Adventure 051, Site 023 Fresno Brewery Company Offices and Warehouse

 

































Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 051, Site 023 Fresno Brewery Company Offices and Warehouse

National Registry ID: 1984000773

Local Registry ID: 26

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  September 16, 2012

Location:

Latitude: 36°43′38″N

Longitude: 119°46′32″W

Address: 100 M St, Fresno, CA

Description:

Date Built: 1907

Architect: Eugene Mathewson

This two-story brick building is all that survives of the Fresno Brewing Company, originally a complex of buildings occupying twenty acres. The six-story brewery proper was considered a skyscraper when it was built in 1900 by Ernst Eilert from Wisconsin. The Eilert family brewed beer from 1900 until the beginning of Prohibition in 1919. During Prohibition, Eilert Products bottled non-alcoholic drinks, but returned to beer production upon Repeal in 1933. In 1942, the brewery complex was purchase by Grace Brothers Brewery of Santa Rosa, California. The Fresno Brewing Company was part of the major growth of Fresno at the turn of the twentieth century. It provided jobs for over one thousand people at its peak of production. The brewery also was the first and largest brewery in Fresno, supplying beer from Merced to Bakersfield.



In 1955, the brewery building was demolished. The surviving Fresno Brewing Company Office and Warehouse building is one of the oldest industrial buildings in Fresno and one of the few surviving early 20th Century buildings constructed entirely of brick, a construction technique once common in Fresno.
The elaborate interiors of the Fresno Brewing Company office are original and intact. Inside the doorway is a cashier's window screened by thin vertical bars. A heavy wood enclosure separates the small entry area from the central office. The view in the central office area is of ornate pressed tin wall wall and ceiling treatments. A floor covering of hard black and white rubber tiles, cut in an interlocking jigsaw pattern, is used throughout the offices. The most prominent furnishing is an oak ledger table, attached to the south and east walls.
The building is attributed to architect Eugene Mathewson based upon its Romanesque design and construction techniques.






References:

• Guide to Historic Fresno
  
• Noehill
  

Overall Landmark References:

• David Schmitt's California State Historical Landmark (Schmitt)
  
• Wikipedia: California's National Landmarks (WCNL)
  
• State of California's California Historical Landmarks (CHL)
  
• Wikipedia: California State Landmarks (WCSL)
  
• State of California Historical Resources (CHR)
  
• National Registry of Historical Places (NRHP)