goings of the McDougalls. For example, she wrote that “Geo McDougall is very entertaining; plays well on the piano. Played by the hour for us yesterday. He is about as irrepressible as his brother.” Once located at 1626 17th Street, the Howell House is now at the Kern County Museum, and although the museum asserts that another architect designed the house, there is strong evidence that suggests that the McDougalls designed what The Weekly Californian called the “tastiest ever constructed in Bakersfield.”
In the 1890s, a few of the known buildings the firm designed included the Weill’s Department Store (1889), Galtes Block (1889), Kern River Flour Mill (1891), Bakersfield School (Bryant School) (1891), Dr. Walter Snook residence (1891), Abia T. Lightner residence (1891), First M.E. Church, South (1892), Noriega Building (1893), Rosedale School (1893), Walters Hotel (1893), Luis V. Olcese residence (1893), Kern County Courthouse Renovation and Annex (1894), Hall of Records (1894), Kern County Hospital (1894), Schurra Building (1897), Vineland School (1897), Rockpile School (1897), J. B. Berges Livery Stables (1898), and Ambrose-Curran Building (1899). By 1895, with Barnett in semi-retirement, Charles and George managed the firm in San Francisco while Benjamin continued to represent the firm’s Central Valley interests from its Bakersfield headquarters. In 1895, The Daily Californian noted: “Mr. B. G. McDougall has been so long a resident of Bakersfield and is so thoroughly identified with its building interests that B. McDougall and Son are looked upon quite as a local firm. Mr. McDougall is a skilled and experienced architect, and commands the confidence and esteem of Bakersfield to a marked degree.”
In addition to designing buildings, Benjamin also dabbled in land speculation. In 1892, Benjamin invested with W. E. Houghton and H. A. Blodget in the Union Avenue Colony. They had Union Avenue south of Bakersfield graded and planted 1,000 trees, many of them eucalyptus. The 20-acre parcels were reported to be in great demand, but, unfortunately, the financial panic of 1893 bankrupted the project.
McDougall and Son initially shared office space with Thomas Sweet’s Wells Fargo office in the Kern Valley Bank after it was rebuilt following the fire. In 1893, the firm moved into the Galtes Block, which the firm designed following the fire. Benjamin also oversaw its renovation - including a new facade - in 1897. In October 1897, the firm built its new headquarters at Eye and Wall Streets, and The Daily Californian noted that it was “a queer looking structure. Being an architect, Mr. McDougall did not draw any plans and the reason the building looks that way is because that’s the way it happened to come out.” Unfortunately, a photograph of this “queer looking structure” has not been found.
In May 1896, Benjamin married Frances Hawkins, a stenographer with the Kern County Land Company. Benjamin’s sister Nellie lived with the young couple at their home on 16th Street. Suffering from tuberculosis, Nellie had moved to Bakersfield from San Francisco for the drier air and regularly took trips to San Emidio for the fresh air and cool climate. In 1897, Benjamin and Frannie, as she was called, welcomed the first of their three children while living in Bakersfield.
In October 1898, Nellie McDougall died in Bakersfield from a hemorrhage of the lung. She had spent that summer in San Francisco and had recently returned to Bakersfield at the time of her death. Her death seems to mark a turning point for the firm in Bakersfield, and, the following year, Benjamin moved the firm’s Central Valley headquarters to Fresno while maintaining a satellite office in the Ambrose-Curran building in East Bakersfield. Although continuing to design buildings in Bakersfield, his primary focus turned to building up the northern part of the valley. While in Fresno, he again dabbled in land speculation, albeit this time more successfully. Along with a Fresno developer, he built up the prominent North Park subdivision where he built a substantial home for his growing family.
In 1906, disaster once again benefited the McDougall family. Following the San Francisco earthquake, McDougall Bros. closed its Fresno office, and Benjamin moved to Berkeley and opened his own firm. His most significant Bay Area buildings include the Shattuck Hotel (1909-10), Standard Oil Company Building (1911), and Oakland Federal Building (1913). George and Charles continued as McDougall Bros. until George was appointed State Architect in 1913, a post he held until 1938. Charles maintained a small practice and shared office space with Benjamin..
In 1895, The Daily Californian noted: “To mention all the buildings of Bakersfield designed by this firm would require that we make a list, not only of by far the greater part of the public buildings, churches, school houses and business blocks, but of scores of residences as well.” Although it would have been helpful if the Californian had indeed included a list, I have been able to compile a list of the firm’s Bakersfield projects including: Southern Hotel (1889 and 1890), Kern Valley Bank (1890), Weill Block (1889), Galtes Block (1889), Hirshfeld Block (1889), Kern River Flour Mill (1891), Bakersfield School House (1891), Dr. Walter Snook residence (1891), Abia T. Lightner residence (1891), First M.E. Church, South (1892), Robert Arnold residence (1892), Noriega Building (1893), Rosedale School (1893), Walters Hotel (1893), Luis V. Olcese residence (1893), C. L. Hollis residence (1893), Dr. Herman Lemke residence (1893), Courthouse Annex (1894), Hall of Records (1894), Kern County Hospital (1894), Mrs. William Tyler residence (1894), Courthouse fence (1896), Schurra Building (1897), Vineland School (1897), Rockpile School (1897), Lakeview School (1897), J. B. Berges Livery Stables (1898), Guild Hall for St. Paul’s Parish (1898), Southern Hotel Addition (1898), Ambrose-Curran Building (1899), Beale Library (1900), Faustino M. Noriega residence (1900), Berges Block (1901), Bakersfield Oil and Stock Exchange (1901), St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (1902), Ardizzi-Olcese Building (1902), Bakersfield Fire Department (1905), Bakersfield Opera House (1906), and Elks Lodge (1909).
Please go HERE to see a more complete list of the buildings designed by the McDougalls.
To complete the work, architects, contractors, carpenters, and brickworkers flocked to Bakersfield. Having already designed two substantial buildings in Bakersfield, one architectural firm was well situated to take advantage of Bakersfield’s post-fire building boom. McDougall and Son had come to Bakersfield in 1888 to design two buildings - the Southern Hotel (Chester Avenue and 19th Street) and Kern Valley Bank (Chester Avenue and 18th Street). The fire destroyed the Southern Hotel, which was completed in March, and only the walls were left of the Kern Valley Bank, which was under construction at the time of the fire. Soon after the cinders cooled, construction of the Southern Hotel and Kern Valley Bank resumed, and both were completed in 1890. McDougall and Son was the architectural firm chosen in the majority of instances following the fire, and, as noted by The San Francisco Call, immediately following the fire “erected some thirty buildings there to replace those burned down.”
McDougall and Son consisted of Barnett McDougall (1825-1905) and his sons, Charles C. (1857-1930), Benjamin G. (1865-1937), and George B. (1868-1957). After Barnett retired in the mid 1890s, the brothers renamed the firm McDougall Bros. Barnett McDougall was born in New York and came to California in 1856. During the 1860s through the 1880s, he was a pioneer builder/architect with offices in San Diego and San Francisco. Charles, Benjamin, and George, along with their sister Nellie (1863-1898), were born in San Francisco. All three sons trained in their father’s office while Benjamin also studied at the California School of Design (now San Francisco Fine Arts Institute).
In 1890, Benjamin and George, who had just recently joined the firm, represented the firm in Bakersfield while Barnett and Charles managed the main office in San Francisco. In 1891, Benjamin, George, and Nellie boarded at the house newly completed by William Howell. When corresponding with her brother, William Howell’s sister Teresa frequently wrote about the comings and goings of the McDougalls. For example, she wrote that “Geo McDougall is very entertaining; plays well on the piano. Played by the hour for us yesterday. He is about as irrepressible as his brother.” Once located at 1626 17th Street, the Howell House is now at the Kern County Museum, and although the museum asserts that another architect designed the house, there is strong evidence that suggests that the McDougalls designed what The Weekly Californian called the “tastiest ever constructed in Bakersfield.”
In the 1890s, a few of the known buildings the firm designed included the Weill’s Department Store (1889), Galtes Block (1889), Kern River Flour Mill (1891), Bakersfield School (Bryant School) (1891), Dr. Walter Snook residence (1891), Abia T. Lightner residence (1891), First M.E. Church, South (1892), Noriega Building (1893), Rosedale School (1893), Walters Hotel (1893), Luis V. Olcese residence (1893), Kern County Courthouse Renovation and Annex (1894), Hall of Records (1894), Kern County Hospital (1894), Schurra Building (1897), Vineland School (1897), Rockpile School (1897), J. B. Berges Livery Stables (1898), and Ambrose-Curran Building (1899). By 1895, with Barnett in semi-retirement, Charles and George managed the firm in San Francisco while Benjamin continued to represent the firm’s Central Valley interests from its Bakersfield headquarters. In 1895, The Daily Californian noted: “Mr. B. G. McDougall has been so long a resident of Bakersfield and is so thoroughly identified with its building interests that B. McDougall and Son are looked upon quite as a local firm. Mr. McDougall is a skilled and experienced architect, and commands the confidence and esteem of Bakersfield to a marked degree.”
In addition to designing buildings, Benjamin also dabbled in land speculation. In 1892, Benjamin invested with W. E. Houghton and H. A. Blodget in the Union Avenue Colony. They had Union Avenue south of Bakersfield graded and planted 1,000 trees, many of them eucalyptus. The 20-acre parcels were reported to be in great demand, but, unfortunately, the financial panic of 1893 bankrupted the project.
McDougall and Son initially shared office space with Thomas Sweet’s Wells Fargo office in the Kern Valley Bank after it was rebuilt following the fire. In 1893, the firm moved into the Galtes Block, which the firm designed following the fire. Benjamin also oversaw its renovation - including a new facade - in 1897. In October 1897, the firm built its new headquarters at Eye and Wall Streets, and The Daily Californian noted that it was “a queer looking structure. Being an architect, Mr. McDougall did not draw any plans and the reason the building looks that way is because that’s the way it happened to come out.” Unfortunately, a photograph of this “queer looking structure” has not been found.
In May 1896, Benjamin married Frances Hawkins, a stenographer with the Kern County Land Company. Benjamin’s sister Nellie lived with the young couple at their home on 16th Street. Suffering from tuberculosis, Nellie had moved to Bakersfield from San Francisco for the drier air and regularly took trips to San Emidio for the fresh air and cool climate. In 1897, Benjamin and Frannie, as she was called, welcomed the first of their three children while living in Bakersfield.
In October 1898, Nellie McDougall died in Bakersfield from a hemorrhage of the lung. She had spent that summer in San Francisco and had recently returned to Bakersfield at the time of her death. Her death seems to mark a turning point for the firm in Bakersfield, and, the following year, Benjamin moved the firm’s Central Valley headquarters to Fresno while maintaining a satellite office in the Ambrose-Curran building in East Bakersfield. Although continuing to design buildings in Bakersfield, his primary focus turned to building up the northern part of the valley. While in Fresno, he again dabbled in land speculation, albeit this time more successfully. Along with a Fresno developer, he built up the prominent North Park subdivision where he built a substantial home for his growing family.
In 1906, disaster once again benefited the McDougall family. Following the San Francisco earthquake, McDougall Bros. closed its Fresno office, and Benjamin moved to Berkeley and opened his own firm. His most significant Bay Area buildings include the Shattuck Hotel (1909-10), Standard Oil Company Building (1911), and Oakland Federal Building (1913). George and Charles continued as McDougall Bros. until George was appointed State Architect in 1913, a post he held until 1938. Charles maintained a small practice and shared office space with Benjamin..
In 1895, The Daily Californian noted: “To mention all the buildings of Bakersfield designed by this firm would require that we make a list, not only of by far the greater part of the public buildings, churches, school houses and business blocks, but of scores of residences as well.” Although it would have been helpful if the Californian had indeed included a list, I have been able to compile a list of the firm’s Bakersfield projects including: Southern Hotel (1889 and 1890), Kern Valley Bank (1890), Weill Block (1889), Galtes Block (1889), Hirshfeld Block (1889), Kern River Flour Mill (1891), Bakersfield School House (1891), Dr. Walter Snook residence (1891), Abia T. Lightner residence (1891), First M.E. Church, South (1892), Robert Arnold residence (1892), Noriega Building (1893), Rosedale School (1893), Walters Hotel (1893), Luis V. Olcese residence (1893), C. L. Hollis residence (1893), Dr. Herman Lemke residence (1893), Courthouse Annex (1894), Hall of Records (1894), Kern County Hospital (1894), Mrs. William Tyler residence (1894), Courthouse fence (1896), Schurra Building (1897), Vineland School (1897), Rockpile School (1897), Lakeview School (1897), J. B. Berges Livery Stables (1898), Guild Hall for St. Paul’s Parish (1898), Southern Hotel Addition (1898), Ambrose-Curran Building (1899), Beale Library (1900), Faustino M. Noriega residence (1900), Berges Block (1901), Bakersfield Oil and Stock Exchange (1901), St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (1902), Ardizzi-Olcese Building (1902), Bakersfield Fire Department (1905), Bakersfield Opera House (1906), and Elks Lodge (1909).
Please go HERE to see a more complete list of the buildings designed by the McDougalls.
