290 Francis Street/400 Ocean Street - Ferndale Main Street Historic District - Ferndale, California - NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings on Waymarking.com

The historic Ira Russ Bank Building at 290 Francis Street/400 Ocean Avenue in Ferndale, California. This beautiful structure is an example of the talented work of Ferndale architect, Thomas J. Frost. The owner, Ira Russ, had the structure built in 1890 and completed in 1891 to house banking facilities and stores on the ground floor with 33 rooms (single and suites) upstairs including bathrooms, water closets and eight fireplaces. Early tenants included a branch of the Humboldt County Bank; the Ferndale Bank; and later the Russ-Williams Bank which became a part of Bank of America in 1935. This is a beautiful example of a Stick Style - Eastlake Victorian commercial building and is noted for its highly decorated bay windows and cornice topped with a shingled mansard parapet roof. The windows and bracketing are Itaiianate in style.

The Ferndale Main Street Historic District is associated with the dairy town of Ferndale, California. The historic district extends along Main Street from Shaw Street to Francis Street and is surrounded by historic residential neighborhoods. Buildings within the district represent two distinct architectural periods, the Late Victorian era of the 19th century (1880 - 1900) and the Early Modernistic period of the 20th century (1920 - 1936). The Victorian buildings are primarily one and two story commercial false fronts with elaborate cornices, fanciful bay windows, and glass storefronts. The Modernistic buildings are almost all one story, false front commercial structures with plain, stucco parapets and glass storefronts.
The Ferndale Main Street Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 10, 1994.
More details about the buildings in the Ferndale Main Street Historic District can be found at: (visit link)

Name of Historic District (as listed on the NRHP): Ferndale Main Street Historic District Link to nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com page with the Historic District: [Web Link] NRHP Historic District Waymark (Optional): [Web Link] Address: 290 Francis Street/400 Ocean Avenue How did you determine the building to be a contributing structure?: Narrative found on the internet (Link provided below) Optional link to narrative or database: [Web Link]

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   09/19/2013 Volcanoguy visited it