Building History

An Indiana native, Henry Harrison Brown (born 06/01/1860 in Osgood, IN-d. 12/01/1939 in Bakersfield, CA), migrated first to Kansas where he pursued farming for four years. He relocated Buttonwillow, CA, c. 1890, and then to Bakersfield by about 1891. He purchased a ranch outside of town on which he raised poultry in about 1907, and began to invest in real estate concentrated mostly in the city's East Bakersfield neighborhood. Brown erected this mixed-use apartment and retail block in approximately 1911 near the intersection of Baker and Kentucky Streets. A biographical sketch of Brown stated of it in 1914: “The Brown block in East Bakersfield, which he has built, is a brick structure, 65x75 feet, three stories in height, four stores and basement, the stores being given over to mercantile firms. In addition, he has built six cottages in East Bakersfield which are well-built and modern in every way, their general appearance being most artistic.” (See Wallace M. Morgan, “H.H. Brown,” in History of Kern County, California, [Los Angeles: Historic Record Company, 1914], p. 1205.)

Brown married Emily Hamilton (born 02/08/1859 in Jackson County, IN-d. 12/17/1940 in Bakersfield, CA) in 1881 in Indiana, and with her had six children.

In 1928-1929, Brown built the Granada Theatre, a Moorish-Spanish movie theatre located at 618 Kentucky Street, nearby to the Brown Block.

PCAD id: 24071