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- Historic California Posts, Camps,
Stations and Airfields
- Yuba City Armory
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- Extract, Final Inventory and Evaluation
of National Register of Historic Places Eligibility of California
Army National Guard Armories, Sacramento District US Army Corps
of Engineers (2002)
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- History
Yuba City was founded in 1849 on
land purchased from John Sutter by Samuel Brannan, Pierson Reading,
and Henry Cheever, who came to establish a distribution center
supplying those in search of gold. During the Gold Rush era,
neighboring Marysville (on the east bank of the Feather River)
overshadowed Yuba City because it was easier for miners arriving
by riverboat from San Francisco and Sacramento to reach the gold
fields to the east. Like many regional communities of the time,
Yuba City did not prosper in an agricultural sense until after
the Gold Rush subsided. Yuba City was established as the county
seat by vote in 1856 and was incorporated January 23, 1908.
Marysville and Yuba City have a history of military spirit dating
to the 1860s. During the Civil War, two large units were maintained
in the city. During the mid-1920s, Yuba City had nothing in the
way of military organizations, with the exception of those maintained
by the ex-service men of World War I. There was a movement in
1923 by Captain Seth Millington, Jr., captain of the National
Guard unit in Colusa and head of the American Legion in California,
to establish a unit of the National Guard in Marysville. The
creation of the command was indefinitely deferred by Governor
Friend W. Richardson because of a lack of State funds. In the
spring of 1924, however, a commission was given for the formation
of a National Guard unit in Yuba City (History of Yuba County
1924).
The National Guard Armory building at Yuba City was completed
in November 1931 at a cost to the state of $25,000. The Yuba
City armory was one of the first six state-owned armory buildings
to be constructed in the state (California Army National Guard
1932). The building is sited on a two-acre parcel that was purchased
by the city of Yuba City from Richard and Annie Walton on March
5, 1931 for $2,000 and deeded to the state for the National Guard
(California Army National Guard 1950). A motor-vehicle storage
building was constructed in 1949 at a cost of $34,315, which
was provided by federal funding (California Army National Guard
1950). The armory building itself underwent changes in 1956,
1959, and 1960, bringing the cumulative cost of the structure
to $70,350 (California Army National Guard 1962).
Torrential rains struck northern California on December 15, 1955,
and continued without stopping until December 23rd, sending at
least eight rivers over their banks. In all, approximately 100,000
acres of Sutter County were flooded. On December 22, the CA ARNG
units of Marysville and Yuba City were alerted and put on emergency
standby. Some 750 Guardsmen commanded by Colonel Edwin B. Taylor,
of the 184th Infantry regiment were called to action, devoting
their efforts to levee and traffic control, evacuation and rescue
work, and assisting local law enforcement authorities. Six medals
of merit and 53 commendation ribbons were awarded to Guardsmen
for their service during the Yuba City flood disaster (Sacramento
Bee 1956). As a result of the flood, Yuba City's armory was inundated
by 8 feet of water, and battalion headquarters had to be established
in the county courthouse.
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Description
The Yuba City armory is located at 310 B Street, which is approximately
three blocks east of the historic commercial and civic center
of Yuba City. The armory is deeply set on a corner lot, and has
a fenced vehicle yard with two-vehicle maintenance and storage
buildings and a varying number of military vehicles. The neighborhood
setting includes a combination of light industrial complexes and
commercial structures to the west and 1930s-era residential homes
to the east. Unlike the standardized armories that were built
after the 1940s, the Yuba City armory exhibits a unique plan and
form (Figure 3). The armory is essentially a two-story assembly
hall, flanked on the east and west by full-length, single-story
wings, with two side-gabled single-story ells set perpendicular
to the east and west walls of the assembly hall. The assembly
hall, perpendicular ells, and lengthwise wings are board-formed
concrete with touches of Art Deco and Spanish Revival stylistic
details. There is a modern addition connected toward the rear
of the west elevation of the armory.
The primary form of the armory is the central
two-story gable-front assembly hall that is oriented north-south.
The assembly hall has a low-pitched gabled roof that is covered
with rounded red tiles (replaced in 1995 or 1996). The interior
of the assembly hall is a steel open king truss clear span. The
eaves running the length of the assembly hall are flush with the
wall surface covered by hanging gutters that are painted to match
the armory. Fenestration on the assembly hall generally consists
of glazed multi-light windows in the upper portion of the walls,
entrance doors on the lower level of the north and south elevations,
and doors connecting to the wings on the lower level of the east
and west walls. The entry on the north facade is recessed and
is characterized by a nearly full-height stepped concrete surround,
evocative of an Art Deco style.
The ells perpendicular to the east and west
sides of the facade are also constructed with board-formed concrete
on concrete foundations. They have medium-pitched side-gabled
roofs that are covered with rounded red tiles. Each of the ells
has three pairs of casement windows with stylized metopes impressed
into the concrete wall beneath them. There are similar windows
and decorative elements on both gable ends of these ells. A full-height
concrete chimney is built between the northwest corner of the
assembly hall and the southwest corner of the western ell.
The western and eastern wings are a series
of five bays that run the length of the assembly hall. These wings
begin just behind the south walls of the ells, and are not readily
visible from the front of the armory. These single-story wings
each have a low-pitched, wood-framed shed roof. The modern western
wing of the armory is oriented east-west and joins the armory
at the southern portion of the western wing. Constructed with
poured-concrete on a concrete foundation, this is a single-story
extension with a low-pitched, steel-framed, side-gabled roof with
deep eaves.
The paint on the exterior of the armory
(mainly along the southern elevation) is cracking and peeling,
and there has been a minor attempt at patching a portion of the
southern elevation with a fibrous material. Some of the water
damage on both the interior and exterior may be the result of
the December 1955 flood, which inundated the armory with 8 feet
of water.
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Evaluation
The Yuba City armory meets the definition for a significant resource
type under both Criterion A, for its association with World War
II, and Criterion C, for its association with the early-twentieth-century
state-owned armories period of construction and the Spanish Revival
style of architecture. The armory also retains its integrity
and therefore is eligible for listing in the NRHP.
The armory is one of the 10 armories that were owned by the state
prior to and during World War II. The mobilization for World
War II involved nearly all Guard units in California, presenting
one of the few opportunities that the CA ARNG has had to fulfill
its mission as a reserve force for the regular Army. The Yuba
City unit was called into federal service for World War II on
March 3, 1941. This association with the Guard's participation
in World War II qualifies the armory as a significant property
under Criterion A.
Built in 1931, the Yuba City armory was the sixth armory built
as a CA ARNG-owned armory. The Guard employed the Spanish Revival
and Art Deco design philosophies that were popular during that
period to reflect the authority, importance, and pride of the
Guard presence within the community. This qualifies the armory
as a significant resource under Criterion C because it reflects
the transition period during which the Guard established permanent
state-owned facilities for their Guard units. The armory retains
its integrity of location, setting, design, materials, feeling,
and association. The building is still easily recognized as a
pre-war armory with Spanish Revival and Art Deco design influences
and thus retains its integrity overall.
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- Updated 8 February 2016