Heritage Homes of Petaluma was founded in 1967 to help ensure that Petaluma's rich architectural heritage
would be preserved for future generations to enjoy.
Over the years there has been a growing interest in our preservation objectives by all segments of the community.
Although some fine buildings have been lost to demolition, far more have been preserved for the enjoyment of
everyone in the community.
Efforts of Heritage Homes have resulted in many homes being moved or saved. Volunteers and funds from membership
dues and house tour ticket sales make the difference. The Five Corners building was to become a ten-space parking lot.
Instead it became a community center and now a community theatre. When the former site of Petaluma's grand City Hall
had to become a parking lot, we assisted in making it the most charming Victorian style parking lot it could be.
Heritage Homes helped Petaluma to be selected as a model for other cities in the California Main Street preservation
program.
The most important objective of our organization is to encourage Petalumans to appreciate the excellence and
uniqueness of what we have in Petaluma. Experiencing our vintage buildings creates a real historical perspective.
We support the biennial Summer House Tours, the yearly Lighted Parlour Tours in December, the biennial Preservation Awards and annually support Petaluma's lovely
Museum. Our biennial Preservation Awards Ceremony recognizes owners, builders and architects for their attention to
historic details and sensitive restoration of historic structures.We have also provided historic street lights, benches
and trees in prominent areas of Petaluma. We have members who serve on the Historic SPARC committee and assist the
City of Petaluma in the review and approval process for new construction projects and major developments. They strive to
foster appropriate development that will make the most of what Petaluma has to offer its residents and visitors without
jeopardizing the historic value of our older districts.
What We Do
We have noticed that there continues to be some confusion in Petaluma about what we can and cannot do and also whether or not Heritage Homes has the power to control what owners of historic buildings do to their own homes and commercial buildings.
As an architectural preservation society of concerned local citizens, we strive to educate Petalumans about the importance of preserving the unique architectural character of Petaluma, whether in historic commercial or residential areas of our city.
We appoint one member of our organization to sit "at the pleasure of" the elected City Council, on Historic SPARC. This one representative can comment on projects coming up for review by Historic SPARC, but these comments may or may not be heeded.
In addition to having one of our members serve on Historic SPARC, we also hold Annual Historic Parlour Tours and every other year, hold our Biennial House Tour and then the following year, our Preservation Awards. Our Biennial Preservation Awards are one way we can help to foster and encourage our local "preservation heroes" who take the time to restore and rehabilitate historic structures or design and construct new buildings that harmonize with the surrounding historic neighborhood. Both our tours and our awards help to educate local residents about Petaluma's past and why it is so important not to lose irreplaceable historic buildings.
Heritage Homes feels very fortunate that our city has agreed to send us copies of requests for demolition of historic structures, plans for exterior remodels of historic district houses and buildings and blueprints for new construction adjacent to historic structures, but we can give our comments only. We do not control whether or not the demolition or plans are approved by the City of Petaluma.
With Heritage Homes' recent establishment of Petaluma's first "Revolving Preservation Fund", Heritage Homes hopes to be able to increase this fund through private contributions and our proceeds from our new "Halloween House Tour" so that one day we will have the funds necessary to purchase our first at-risk historic structure, stabilize it and then resell it to a preservation minded individual. All proceeds from the sale will go back into this special fund so that we will be able to save more and more of our unique architectural treasures. Many presevation societies in the U.S. have seen their funds grow to the point where they have been able to restore whole historic neighborhoods that were slated for demolition. An example would be the Ansborough Neighborhood that has been restored using funds in Charleston Preservation's Revolving Fund. We hope that our fund will grow and become a preservation legacy fund for our community.
If you belong to a non-profit organization that has a preservation project in Petaluma that you think Heritage Homes of Petaluma would be interested in, please print and then fill our Heritage Homes of Petaluma "Grant Application Form" and mail it to: Heritage Homes of Petaluma, P.O. Box 2152, Petaluma, CA 94953. We will have the Board of Directors review your application and get back to you with an answer regarding your financial grant request. In recent years, we approved a grant of $1,000.00 for the Historic Survey for the Trolley Trestle on Water Street. We hope this will help to begin the process of restoring the trolley trestle on Water Street near the Great Petaluma Mill and Turning Basin and eventually get the Petaluma Trolley "back on track" in the riverfront area of historic downtown Petaluma! If you would like to offer your financial assistance to this effort, please visit the Petaluma Trolley website at PetalumaTrolley.org for more information on this exciting preservation project.
We will continue to keep you informed about all the new and exciting restoration projects around our community
through our new website and as always, our member newsletter.
We encourage you to add your talent and energy to help save Petaluma's unique historic character through your membership
fees, donations, serving on one of our committees and by acting as a docent during one of our house tours. Only through
your active concern and assistance, can we hope to accomplish the many tasks required to encourage restoration and
protection of our priceless historic buildings in Petaluma.
What We Don't Do
Heritage Homes does not enforce local preservation ordinances or zoning laws.
We do not tell people what they can or cannot do to the interiors or exteriors of their historic homes.
All of these things are handled by the City of Petaluma via their enforcement of the local historic preservation ordinances and zoning regulations that apply to homes and buildings located within our three designated historic districts.
These three districts are the "Downtown Commercial Historic District" (one of only a few California downtowns to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places!), the "A Street Historic District" and the "Oakhill Brewster Historic District". The preservation guidelines for preserving the architectural fabric of these three districts follow very closely, the State of California's Guidelines For Historic Preservation.
Heritage Homes did not make up these rules, nor do we enforce them. We do applaud homeowners and commercial building owners who follow the guidelines, but we do not enforce them in any way as an organization.
You may see members of our organization take the time to get up during meetings held at City Hall and voice their opinions, but these are opinions only and they may or may not make a difference in the final outcome. In the end, the final decision is left in the hands of our elected City Council. But we have noticed over the years that speaking up for preservation can have a dramatic effect on the City Council's final decision and we are proud to say that Heritage Homes has been directly and indirectly responsible for saving many significant landmarks and historic structures in Petaluma over the years. If you too, care about retaining our priceless architectural legacy, we hope you will join us in our efforts!
A Brief History of Petaluma:
Petaluma incorporated as a city in 1858 but began its commercial life in the summer of 1851, when James Hudspeth
built a warehouse near the present Washington Bridge, filled it with potatoes from Bodega and hay cut from the nearby
meadows, and sent the harvest on boat to Sacramento for sale to the miners.
Petaluma's extensive residential and commercial historic districts are a heritage handed down to us relatively intact
by the early citizens of the prosperous 1880's, 1890's and 1900's, when Petaluma was the center of commerce for the
North Bay Counties.
Large sternwheelers, barges and scows regularly berthed along the Petaluma River, transporting passengers, produce
and machinery between Petaluma and San Francisco. In addition to becoming known as the "world's egg basket", Petaluma
also had one of the West Coast's largest shoe factories, was a center for the wine trade and had the only silk mill west
of the Mississippi. This mill received the first transcontinental truck delivery in 1912 and is on the National Register
of Historic Places.
Several railroads built lines to Petaluma. A handsome Mission Revival railroad depot, built in 1915, remains today at the corner of Lakeville and East Washington,
a silent testament to days gone by.
Present day Petaluma has been the star in several famous movies including, "Peggy Sue Got Married", "American Graffiti",
"Heroes", "Mumford" and "Phenomena". It seems that our historic districts are not only popular with Sonoma County residents,
but with movie companies as well!
