A snapshot history of the Phoenix Building at 143-145 Petaluma Blvd. North
In 1855, architect Angus McKay and contractor Heber Gowen erected Petaluma’s first brick, fireproof building, the two-story Gowen Building. It was a welcome innovation at the time, given that the rest of the buildings in town were constructed of wood, and prone to fires.[i]
The Gowen Building stood for only a year before it collapsed in the middle of the night, the result of an excavation being undertaken on the adjacent for a new building being built by McKay and a new physician in town, William Wells.[ii]
Wells and McKay then combined the two lots and constructed a larger, three story brick building—the town’s first skyscraper—in the same style McKay had designed for the Gowen Building. McKay dressed the front wall in freestone from the Roblar Quarry north of town, and covered the roof with asphalt composition, making the building completely fireproof.[iii]
They named it the Phoenix Building (then spelled “Phenix”), in reference to its rising from the ashes.
The four stores initially occupying the bottom floor were S.C. Haydon’s Book Store, Bernhard & Co. Dry Goods, L. Boardman’s Hardware, and S.H. Wagener’s Drug Store. The second floor was occupied by the Metropolitan Billiard Room and handful of professional offices, including that of Dr. Wells. The third floor held three large halls occupied by the Masons, Odd Fellows, and Sons of Temperance.[iv]
Over the years the Phoenix Building hosted a rotation of clients until 1928, when George P. McNear, the city’s largest property owner, purchased the building and razed it. In its placed he hired architect Walter Singleton, who also built the Petaluma Co-operative Creamery on Western Avenue, to design a modern new building for two specific chain stores: the F.W. Woolworth, the five-and-dime store, and Piggly Wiggly, the first self-service grocery. McNear retained Phoenix as the name of the Building.[v]
In 1933, Piggly Wiggly moved out, and Woolworths expanded into the full building. They remained there until 1971, when foot traffic on Petaluma Boulevard began to be drawn away by the new malls opening along the freeway on the rapidly expanding east side of town.[vi]
For the next forty years, the building was occupied by a range of merchants, extending from the Wide World of Shoes, Teddies Discount Party Goods, the Shoe Fair, Chanticleer Antiques, the Pelican Art Gallery, and the Pick of the Litter Thrift Store.
Bliss Bridal & Black Tie has occupied the north end of the building since 2013, and Della Fattoria Bakery the south end since 2016.
FOOTNOTES:
[i] “Fall of a Building,” Sonoma County Journal, August 9, 1856
[ii] Adair Heig, History of Petaluma: A California River Town (Scottwall Associates, Petaluma, CA, 1982), pp. 63-64; Ad for William R. Wells physician in Gowan Building before the collapse, Sonoma County Journal, June 21, 1856.
[iii] Heig, 63-64; “Phenix Block,” Sonoma County Journal, July 31, 1857; “Old Business Block,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, May 9, 1941.
[iv] “Phenix Block,” Sonoma County Journal, July 31, 1857.
[v] “Phoenix Block to Be Razed to Erect Fine New Building,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, August 23, 1928; “Walter Singleton to Erect McNear Building,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, December 10, 1928; “The Woolworth Store Opening,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, April 30, 1929; Piggly Wiggly Ad, Petaluma Argus-Courier, May 31, 1929.
[vi] “Local News Paragraphs,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, December 12, 1933; “Local Woolworth Store Will Close,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, April 3, 1971.
