Programs

The Memorial Day weekend will find NCCSAH members exploring the historic architecture of Carson City and Virginia City, Nevada, and considering the impact the Comstock Lode silver strike of the 1860s and ‘70s had on San Francisco. Our adventure begins with a 6-1/2 hour trip on one of Amtrak’s most popular trains, the California Zephyr, […]

NCCSAH members enjoyed a visit to Sacramento over the first weekend of November 2018. For many in the group who may have been to the capital before, perhaps to lobby legislators on a preservation issue or to do research at the State Library, it was the first time focusing on the many and varied historic […]

Casting aside age-old rivalries, our members, mostly based in the San Francisco Bay Area, ventured south for a long weekend visit to Los Angeles. Pleasant spring weather greeted us over the Memorial Day weekend. From our base at the historic Biltmore Hotel in the, now, much-revived 1920s era downtown, we explored our surroundings over two […]

NCCSAH offered two programs at the end of September 2017. The morning of Monday, September 25, began with a visit to the Fleishhacker summer estate, Green Gables, in Woodside, designed by Greene and Greene. We are grateful to estate manager, Hilary Grenier, who provided an intimate and detailed experience of this unique property. Carpooling took […]

The chapter’s spring 2017 program took us, once again, to the San Francisco Peninsula, this time to explore two works of Frank Lloyd Wright. Impetus for this tour was the recent publication of Frank Lloyd Wright and San Francisco, by NCCSAH board member Paul Turner. Emeritus Professor of Art at Stanford University, Paul provided informed […]

Our fall 2016 tour of the great houses of the Peninsula drew a capacity crowd. Featured were some of the surviving country estates of San Francisco’s Gilded Age: the Kohl, the Ralston, the Carolands and the Uplands. Today three of these grand properties are in institutional ownership, in use and well maintained. Only the Ralston […]

Once called the Egg Capital of the World, the attractive Sonoma County city of Petaluma greeted our members in June. We gathered at the former Carnegie Library that now is home to the Petaluma Historical Museum and Library. Local historian Katherine Rinehart provided a background talk on the area’s history, while we enjoyed coffee and […]

Continuing our chapter’s observance of the year of Julia Morgan, we undertook an ambitious long-weekend program down California’s central coast. Two of Ms. Morgan’s most famous works, works that illustrate the wide-range of her talent, were our goal. We gathered at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove on the morning of November 7, where […]

Once the AIA granted its (long-overdue) Gold Medal to Julia Morgan, in 2014, describing her as “the first great female American architect,” we decided to devote our 2015 programs to the San Francisco architect’s work. For our spring offering, trying to contain our range geographically, we decided upon San Francisco’s Chinatown, where Morgan designed buildings […]

The all-day tour of Mare Island Navy Yard included the interior of the base commander’s classical revival residence and the craftsman chapel, which houses the largest collection of Tiffany stained glass windows west of the Mississippi. Members viewed numerous other structures representative of the yard’s periods of significance, dating from 1856 through World War II, […]

On April 27, 2013, NCCSAH members toured San Francisco’s most distinguished residence parks, the 100-year old garden suburbs of St. Francis Wood and Ingleside Terraces. Included were interiors of houses by Henry Gutterson and Masten & Hurd.

Architectural Historian Judith Marvin led a fabulous NCCSAH tour of Calaveras County in October.  The tour began with a great dinner of “chicken in a barrel” at Judy’s amazing Queen Anne Style ranch house near the town of Murphys. The next day we had perfect weather, a fascinating tour of the 1870s Hotel Leger in […]

Early Saturday morning, June 2nd, saw a dedicated group of NCCSAH members and guests gather for an outstanding tour of ecclesiastical stained glass at five locations in San Francisco. Ian Berke’s enthusiastic interest in American stained glass was the inspiration for this tour. At each stop Ian gave an interesting narrative that explained the various […]

The Fall, 2011 NCCSAH event was a all day tour October 22 by Caltrain of five historic San Francisco Peninsula railroad stations. We are of course grateful to Caltrain for providing transportation (!) and also want to thank the following tour guides who gave us excellent tours of the five railroad stations: Vern Bruce, Millbrae Historical […]