Name/Title
Print, PhotographicEntry/Object ID
2007.046.0148Scope and Content
Color Photograph:
250 East L Street Benicia CA
Parcel number: 88-141-06
The present building stands on the site of St. Mary's of the Pacific (1870-1885) campus. Those buildings burned circa 1917.
On the ballot in Benicia in the spring of 1925 was a bond issued which passed 9 to 1 to construct a four year high school building on the site of old St. Mary's.
The City Hall was the first public high school complex built in the City of Benicia. The main building was constructed in 1925-26. It was completed in March of 1926 and the first classes began in the fall of 1926. There were 12 graduates in 1927, eight girls and 4 boys.
The building was designed by George C. Sellon of Sacramento. (He was the first State Architect appointed in 1907.) The exterior brick was made to a color formula specifically for him and custom fired. The building often called "The Annex", now the police station, was added in 1942 and the gymnasium was built in 1951. All three buildings were designed by Mr. Sellon.
The last class to graduate from the site was in 1961 and consisted of 93 students.
The dramatic combination of interlocking high gable roofs and semicircular entry ways and windows, custom multi-colored brick coursing in stretcher bond with decorative well proportioned expanses of cream colored stucco give this large building a formal, yet lively appearance. The roof is compositon shingle with exposed rafters, and the varous gables have either a pendant or a finial.Collection
Benicia Architectural Study - 1989
