Confidence Hall
Encyclopedia
Confidence Hall is a historic Italianate Style
, Victorian
brick building in Placerville
, El Dorado County, California
. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places
(NRHP) on January 4, 1982.
. The building has also served as the police department, jail and a justice court. When the El Dorado County Fair used to rotate the location of the event, Confidence Hall was one of its venues in Placerville.
In 1902, the building became Placerville City Hall. The Placerville City Library, the first public library in the county, was established in the upper floor of the building in 1906. The space was shared by the Placerville City Clerk's Office and separated by a gate which was opened only after the Clerk had finished his work. The library remained there until 1947. It remained Placerville City Hall until 2005.
The adjacent structure with a wooden balcony, the Jane Stuart Building, was built in 1861 and is on the inventory of the NRHP listing. Immigrant Jane Stuart funded its construction by driving a herd of horses across the Great Plains
and selling them to a local dealer. The two buildings share a common wall and an internal hallway and door and have been utilized as a single tenant office building. The buildings have an estimated 6360 square feet (590.9 m²), which does not include an unfinished basement and an upstairs loft area.
After the Placerville City Government moved to a new city hall in 2005, the buildings, zoned for a broad range of uses, went on the market for over $1 million, but remained unsold and were repriced in June 2009 for $799,000.
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
, Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
brick building in Placerville
Placerville, California
Placerville is the county seat of El Dorado County, California. The population was 10,389 at the 2010 census, up from 9,610 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
, El Dorado County, California
El Dorado County, California
El Dorado County is a county located in the historic Gold Country in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and foothills of the U.S. state of California. The 2010 population was 181,058. The El Dorado county seat is in Placerville....
. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
(NRHP) on January 4, 1982.
History
The building was originally constructed as the Confidence Engine Company No. 1, a volunteer fire brigade. The brigade began as the Mountaineer Engine Company on May 22, 1857, but changed their name in June after they purchased a used fire engine called "Confidence" and found they were unable to remove the engraving. The original engine hall had been damaged by fire in September 1860, and the present building was built in fall of the same year. The fund-raising balls held by the company were very popular. In the late 1890s, the building was used for early meetings of Placerville's Seventh-day Adventist ChurchSeventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
. The building has also served as the police department, jail and a justice court. When the El Dorado County Fair used to rotate the location of the event, Confidence Hall was one of its venues in Placerville.
In 1902, the building became Placerville City Hall. The Placerville City Library, the first public library in the county, was established in the upper floor of the building in 1906. The space was shared by the Placerville City Clerk's Office and separated by a gate which was opened only after the Clerk had finished his work. The library remained there until 1947. It remained Placerville City Hall until 2005.
The adjacent structure with a wooden balcony, the Jane Stuart Building, was built in 1861 and is on the inventory of the NRHP listing. Immigrant Jane Stuart funded its construction by driving a herd of horses across the Great Plains
Great Plains
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
and selling them to a local dealer. The two buildings share a common wall and an internal hallway and door and have been utilized as a single tenant office building. The buildings have an estimated 6360 square feet (590.9 m²), which does not include an unfinished basement and an upstairs loft area.
After the Placerville City Government moved to a new city hall in 2005, the buildings, zoned for a broad range of uses, went on the market for over $1 million, but remained unsold and were repriced in June 2009 for $799,000.