Fiddletown – Garavaglia Architecture, Inc.

Historic Chinese Structures Receives a Governor’s Historic Preservation Award for 2010

The Historic Chinese Structures of Fiddletown has been selected to receive a Governor’s Historic Preservation Award for 2010. This award is the only official preservation award presented by the State of California in recognition of achievements in historic preservation. A presentation ceremony has been planned in November in Sacramento.

The two structures, the Gambling House and Store, were constructed c. 1850 and were recently stabilized as a Garavaglia Architecture, Inc. project. This project was also awarded a 2009 California Preservation Foundation Design in the Preservation category and a 2010 Honor Award by the AIA San Francisco Chapter.

For more information on this project, navigate to 1850 on our timeline.

26th Annual Preservation Design Awards

Garavaglia Architecture was honored at the 26th Annual Preservation Design Awards on Saturday the 19th by the California Preservation Foundation.

Historic Chinese Structures, Fiddletown

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Garavaglia Architecture was honored at the 26th Annual Preservation Design Awards on Saturday the 19th by the California Preservation Foundation. The awards presentation took place at the Mark Hopkins Inter-Continental Hotel following a cocktail reception. Our teams for the Fiddletown and La Laguna came together to accept awards in the categories of Preservation and Cultural Resource Studies, Reports respectively.

Fiddletown Project Wins CPF Preservation Design Award

The historic Chinese structures in Fiddletown has just been selected as a winning project for the Preservation Design Awards.

The General Store (left) and Gambling Hall (right) of Fiddletown. Photo by Kelly Thomas

The California Preservation Foundation just selected the Fiddletown Project Team with a 2009 Preservation Design Award in the preservation category this week. The c. 1850 Chinese Gambling Hall and General Store are part of a grouping of four buildings specifically associated with Chinese miners from the Gold Rush. Along with the Chew Kee Herb Shop and a rammed earth residential structure nearby, these structures constitute a significant sub-district that reflects Chinese gold-era history. Both structures are National Register listed for their contributions to the assemblage of Gold Rush-era structures in Fiddletown, California.

Both the Gambling Hall and General Store are unreinforced masonry and stone buildings. While they have survived nearly 150-years, their overall condition was quite poor, requiring significant structural stabilization and seismic upgrading. Large cracks from seismic movement and settling were evident and visible in pictures dating back to the 1930s. Continue reading “Fiddletown Project Wins CPF Preservation Design Award”