The king of Stick Style

Daniel Damkroeger never thought he would be the local king of Stick Style. The term had not always been complimentary. But since arriving in Santa Cruz in 1887, he was sought out as the local purveyor of that architectural style. His father had immigrated from Holtzhouzen, Westphaila, arriving in San Francisco in 1850.

Daniel was born in Minnesota around 1856 and grew up in San Francisco, where he learned wood-frame architectural styles, excelling in Stick Style. When built along the coast, it was also called "Barbary Coast Gothic," for its association with the San Francisco waterfront. Quite a few California lighthouses follow that style, along with boat houses and bathhouses, such as an early one in Capitola. When built in the mountains, the style was called "Alpine Stick Style" for its Swiss overtones.

In early 1800s America, wood-frame construction had advanced little beyond its Tudor origins, with its lengthy process of custom-fitted brawny-hewn beams with hand-carved mortice and tenon joints. But as mills began producing standardized lumber sizes in the 1840s, midwesterners discovered an accelerated construction method, building a slender wood frame fastened with wire nails. Scoffers name it the "Balloon Frame," fearing the lightweight construction would blow away in the wind, and even mocked the slender lumber as "Stick Built."

Balloon-frame construction framed a two-story building with long two-story uprights, producing a very solid structure. But, as Michael O’Hearn discovered while restoring the Balloon Frame "Kitteredge Mansion/Sunshine Villa" on Beach Hill, if those uprights warped as they cured, the structural integrity was compromised, and difficult to fix. The simpler solution in the 1840s was to frame one story at a time, which became our modern "Western Platform Framing" method.

Yet it was still not widely accepted until the Gold Rush. As people moved into an undeveloped west, "permanent" architecture was no longer the top priority, so much as instant architecture. A standardized mill could mass-produce easily assembled lumber sizes and wire nails for stick-built construction. Boom towns often started as wood-frame structures under canvas walls and roofing, that in time were boarded over.

Although gabled buildings, the gable was sometimes hidden behind a "false front," providing space for signage.

For a quarter of a century after the Gold Rush, stick-built construction was adaptable to any style one wanted, chiefly Greek, Roman, Gothic and French. Each style had its own millwork "gingerbread," evolving into less literal styles, called Greek Vernacular, Boom Town Italianate, Carpenter Gothic and French Mansardic.

John Ruskin influenced the "Gothic Revival," with his book "Seven Lamps of Architecture," to define principles of good construction. It was part of a reaction against the Industrial Revolution, with its mass-produced commercial look, replacing skilled craftsmen with cheap labor, producing industrial slums and polluting smokestack industries.

Ruskin objected to ornament for its own sake, noting that every part of a Gothic cathedral was a structural member: a pillar, a bracket, a gargoyle drain spout, a flying buttress. He felt these practical elements should be left visible, yet harmonized with simple ornament, derived from either geometry or nature. Architecture arranged various-sized structures, with high and low points, step-backs, and a varied skyline, to suit the human scale. Ruskin also believed in the honest expression of the materials. Stone, wood and plaster should be expressive of their inherent characteristics, and not masquerade as something else. He believed architecture should also express local character, showcasing its personal culture and heritage.

Many were influenced by these concepts, especially those constructing stick-built architecture. If creating wooden architecture that looked like masonry wasn't an honest expression of the materials, then what was the proper stick-built style? Some early examples left the framework "ribs" exposed on the exterior, but this wasn't practical, due to the poor insulation value of single-wall construction.

The framework became emphasized through strapwork, placing window and door frames between vertical stick-straps (like on a steamer trunk), then using horizontal bands to define the plinth, bellyband and under-eve frieze. Sometimes the frieze area had a picket border, with the points hanging downward.

Exterior ornament was primarily simple off-the-shelf lumber used in a decorative manner. These served as brackets, gable braces, porch railings and spandrels. Sometimes the void in a triangular bracket or gable brace would have fretwork panels. In its evolution, Stick Style borrowed the asymmetrical layout of the Italianate Villa, believing in the practicality of placing rooms where you wanted them, rather than confining them to parts of a box. Foggy San Francisco invented the "Box Bay Window" by glassing-in cold balconies. Stick Style became a truly democratic architecture, able to be constructed and decorated by anyone with little skill.

The Stick Style began showing up locally as mountain train stations, in keeping with the railroad promoting Santa Cruz as the "Switzerland of America." One of our finest early Stick Style homes is the 1881 "Terry Chalet" at 419 Locust Terrace, built for Harrison M. Terry. It has horseshoe gable braces, flared eves, stacked bay windows and a slotted Swiss railing.

Over time, the Stick Style began introducing turned posts in place of square posts, sculptured brackets in place of box brackets, Botany Panels and other ornaments. These were borrowed by American architects from the furniture designs of Charles Locke Eastlake. This evolution was called "Stick-Eastlake style."

Damkroeger built his Santa Cruz architectural offices on Elm Street in 1887, with Warren Clark as his assistant. Clark was one of the first mountain climbers to ascend California's Mount Whitney (the second tallest American mountain after Mount McKinley). In 1887, Damkroeger designed the Santa Cruz Mountains Winery on Market Street as a wine collective, serving all the local vineyards. Then in 1888, he designed winery buildings for Mel's Vineyards, Villa Fontenay and Vine Hill. He built the 1887 "Cliffcrest" for Mrs. A.D. Perkins, at 407 Cliff Street, Beach Hill; better remembered later as the home of California's lieutenant governor, Wm. T. Jeter. And he made improvements to the home of Judge J.H. Logan, who developed the Loganberry and Giant Blackberry. He made an 1888 map of Santa Cruz with H.E. Makinney, then in 1889 he partnered with architect A.E. Saunders, focusing exclusively on plans and not contracting.

On the Westside, Damkroeger built a Stick-Eastlake mansion for Albion and Emily Swanton (Fred Swanton's parents) at 603 Mission St.; designed cottages in Phelan Park, the forest retreat on Lighthouse Point for San Franciscan James Duval Phelan; and he remodeled Epworth-By-The-Sea (320 West Cliff) to look like the Hotel Del Monte. Then in 1890, he designed the Garfield Park Tabernacle, a massive octagonal building seating 1,800, with a 90-foot tower, affectionately known as "The Ark." In the circular streets around the Ark, he built eight or so artistic cottages.

Damkroeger designed schools for Soquel, Branciforte and Gault. He also designed Pacific Avenue landmarks, such as "The Palace of Pharmacy" for H.H. Blood & Fred Swanton; Bonner Stables for Swanton & Son; Dr. Whitney's Electro-Therapeutic Baths and Sanitarium; the three-story stick-style YMCA Building between Elm and Maple streets; and Mrs. Harriet Blackburn's house on the Sycamore Street corner.

"Ocean Crest," at the junction of Broadway, is the first place upon entering town one can glimpse the ocean on Ocean Street. This became a popular place to build stick-style chalets, with four of the eight designed by Damkroeger. They were for Capt. Samuel S. Short, another for his brother William Short, one for Martha Pilkington Wilson, and across the street was one for Elias H. Robinson, all with flared eves.

In a brief five years, Damkroeger had produced a remarkable body of work in Santa Cruz, while taking commissions outside the county as well. In 1892 he left Santa Cruz and died in Alameda County in 1931.

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