The Sonoma County Library was officially designated the official archive for the County of Sonoma and the City of Santa Rosa in 1965 by a joint resolution. Today that Archive is located about nine miles east of downtown Santa Rosa and is contained within a 3,800 square foot warehouse. It is not climate controlled.

Although many of the materials housed at the Archive are accessible via the Sonoma County Library catalog, many are not. To fully realize the value of this amazing treasure trove an updated inventory is needed. As is funding for a new facility and dedicated staffing.

This is what was going through my mind Tuesday morning as I came across a set of architectural drawings prepared by E. Geoffrey Bangs in 1945 for the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors for a third story addition to the courthouse. As far as I can tell the Library has no record of these drawings. Like some many things at the Archives, I just happened to stumble across them while looking for something else. As the photos reveal, the drawings are not in the best condition. At some point they got wet which explains the rippling.

Using the Sonoma County Library's edition of Newspapers.com, I learned that Bangs' plan provided for a total of 19,000 added square feet, 15,000 of which would be used for offices, and two elevators. The addition was designed with a light steel frame supporting the floor and roof. This light type of structure was considered not only economical, but permitted holding the addition back from the face of the main building, "thus avoiding any aesthetic problems or the need for glorifying a purely utilitarian structure." (Petaluma Argus Courier, July 17, 1945)

Further research lead me to the UC Berkeley Environmental Design Archives and the E. Geoffrey Bangs (ca. 1893-1977) Collection. The finding aid for this collection states that E. Geoffrey Bangs was a Bay Area architect and a graduate of University of California, Berkeley. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1914 and obtained his master’s the following year. His early career was spent working in the office of John Galen Howard. Bangs designed many public buildings and large-scale public housing projects in Northern California. His projects included UC Berkeley’s Lewis Hall, the Contra Costa Hall of Records, and the courthouses for Shasta and Butte counties.

The E. Geoffrey Bangs Collection consists almost entirely of black and white photographs documenting numerous Bay Area residential and commercial buildings. The photographs also include images of UC Berkeley buildings. Some of the photographs in the collection may be for a photo essay entitled "Portals West: A Folio of Late Nineteenth Century Architecture in California." The collection also contains a typescript of this book which was published by the California Historical Society. The Sonoma County History & Genealogy Library has a copy of this book in its rare room (Annex Rare 720.9794)

 As we know a third story was never added to the courthouse. Why this was the case and why the Board of Supervisors sought to engage Bangs are questions I'm left with.

It may be that the Board of Supervisors decided to redirect funds to pay for the design and construction of one or more war memorial buildings.

Why Bangs? Well certainly it was not the first time a San Francisco based architect was involved in a Sonoma County civic project. For example, J.W. Dolliver, a prominent Bay Area architect designed both the Sonoma County Courthouse in 1910 and the Santa Rosa City Hall in 1912. Dolliver actually lived in Kentfield, but his offices were in San Francisco. Perhaps the Board of Supervisors would have called upon Dolliver again for the third story addition project if he hadn't died in 1927.

Again according to newspaper accounts, Bangs was involved in at least one more Sonoma County project. In March of 1946, the Board of Supervisors approved plans prepared by Bangs for a new county detention facility that met all of the requirements of the California Youth Authority and would be located on the grounds of the Sonoma County Hospital.

Would a visit to UC Berkeley tell us more? At the very least the Environmental Design Archives should be made aware of this "find" so that they can update their cataloging notes to include reference to Bangs' work in Sonoma County. Speaking of cataloging, the Bangs' drawing can now be added to the Library's list of holdings. As stated earlier, an updated inventory is need. Until a dedicated funding source is identified, we will have to make do with the one item at a time approach.