Santa Clara Verein

The Santa Clara Verein was built as a cultural and social center for Santa Clara's German community, used by them from its founding in 1868 until 1899, prior to World War I. The site of Santa Clara Verein was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 28, 1985.

History


During the mid-1850s, German immigrants began arriving and settling in Santa Clara, California. Their population increased during the 1860s through the 1880s. The Santa Clara Verein was founded in 1868, and a group of members purchased a piece of land where they constructed their club at 1082 Alviso Street, Santa Clara. Construction of the hall concluded in 1881.

The Verein hosted gymnastic events, social gatherings, dramatic performances, musical recitals, dances, graduation exercises, and various other activities aimed at physical fitness and entertainment. Its space included a stage for presenting dramas, musicals, dances, and public events. In 1881, the club had forty-five members.

By 1881, the club had forty-five members. Jacob Eberhard was head of the Santa Clara Tannery and a member of the Santa Clara Verein.

Before World War I, the club's membership declined due to the departure of many German residents from the area. The anti-German sentiment arising from the war further contributed to this decline, leaving only five remaining members. Among them, Mr. Lewis Kline acquired ownership of the Verein. He leased it out to a sheet metal fabricator. However, before World War II, Mr. Kline, a distributor of beer, hosted a costume ball at the Verein that remained a topic of conversation.

In 1990, the city voted to allow the then dilapidated Santa Clara Verein to be razed to make way for a Santa Clara University guesthouse for visiting Jesuits. Before its demolition, the building saw use as a metal fabrication shop, furniture warehouse, and a thrift shop supporting handicapped war veterans.

Design


The Santa Clara Verein building, a one-and-a-half-story wooden-fram structure with horizonal siding, spanned approximately 60.2 ft by 62.2 ft. Its design featured six bay windows arranged in an almost square layout. The primary entrance door, situated on the left of the street-facing side, is accessed via three wooden stairs bordered by pipe handrails. Towards the rear (west) of the building, there's a corrugated metal addition with a recessed porch. On the south elevation, there are two brick chimneys capped with metal ventilators.

The construction of the Verein building occurred in three phases, resulting in a complex roof configuration. Initially, a social hall with a gable roof occupied the north section. The building's outer edges are delineated by two ornate pilasters, while another pilaster exists addition was adjoined. The cornice has a small, shed roof on top of it that slopes from the curved parapet. Later, another roof structure was added. The Santa Clara Verein's false front structures was extended across the street to its neighboring building, known as the Larder House.

The lath and plaster walls are painted. A hand-stenciled canvas ceiling is present in the interior. The stenciled patterns include a houndstooth borders, grape leaf patterns, Greek key bands, roundels, and decorative panels are painted inline work. The color palette features grays, yellows, and maroons, with accents of bright red line work. The proscenium arch, once part of the stage, has a rectangular opening and is bordered with architrave trim. Suspended from the ceiling, approximately twelve feet from the stage, is a decorative arch that forms a segment of the coved ceiling. This arch, with a flat-topped structure, incorporates symmetrically placed Baroque molding configurations on either side. This building served as an example of balloon framing construction.

The Santa Clara Verein House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 28, 1985. The residence is an early example of a German social hall in the period between 1880 and 1899 in Santa Clara. It is the oldest Turn verein in Northern California.