OpenStreetMap (new tab)

Google Map (new tab)

Pacific Coast cities underwent rapid growth during the 1880s and, in the breakneck construction process, incurred terrible fires that periodically wiped out central business districts' wood-clad-and-framed building stock. The transition to masonry construction occurred in the 1880s and 1890s, a more costly material that could resist flames. Production of bricks for buildings hit new highs in the 1890s, as many load-bearing masonry buildings, billed as fire-proof, went up in San Francisco, Bakersfield, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma and other cities. Vallejo's Union Pressed Brick and Terra Cotta Company served this rapidly growing demand, and for five years it shipped its products up and down the coast. Architects such as Elmer H. Fisher, Seattle's most prolific architect following its disastrous fire of 06/06/1889, responsible for 54 buildings in about six years (1888-1894), ordered bricks from Union. Production at the Vallejo plant, however, was short-lived. While demand remained high for brick and terra cotta cladding materials, the national Depression of 1893 dried up lending capital, resulting in a crash in the building industry. On the Pacific Coast, this was felt most acutely during the years 1894-1897. After this, the San Francisco Earthquake of 04/18/1906 changed building patterns comprehensively by the end of the decade throughout earthquake-prone portions of the coastal west. For large-scale buildings, insulated steel-frames replaced load-bearing masonry as the preferred structural system required by new building codes in CA, OR, and WA. The shift to steel framing did not mean the end of brick factories. Small commercial buildings were still erected using support systems based on bricks and hollow tile. Terra cotta experienced a boom in use during the 1890-1920 period, as it was used for cladding and insulation for steel members. This future growth did not benefit the Union Pressed Brick and Terra Cotta Company, as it did not survive the effects of the 1893 economic collapse. It was sold to the CA giant Gladding McBean Company for next to nothing and was closed by its new owners to eliminate competition. (See "California Bricks: Union Pressed Brick and Terra Cotta Company,"Accessed 04/23/2014.)

Construction on the Union Pressed Brick and Terra Cotta Company began on 03/26/1889, two months after several San Francisco investors found a deposit of clay in the area near 5th Street Cut and Solano Avenue in Vallejo, CA. The company produced bricks and terra cotta products for about five years, between 1891-1896. In 06/1891, five wood-frame buildings topped by corrugated iron roofs composed the Union Pressed Brick and Terra Cotta Company complex; these included the first production building 135 feet long and 30 feet wide standing 2-and-a-half stories tall in which the artisans of the terra cotta division labored. A second one-and-a-half story, 135 x 50 foot structure housed dual muffle kilns firing terra cotta ornamentation. Heat and smoke was removed by a 60-foot-tall smokestack. A third building, also 135 x 50 and 1.5 stories tall, sheltered a steam boiler and engine, great iron contraptions produced in San Francisco, that powered rock crushers, eight mechanical brick presses and a machine shop for the maintenance of the equipment. The brick presses and rock crusher were patented by Walfrid Burkman, the company's mechanical superintendent. Brick kilns were housed in the fourth structure, one-and-a-half stories in height, 135 x 60 feet, which had two six-story brick chimneys looming above to vent the furnaces. The fifth component in the production complex was a warehouse that adjoined the fourth building's south side to form a "T." The warehouse was nearly as large as the other production buildings, 110 x 20, and was positioned for easy access to the company wharf, that contained a 500-foot-long shelter to cover finished products awaiting shipment. A company-owned rail line connected the wharf to the factory, and a commercial rail spur enabled bricks and terra cotta items to be transported via train. A city-owned water tower with a capacity of 10,000 gallons served the company's needs.

PCAD id: 19191