Back to the Gold Rush

The Oroville Inn isn't the only historic building downtown being renovated. The Washington Block Building, on the corner of Myers and Montgomery streets, was recently bought by Sean and Lori Pierce, also real estate bigwigs in downtown Oroville who have restored other historic buildings to great success. With the Pierces and Bud Tracy working simultaneously on two of the largest rundown landmarks in the area, downtown Oroville stands to experience a further resurgence of new life.

“There are two iconic buildings in downtown Oroville that, because they've [not been fixed up], still make the area look bad,” Tracy said. “That's the Oroville Inn and the Washington Block Building, the oldest commercial building in Oroville. But if they're restored, they could change the whole face of downtown.”

The Washington Block Building, named for President George Washington, was built in 1856 and included a five-room basement that housed a popular saloon and gambling parlor called the Bank Exchange. The first floor housed an actual bank, according to historian James Lenhoff, as well as a business owned by Benjamin Myers, for whom Myers Street is named. A second floor was added around 1900.

“It had windows in the basement, but it made you think you were on ground level because there were skylights,” Lenhoff said.

Lori Pierce said her husband's passion for local history prompted the purchase.

“Sean wanted to make sure that building was preserved for the future,” she wrote in an email, adding that it's been vacant for more than 30 years. “It's a great corner in downtown Oroville and it will be a beautiful building when he's finished with it.”

The Washington Block Building is included in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Oroville Commercial District (Old). In its listing, it's described thusly: “Perhaps the most significant building in the district from the historical perspective is the Washington Block Building …. Despite being underground, the windows of the Bank Exchange opened into light wells, which still underlie existing sidewalks, and were hung with tinted glass double French doors to give the impression that the saloon was not, in fact, underground. The French windows, as well as the original rooms, still remain. In addition to functioning as a saloon, the rooms were used for many town functions and meetings, including a few public trials.”

The back corner of the building faces Miners Alley (but does not reach it, except by another small alley), which was the road the miners took into town from the mines.

“Miners Alley was built when they laid out the town of Oroville. They named all the streets after the founders, but then they had an alley, and they didn't want to insult anybody by naming an alley after them, so they named it after everybody,” Lenhoff said. “The Washington Block has courtyard access to the alley—hopefully [the Pierces] will be able to tap into that.

“Everything they do in construction is top-grade. They do beautiful work. That's going to be a big attraction. It'll be wonderful when both of those buildings [the Washington Block and Oroville Inn] are restored—those are two major landmarks in downtown.”

—Meredith J. Cooper