City Hall to celebrate centennial

In its first hundred years, Sonoma City Hall has served as a firehouse, judicial court, council chamber and administrative offices – as well as a catalyst for civic improvements.
“I think the one thing that makes our city hall special is probably the fact of where it is: in the Plaza,” City Historian George McKale said Tuesday, noting that the then-treeless eight-acre square had been used as a “dumping ground” before the building’s completion in 1908. “City Hall was part of the impetus … (toward) the whole beautification of the Plaza.”
Exactly one century to the day after it was dedicated, City Hall will welcome revelers for a once-in-a-lifetime birthday bash Tuesday, Aug. 9, from 5:30 to 6 p.m. The 1908 dedication featured a free barbecue, horse races, a grand ball and a parade which included a horse-drawn carriage circling the Plaza carrying a picture of Sonoma founder General Mariano Vallejo.
“We won’t be doing that,” McKale said with a laugh. The somewhat more low-key 2008 celebration will begin under the palm tree on the lawn in front of City Hall, and feature short presentations and proclamations from city councilmembers and state legislators – and from Prestwood Elementary third-grader Emma Maggioncalda, winner of the art contest for the celebration’s official poster (as well as a certificate of achievement, the key to the city, and a $100 bill).
Former city manager Pam Gibson will tell about the building’s history, and old-time songs will be sung – including “The Dear Old Hills of California,” which Vallejo’s daughter Luisa Emparan sang in at the laying of the cornerstone on Feb. 22, 1906.
“At the end of the ceremony we’ll be having cake, and singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to City Hall,” McKale said.
The structure was designed in the “Old Mission” style by San Francisco architect A. C. Lutgens, who also drew the plans for the Carnegie Library on the Plaza’s east side. City Hall’s four identical sides were intended to present the same face to Plaza merchants, and the large doors in the middle served as quick exits for city fire wagons. Local quarries provided the basalt building blocks, but McKale said that complications set in shortly after work commenced – due to the great earthquake of April 1906.
“The price of stone skyrocketed, and affected to some extent the construction of City Hall … all the stone was going to repave and rebuild San Francisco,” McKale said. “It was a real boom for the quarry business here in Sonoma.”
It also nearly doubled the original construction bid of $15,475 – although that price seems cheap compared to the $275,000 it cost to renovate City Hall during the past two months. Attendees can see the spiffed-up interior for themselves during a guided tour Tuesday night.
“It’s a good opportunity for families to get together with their children and go through City Hall,” Sonoma Mayor Joanne Sanders said, adding that it’s also a good chance for a close look at something some may take for granted.
“We all look at the Plaza every day,” Sanders said. “We have a lot to be proud of.”