Abandoned School in California

Geyserville Union School, Geyserville California

Date added: August 22, 2023 Categories: California School

From its completion in 1921 to its abandonment, Geyserville Union School served as a major social, cultural, and educational center for the town of Geyserville and the surrounding rural countryside. The building was the first poured concrete structure in Geyserville and is a fine example of a rather unusual method of construction so early in the twentieth century.

In 1919, the Geyserville Unified School District commissioned Henry Smith to develop plans for a building that could serve all major educational/community needs. The gymnasium served as a community center for social affairs and a program of lectures presented by the University of California. The school also provided post-high school educational opportunities for rural Sonoma residents. The construction of Geyserville Union School indicated the final years for the one-room schoolhouse in rural California. It represents a short-lived (half-century) but dynamic transition from a rural agrarian Sonoma County to the current rapid suburbanization of that pastoral valley. The relationship between Geyserville Union School and the surrounding countryside was repeated throughout the then-rural state in the 1920s. Changes in demographics, communications, and educational funding have made the rural unified school obsolete.

Geyserville Union High School was a fine example of poured concrete construction. This type of construction was often called "monolithic" concrete in reference to concrete poured in place in distinction to concrete made into blocks and then laid in the manner of brickwork.

Architect Henry C. Smith's Mission Revival/Spanish Colonial Revival design represented the first break with the still locally prevailing late Victorian vernacular architectural style. The Mission Revival/Spanish Colonial Revival style derived largely from the 1915 San Diego Fair and was quite popular by the 1920's when Geyserville Union School was constructed. This popularity can be seen throughout the State of California with many major institutional buildings of the late teens and twenties falling into a Mission Revival/Spanish Colonial Revival stylistic category. While numerous examples of this style are to be found in Southern California (especially Santa Barbara and Los Angeles) there are very few in Geyserville.

The Geyserville Union School when completed in 1921 was Geyserville's first school building. It is significant for its cultural end educational associations with the development of Geyserville and the adjacent wine industry in rural Sonoma County. The building was one of the first reinforced poured concrete structures in Sonoma County (and Northern California) and remains the only example of this type of construction in Geyserville.

In 1915 Geyserville citizens organized the first Union High School District in Sonoma County. While students initially met in an existing structure, the growing importance of Geyserville as a viticultural center mandated immediate planning for Geyserville's first school building. In 1919 the school district commissioned architect Henry C. Smith of San Francisco, to develop plans for a Union School that would serve as both educational institute and community center for the town and the surrounding countryside.

From 1922 through the 1930s (before the growth of California's junior college network) The University of California Extension provided post high school education through a series of lectures in the gymnasium during the winter months. In addition to artistic, literary, and historic subjects, the Agricultural Extension offered technical classes in viticulture and farm management.

Viticultural education was particularly important as the area is a major American wine-producing center. Pre-Depression G.U.S. graduates eventually succeeded to directorships as United Vintners, Geyser Peak Winery, Christian Brother Winery, Martini and Pratti Winery, Pedroncelli Vinyards, and Italian Swiss Colony Wines. In addition to post-graduate courses, the Jr. Farm Bureau and Future Farmers of America sponsored courses funded by the Smith-Hughes Act that were attended by 60% of pre-Depression G.U.S. students. (Interestingly, early attendance records show 30% absentee rates during the grape harvest.)

In the pre-Depression years before television and the widespread use of the automobile, Geyserville Union School (G.U.S.) athletic games were a major source of entertainment for the area. Relatives of the mainly Italian-American students came from the surrounding countryside and the weekly competitions with their post-game dinners in the gymnasium served as "family reunions."

In addition to the above cultural and educational activities, the school building served as the local polling place and as the site of bimonthly town discussions.

As the first union high school building in Sonoma County, the construction of the Geyserville Union School marked the end of the one-room rural school house era and the beginning of a more contemporary educational delivery system. This pattern which began in 1945 spread throughout rural California. The Geyserville Union High School District was the first Sonoma County district with a formal Board of Trustees to set educational and managerial policy. As a Union High School District, it was chartered to provide high school education for 2 or more elementary school districts within the same county. It was the precursor of today's sprawling unified school districts.

In Sonoma County and rural California, the educational transition discussed above was marked also by the change from wood frame to more durable (and monumental) buildings. As the first reinforced concrete school building in Sonoma County the Geyserville Union School is unique. However, because of the State of California's "Field Act" many of these early reinforced concrete structures have now been declared unsafe for educational use due to earthquake hazard and are now vanishing from the landscape.

Architect Henry C. Smith's Mission Revival design represented the first break with the still locally prevailing late Victorian vernacular. The Mission Revival style derives from the 1915 San Diego Fair and was quite popular when the school was constructed. The blank facade, buttressed walls, and shallow-pitched roof echo similar details of the Nearby Mission San Francisco Solono in Sonoma. While many examples exist in Southern California (especially Sante Barbara and Los Angeles) there is none other in Geyserville. The Geyserville Union School in its original context and grounds stands in marked architectural contrast to the late Victorian wooden town.

Building Description

The Geyserville Union School is a poured, reinforced concrete structure of 10,400 square feet which includes six classrooms, three offices and a gymnasium/auditorium. The two-story classroom/office block wraps around the double-height gymnasium/auditorium.

The School was constructed in 1920 from plans prepared by architect Henry C. Smith, in 1919. Tiled roofs, arched windows, narrow slit vents and recessed entrances, and plain stuccoed walls unite to convey a "Mission Revival/Spanish Colonial Revival" feeling. The blank end walls of the two classroom blocks recall the defensive nature of some of the earlier missions. The splayed bases acknowledge the heavy masonry imagery of buttressed mission walls. Major fenestration to light the classrooms is reserved for the less visible side walls with rows of casement windows. Extensive detailing (tile, trim, arched windows, and moldings) is reserved for the front facades. Side and rear elevations reflect internal functional uses and decoration is minimal.

The plan is a "T" shape with a slight indentation at the top center of the "T". The facade is composed of three major divisions; two end blocks and a central entrance block. This central block contains a recessed arched entrance door. Four indented arched wall panels frame first-story and second-story windows. The first-story windows are presently boarded over; however, second-story windows are paired casement windows that swing out from the center. The roof on this central entrance block is composed of several levels; a truncated gable over the entrance, two lowered shed-type roofs and a rear gable roofline which extends to the center of the end blocks. A concrete chimney sets slightly below the gable ridge behind the left facade end block. Tarpaper covers all but the false front portions of these roofs. The false front ridges are finished with red tile coping.

The construction material is poured concrete from the foundation to eave line.

The rear roof extension is also covered with asphalt paper. Exposed end rafters appear under the eaves of the central roof which houses the office block. The building is stepped into a low hillside so that the rear elevation is one story.

Directly to the east of the Geyserville Union School is a small one-room wooden structure used for tool storage. Two outbuildings are situated to the south of the School; one is a one-story garage with a metal roof and large metal door. Since the building was added to the school grounds at a date much later than the original Geyserville Union School construction and since the garage bears no historic value, there are plans to remove this structure. On the west side of the garage is another outbuilding used for storage. It is a one-story, gable-roofed building with a stepped end gable and siding.