Sarah Lim: A look back at Merced’s building boom of 1927

Next time you’re downtown, you might want to take a moment to admire the Mondo Building (formerly known as the Bank of Italy Building) at the corner of Main and Canal streets.

This historic building in the heart of downtown evokes an era of unprecedented building expansion in Merced in the early 20th century.

It was 1927, when building permits issued by the city were four times greater than the annual average since 1913. The total construction value for both new and existing buildings amounted to $927,274 (in 2015 dollars that is over $12.3 million). With the construction cost of $250,000 (equivalent of about $3.3 million in 2015), the Bank of Italy shared the honor, with the Hotel Tioga, as front-runners in the building boom of 1927.

Banking giant A.P. Giannini started this branch of Bank of Italy after purchasing the First National Bank of Merced and the Commercial Savings Bank of Merced in 1916.

Incorporated as a state bank in 1904, the Bank of Italy converted to a national charter in the early spring of 1927 and formally changed its name to Bank of Italy National Trust and Savings Association. Soon the plan for a new three-story bank building in Merced was drawn and the construction began in the fall of that year.

The investment of a new bank building not only further established Merced as an important financial center in the San Joaquin Valley, but also added a handsome amount to local payrolls as five local businesses took part in this construction project.

Excavation of the site was done by J.W. Huffman (son of Merced city founder Charles Henry Huffman), who also furnished other building materials such as rock, sand and gravel.

The Yosemite Portland Cement Co. supplied all the cement for the structure, a total of 9,000 sacks. The California Pottery Co. of Merced manufactured the terra-cotta roof tiles; Barcroft and Sons did the plumbing and sheet metal work; and W.H. Burley was in charge of the brickwork.

In addition to the Bank of Italy Building, which anchored the heart of downtown Merced, the Hotel Tioga was another important commercial development during the boom of 1927.

This five-story, U-shaped building was completed in 1928 on tree-lined N Street, which was also known as Palm Avenue. The building of this hotel caused a lot of excitement in the community because legend had it that “the countess” who lived at this location in the 1870s had buried a pot of gold on the premises. After several days of anticipation and commotion, the excavation of the site yielded nothing. It was said the digging was not deep enough.

The Hotel Tioga was built to accommodate Yosemite-bound tourists. The construction was driven by the completion and opening of the “all-weather” Yosemite Highway 140 and the designation of U.S. Highway 99 in 1926. Sixteenth Street, which was part of Highway 99 in Merced, connected directly to Highway 140; thus, it became a very busy corridor to Yosemite National Park.

As a result of being part of this important corridor, construction on 16th Street also boomed in 1927, from the building of the two “Gateway to Yosemite” wooden arches at each entrance to the city to the establishment of a number of garages and motels along 16th Street.

There was the California Transit Co., Merced Diary and Ice Co., Merced Motor Inn and Hotel des Pyrenees. Merced County had a sizable Basque population, and the Hotel des Pyrenees was one of three Basque hotels in the county from 1915 to 1930. On the corner of 16th and I streets, the hotel was built to accommodate both Basque and non-Basque travelers.

The prosperity and growth of 1927 was not limited to the commercial development, as Merced experienced a strong wave of residential expansion. By 1928, Merced’s population reached 6,850, a growth rate of 28 percent from 1920. A majority of the new homes were being built in north Merced between 22nd and 27th streets, and the preferred styles were Craftsman bungalow and Spanish Colonial Revival.

So this holiday season when you are checking out Christmas lights in Merced’s historic neighborhoods or shopping downtown, take a look at the buildings around you. Chances are that many of them were built or remodeled in 1927.

This story was originally published December 11, 2015 at 2:17 PM with the headline "Sarah Lim: A look back at Merced’s building boom of 1927."