Petaluma Silk Mill - Sunset Line & Twine, Petaluma California

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Since 1892, the Petaluma Silk Mill, now Sunset Line & Twine Company, has been a prominent architectural landmark of the Petaluma industrial waterfront. Charles I. Havens (1849-1916), pioneer San Francisco architect, designed the industrial building, reminiscent of the Victorian New England mills. The enlargements, the first after the 1906 earthquake and the second in 1922, designed by noted Petaluma architect Brainerd Jones, were of compatible styling with the earlier portion of the mill. Sericulture, and more successfully, silk manufacturing were late 19th-century manifestations of efforts in California to develop industry in the state. When San Francisco's Carlson-Currier Silk Manufacturing Company announced plans to relocate, in the early 1890s, enterprising Petaluma businessmen launched a successful community campaign to entice the mill to their growth-minded river town. Since then, the Old Silk Mill has symbolized industrial Petaluma, and its products have carried the town's name nationwide. First came silk thread and fine sewing products of Carlson-Currier and its successors, 3 since 1940, the Sunset Line & Twine Company has produced silk and synthetic fishing lines and more recently specialized natural and synthetic cords and tapes for industry and government. Numerous periodical references attest to the mill's historic role in the community.

The red brick Carlson-Currier silk mill, its steeply roofed three-story tower visible throughout the young agricultural market town, became an immediate Petaluma landmark. The building is reminiscent of the Victorian textile mills of England and New England. Though two-storied in contrast to the mostly many-storied English and New England mills, the Petaluma Silk Mill is similar in its regular symmetry, the dominating external central tower of the original 1892 building, and its brick construction.

The external tower had been pioneered in such mills as Allendale, New Providence, RI in 1822. Its advantages were several. Moving the inside staircase to the outside tower provided more open floor space, especially valuable when power was delivered by overhead belt. Materials could be transported to upper floors by way of the more generous outside stairs or by pulley and line from a beam projecting from the tower. Fire danger was lessened with the removal of the inside vertical stair shaft. Vertical air circulation within the tower itself made it a logical site for toilet facilities.

Masonry, and brick when available, had become widely used in Eastern mill construction because they offered greater fire protection and also provided stability for the increasingly heavy machinery.

Carlson-Currier's hipped roof contrasts with the gable roof more typical of mill construction, yet provided ample height and length in the upper floor. The Petaluma mill's many windows provided sufficient light to the work area without a monitor row.

These features were incorporated into the 1892 building and were maintained as additions were made after the 1906 earthquake and again in 1922. Changes are documented by historical photographs, blueprints, and the original building plans signed by representatives of Carlson-Currier, the contractor, and architect Charles I. Havens.

Among Havens' San Francisco works constructed prior to 1892 is a residence at 1381 South Van Ness, built in 1884 for his own use and today an inn. It is mentioned in Here Today and was included in a 1980 Victorian Alliance House Tour, as was the 1885 residence he built for John F. English at 943 South Van Ness, The James Scobie residence at the corner of Fell and Steiner, built by Havens in 1891, is now known as the Ohlandt House.

Havens and Toepke designed three buildings included in Splendid Survivors; the 1908 Maskey Building, the 1909 Bartlett Doe Building, and the 1913 Flatiron Building. Works no longer standing include the San Francisco Yacht Club of 1897, the San Mateo Elks Lodge, Mission High School, and the old Tanforan Racetrack buildings.

Havens' death on April 28^th, 1916, in Kenwood in Sonoma County, was reported in San Francisco, Santa Rosa, and Petaluma newspapers of that day, and in California Architect and Engineer of May 1916. The obituaries agree in describing Havens as "pioneer architect," "one of San Francisco's foremost architects in the early days," and one who participated in the rebuilding of San Francisco after the earthquake. He was admitted to the A.I.A. in 1901 and was a member of the San Francisco chapter A.I.A.

The Petaluma Silk Mill is not mentioned in Havens' obituaries, nor is it included in California Architect and Building News (CABN), although Havens often listed his buildings. However, Havens' design of the Petaluma mill is documented by a bond dated March 11^th, 1892, in which Carlson-Currier Company contracted with a group of Petaluma citizens to proceed "with all reasonable diligence" to complete a silk mill in Petaluma; drawings and plans for the building, dated March 14^th, 1892, and signed by Havens, J.P. Currier, and Hedges and Paff, contractors; and the October 19^th, 1892 Petaluma Courier article naming Havens as the architect and illustrated by Havens' drawing of the building (said to be complete and almost ready to begin production).

The signatures "Hedges" and "Hedges & Paff" on the Havens plans are those of the contractor. The Paff Brothers appear in San Francisco city directories between 1890 and 1894 listed variously as carpenter, contractor, and architect. Ed Hedges was a Petaluma lumber dealer and Camm & Hedges Lumber Yard became a substantial local firm.

Brainerd Jones, Petaluma architect of the period 1898-1930, designed later additions to the building. Jones designed many recognized heritage homes in Petaluma and Santa Rosa, often characterized as Transitional and incorporating Craftsman detailing and columns. His public buildings are more frequently Classical Revival and include several schools, a downtown business block, the Elks Hall, and Carnegie libraries in Petaluma and Healdsburg.

Construction of a silk mill in Petaluma represented the intersection of several historical developments including efforts to develop on the West Coast a new center for sericulture and silk manufacture; improvement of rail and water transportation, and energetic community entrepreneurship.

Efforts in California to develop sericulture, the cultivation of silkworms and of the requisite mulberries, had begun as early as 1854, but early success had proved temporary. Silk manufacturing, using the raw product imported from the Orient, fared somewhat better. However, Hittell reported that of the half-dozen establishments begun during the 1870s, most had closed or redirected their efforts by the 1880s. One that thrived was the California Silk Manufacturing Company. First listed in the San Francisco Directory in 1871, they produced a variety of threads worth $150,000 a decade later. When their building was destroyed by fire in 1881, "the stock, trademarks, etc." were purchased by Edward Carlson and J.P. Currier who "enlarged the factory by adding the best machinery available."

Industries of San Francisco (1884) offers undocumented biographical information about the partners: Carlson, a native of Germany, held positions as Chief Clerk in the United States Quartermaster's Department and, for one term, as Deputy State Treasurer of California, before entering the silk business in 1875; Currier, a New Hampshire native, came to California as representative of Belding Brothers & Co. of Chicago. From the beginning, Carlson-Currier were agents for that firm, among others.

Meanwhile, 35 miles to the north, East Petaluma was the aspiring new industrial frontier of a rapidly growing Petaluma, from which it was separated by the navigable tidal estuary known as Petaluma Creek. The land east of the creek had been part of General Mariano Vallejo's Petaluma grant which by 1855 was being reduced by sale to enterprising American settlers, among whom was Thomas Hopper. Many in turn divided and resold; Hopper is represented in the Sonoma County Index to Deeds (Grantor) by over 35 transactions between 1855 and 1858. He and partners built a drawbridge to replace the older bridge across Petaluma Creek at the foot of Washington Street. The creek channel was narrowed at that point and the land east of the creek, subject to periodic flooding, was raised by "rich tribute from the hills" spread over the land. East Petaluma was included in the city as incorporated in 1858.

East Petaluma included small lots to accommodate housing, but industrial development was foremost. Petaluma Ice & Storage, built in 1880, became Petaluma's first provider of electricity. Entrepreneur John A. McNear's canal was planned to shorten the water route and avoid much of the upstream silting problem that plagued the winding estuary. At the head of the canal turning basin the Steamer Gold Landing was sited. The Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad terminated at the Landing, and the San Francisco and North Pacific also served East Petaluma.

On August 19^th, 1891, the Petaluma Courier, under the heading "For a Silk Mill," reported that a meeting of citizens, including John A. McNear and H.T. Fairbanks, had met to "to discuss the advisability of having the Belding Silk Company locate its works here, as it was determined to move away from San Francisco." (Carlson-Currier was not named in the original article.) A committee was appointed "to call upon the people and secure the necessary inducements. Subsequent articles called attention to the benefits the factory would bring to the city; employment, especially for women and children; increased business for other merchants; the inducement for other factories to locate in Petaluma. At first, it was also believed that sericulture would be developed to the benefit of local agriculture. Public functions were held to boost contributions, with prizes offered to larger subscribers. The amount sought was not stated in the press, but on December 18^th, with $2000 to go, McNear admonished those Capitalists who were "so very niggardly about putting up some coin."

Sonoma County records show that across from the Steamer Gold Landing, "the northerly quarter" of East Petaluma Block 21 (lots 11, 12, 13, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 24) were purchased from J.A. McNear by the Carlson-Currier Company of San Francisco on February 23^rd, 1892, for $1500 gold coin of the USA." A contract was recorded in Sonoma County on March 11^th, 1892, between "certain citizens of Petaluma arid vicinity … through their Trustee, H.T. Fairbanks" and the Carlson-Currier Company. The contract called for timely construction of the factory and average yearly employment of "one hundred white persons" for a period of five years which would be extended in case of interruption due to "fire, strikes, epidemics or other unavoidable causes. On March 14^th, 1892 Havens, Currier, and Hedges signed the plans. The Petaluma Courier Special Edition of October 19^th, 1892, featured the "recently completed silk factory," which had been the scene of a dedication ball on October 11th. By 1896, 88 tons of products related to the manufacture of silk represented the single most valuable article of commerce on the Petaluma Creek.

Industries of San Francisco (1889), the Petaluma Courier in 1891 and 1892, and a 1910 article in The Monitor of San Francisco, provide considerable information about Carlson-Currier machinery, capacity, and products in both their San Francisco and Petaluma locations. The Courier Special Edition is especially detailed, but perhaps speculative because production had not yet begun in Petaluma. Costs were reported to be $35,000 for the building and $30,000 for the machinery. The San Francisco mill had been "operated by about 75 girls and boys who are thus enabled to obtain some means of support," and the 85 employees were said to share a $2800 monthly payroll. The 1910 writer found in Petaluma "hundreds of men and women employed … under conditions that as far as we could see could not be improved upon. Reasonable hours, good pay, large well ventilated workshops prove that the material welfare of the employee is a matter of concern, as well as good business to this firm."

The dedication of the new Petaluma Silk Mill was described in the Special Edition of the Courier, October 19^th, 1892. J.P. Currier spoke as president of the firm. Edward Carlson is not thereafter mentioned, nor does he appear in subsequent San Francisco directories, though the firm continued as Carlson-Currier with its main salesroom in San Francisco... The 1915-6 directory lists Belding Bros. of California as successors to Carlson-Currier, and Belding purchased the Petaluma mill property in 1917. Later corporate mergers added Heminway and Corticelli to the firm name. Silk manufacture was discontinued at the site in 1929 but the plant continued in operation. In 1940 Sunset Line & Twine Co. of San Francisco purchased the building and has since manufactured there. From the beginning, local managers have been prominent in the area: Frank Brown, manager from 1892 til 1923; Jasper Woodson, a mayor of Petaluma, manager from 1923 until after the purchase by Sunset; the Agnew family since that time.

The building too underwent change. Petaluma experienced little damage in the April 18^th, 1906 earthquake, though subsequently parts of some buildings were condemned and others, including the new Carnegie Library, were temporarily closed. On April 23^rd it was announced that Architect Brainerd Jones and Contractors Rodd and Straddling had pronounced the silk mill ready to open; the tower, however, was not to be used. The mill resumed operations on April 24th. On April 25^th the newspaper headlined "A Big Addition to Silk Mill," reporting that a contract had been awarded to W.C. Straddling for construction of a fireproof brick wing and replacement of the damaged tower; the big brick chimney, apparently also damaged in the quake, was not to be replaced. Brainerd Jones designed this addition (the "new silk vault addition"). Tower repair included new brickwork at the top and substitution of a less steeply pitched roof. No documentation has been to date the new construction, but existing sprinkler system blueprints indicate it had been completed by 1912.

Other blueprints indicate a modest addition was designed in 1921 by Brainerd Jones. But in 1922 business was thriving and instead, the building was almost doubled in size and its original symmetry restored by the addition of a second tower and wing. This addition too was designed by Jones.

Sunset Line and Twine has carried on the tradition of making news. Local and regional newspapers noted its commission to manufacture a special cording for use in the astronaut program. More recently, the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum has asked them to produce a small amount of braided cord to be used in the restoration of the Fred Wiseman airplane. In 1911 on a flight from Petaluma to Santa Rosa, the Wiseman plane was the first to transport stamped mail.

Site Description

The Petaluma Silk Mill is an industrial complex adjacent to the old waterfront area of Petaluma. The two-story brick building is rectangular under a low-hipped roof of sheet metal with standing seams. A pair of three-story square brick towers stand forth from the long many-windowed facade. Each tower has double doors at ground level and 'two windows above and each is topped by a pyramid roof, also sheet metal with standing seams. The original building, designed by pioneer San Francisco architect Charles I. Havens in 1892, had a central tower and was half the length of the present structure.

A silk vault, boiler plant, dye room, and other outbuildings not visible from the front, were also designed by Havens in 1892. Dimensions of the main building were 160' x 45'. The early extension of one wing, and the 1922 construction of a second tower and wing, increased the dimensions to 310' x 45' while maintaining styling compatible with the 1892 building. Subsequent alterations are minimal.

The main building was built in two sections: the original 45' x 160' mill with its central tower is now the northwest section of the building. The southeast portion replicated the earlier tower in 1922, creating the present two-towered symmetrical appearance. Viewed from the front, the building's dominant towers are echoed by four square metal cupolas, with horizontal louvers in each face and pilasters at the corners, which line the roof ridge. The pyramid cupola roofs, of standing seam metal and metal shingle, repeat the slope of the adjacent towers. The cupolas are topped by knobbed finials, and the towers by 30' flagpoles. A horizontal beam projects from the original tower below the roofline and was for lifting materials to the second floor.

Two rows of windows surround the two-story building. They are double-hung, wood framed, and 18-lighted, under arcs that fill the space between the rectangular windows and the low arc of brick coursing above them.

The brick is laid in a simple running pattern, broken by a series of brick courselines that encircle the entire building including the towers. Under the eaves, tiers of three bricks, spaced at brick-length intervals, create a dentil effect. Broad courselines, three brick widths of running pattern projecting slightly from the surface, connect the windows of each row above their midlines and then rise to create, with a radiating pattern of three vertical brick ends, a flattened arch above each window. Narrow courselines of extended vertical brick ends surround the building immediately under each row of windows. Another projecting narrow brick courseline separates the building from its low cement foundation.

Window openings in the original tower are double-shuttered, one with wood, the other with metal. Window openings in the new tower are 16-lighted with wood frames. Three windows on the outer side of each tower, and two windows on the inner side, indicate the rise of staircases within the towers. Tower doors, which open onto low cement platforms, are double with opaque glass above low metal panels. The entrance to the original 1892 building was through its central tower door; neither tower is used as a primary entrance today.

A slight difference in brick color identifies the stages of the building's construction: the central tower and two wings of the 1892 building, the addition to the north after 1906, and the tower and south wing added in 1922. Another slight color variation on either side of the original central tower, between the two rows of windows, marks the site of the painted "Carlson-Currier Co. Silk Manufacturers" sign visible in early pictures. Today, above and around the upper window in each tower a painted black square, with white lettering and border, reads:
SUNSET
LINE & TWINE CO.
MFRS FISH
OF LINES

Two types of metal end-washers mark the end points of steel tie bars. Those on the main building are square with a raised 4-pointed star, those on the towers are round with a 5-pointed star. Their irregular placement, on both old and new wings, probably indicates that they were added after the last major addition to the building. Gutter tie-downs on the older portion of the building indicate that the roof of that section is original but that all gutters probably date from the 1922 addition. Visible from the front also are the tops of two rear structures: a round brick smokestack and the metal framework which once supported a 65' water tower.

Proceeding counterclockwise around the building, the south elevation is the end of the 1922 addition. Four windows on each floor are paired and highlighted with metal end-washers, both 4- and 5-pointed, above and between the window pairs.

Also from the south may be seen a two-story square projecting tower added with the 1922 wing, and some of the original rear buildings. A two-story brick structure, the "old silk vault," is connected to the main building. Behind and alongside it, also connected to the main building and so arranged that they appear to be a "T," are two two-story corrugated metal buildings under low gable roofs; the old engine, coal, and boiler rooms. Each has a cupola and 18-lighted windows like those of the main building, but some windows have been replaced and a wide door has been cut.

Extending to the east is the one-story dye house under a low gable roof. A course line around a row of 18-lighted windows replicates the pattern of the main building, but the brick has been plastered and painted with aluminum paint. The dye house may be reached through the other outbuildings, and it also has a loading dock to the street. There are fans in the gable end along the ridge. A shed has been added to one side. Two low cement reservoirs with corrugated roofing on either side of the dye house provided storage for rainwater used for dying the silk.

The north end of the main building is the post-1906 "new silk vault" addition. The silk vault occupied the first floor and was windowless with 26" brick walls on all four sides. Four second-story windows are evenly Spaced, not paired as on the end of the south wing. In 1922 when the second tower and new wing were added, windows and an outside door were cut in the thick walls and the building's primary entrance moved to the north end. Two wide plate glass windows are lettered in gold, "Sunset Line & Twine Company." Between them, the entrance is deep set and is reached by cement steps that begin flush with the building; there is no exterior porch. The door itself is wood with full glass panel and small vertical panels on each side below a transom extending the width of the recessed entrance.

From the office, another door leads through the interior 26" brick wall to the original building. There, beyond some partitioned office space, the mill workspace extends the length of the building. Original construction details are visible. Two rows of slender turned oak bolsters reach 12' to the ceiling where floor joists of the second floor are visible. Banks of electrically powered machinery for braiding cord, and a few pieces of occasionally used older machinery, are set upon original 3 1/2" tongue and groove floors. The inner brick wall is visible and, reflecting the outside detail, wooden lentils are slightly arched above the flat tops of the windows.

Both the second floor and attic run the length of the main building; the second floor is used for packing and storage of materials and the attic is used for miscellaneous storage. Air circulates through the cupola vents into the attic. A sprinkler fire extinguisher system is located in the attic and throughout the building.

Towers are open and provide vertical access. Construction details of the two towers vary. The older tower has a notable metal-railed staircase, in contrast to the utilitarian cement staircase of the newer tower. Within the older tower may be seen evidence of the addition of nine rows of brick just under the eaves. Earliest pictures show a steeper pitch to the central tower pyramid roof; at the time the pitch was reduced, the tower itself may have been heightened.

The old silk vault, entered from the main building, is now primarily used for storage. Again the inner brick wall is visible, and the triple vaulted ceiling is also brick. Connecting engine, coal, and boiler rooms now provide additional workspace. Floors here and in the dye house are cement. The original brick walls of the dye house have been cemented over. Some original fixtures remain and the building still houses some dye-related activities, in addition to miscellaneous storage. The second story of the outbuildings has been adapted to provide modern cafeteria and lounge facilities.

Landscaping is minimal with grass and a few small trees in front. Ivy and Virginia creeper cover much of the older portion of the building. A simple low wire fence extends from the tower entrances across the width of the property. Cyclone fencing defines the border shared with commercial property to the south, and extends around the rear. There, space between the new wing and projecting outbuildings is unpaved and used for loading and parking and also contains an imposing Canary Island palm tree.

Similar space behind the older wing is enclosed and used for miscellaneous storage.

The mill is located on a block bounded by Erwin Street in front, Wilson Street in the rear and Jefferson Street alongside the north wing entrance. Lakeville Highway curves widely in front of the building; Erwin Street terminates where it would intersect Lakeville, and so is without traffic. Across Erwin is Sunset Park with picnic tables, a drinking fountain, and paths bordered by old Petaluma cobblestones. Beyond the park and Lakeville Highway is the McNear Canal where, visible at low tide, is the historic relic of the steamer Petaluma (originally the Resolute) which, with its cargo including silk products valued at $2000, was destroyed by fire in 1914

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