IOOF (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) Building

This lot was originally the site of Healdsburg's first grist mill, owned by John D. Hassett. The parcel was purchased by the Odd Fellows Lodge in 1876, has continuously served as the club's headquarters in three successive structures. The original Odd Fellows building was razed in 1905 to build a Mediterranean Revival style three-story brick structure. The back portion of that building still stands at the rear of the lot, facing Healdsburg Avenue. Unfortunately, the front portion of the building collapsed during the 1906 Earthquake. The contractors for the Mediterranean Revival style building, Stanley and Sawyer, were hired to rebuild, but taking no chances, they utilized reintorced concrete. Over the years, the first floor has housed a series of retail shops as well as the Rations Board during World War II. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the large basement was used for storage of corpses from the nearby mortuary, since the mortuary had no basement of its own.

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) building is Mediterranean Revival in style. Mediterranean Revival developed primarily from Spanish Colonial and Italian Renaissance architecture. The style is well suited to the California, Florida, and southwest United States, areas with milder climates. Stylistic elements include stucco walls, a blending of indoor and outdoor spaces, ornate archways and colonnades, window grills, red clay roof tiles, fancy wood or wrought-iron balconies, and corbels (large and more decorative than a bracket).[1]^, [2] The Healdsburg IOOF building reads as two separate buildings. The 250 Healdsburg Avenue portion displays many of the characteristics of the Mediterranean Revival style with its arched windows and door, clay roof tiled cornice with corbels, window grills, and stucco. The larger portion of the building, which faces Matheson Street (102 Healdsburg Avenue), is much simpler in its execution. It has stucco, cornice with dentil modeling, cornice window heads, and belt course. IOOF and the IOOF logo, along with the 1906 construction date, is on the parapet above the cornice on the Matheson Street elevation.

The Odd Fellows building was constructed in 1905, but Healdsburg, like most of the San Francisco Bay Area, felt the effects of the 1906 earthquake. The 250 Healdsburg Avenue portion of the building survived the earthquake, while 102 Healdsburg Avenue collapsed onto the building next door. The estimated damage for the building was $15,000.^[3]  The rebuilding of the IOOF Hall was finished by March 1907. The replacement structure was completed for approximately $10,000. Some materials were salvaged from the damaged building.^[4]

The origins of the IOOF are not entirely clear. It is thought to have started in England when a group of men who felt themselves to be common laborers and not eligible for other groups or guilds started a group for odd fellows who did not fit anywhere else. Another theory is that it was thought odd for a group of “common laboring men” to form a fraternal group for social unity, fellowship, and mutual support, hence the Odd Fellows.^[5] The Healdsburg IOOF started in 1863. It merged with the Windsor Odd Fellows in 2012. ^{[6], [7]} Over the years, the IOOF has had some memorable members, including Charlie Chaplin, P.T. Barnum, Charles Lindbergh, Wyatt Earp, Al Pinkerton, and Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.^[8] Today, the IOOF is known for programs to support youth and the elderly, advanced eye research, reforestation, the Arthritis Foundation, and affordable housing. ^[9]

In 2022, the IOOF building houses Brandt Insurance Company and successful retail businesses. In 1999, F.M. "Milt" Brandt and the Brandt family received a Commercial Preservation award from the Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society for their excellent care of this historic building.

[1] Baron, Kristen L., The Presidio of San Francisco– NPS History. National Park Service Department of the Interior, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, November 1998, pp 10

[2] Baldwin, Deborah, The Hidden Beauty in a 1920’s Mediterranean Revival, https://www.thisoldhouse.com/21018643/the-hidden-beauty-in-a-1920s-mediterranean-revival, 2022

^[3] Healdsburg Tribune, The Loses, Volume XVIII, April 26, 1906, pp 1.

^[4] Healdsburg Tribune, Odd Fellows Meet in New Hall, Volume XVIII, March 14, 1907, pp 1.

^[5] Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Sovereign Grand Lodge, The Name “Odd Fellows”, https://odd-fellows.org/history/the-name-odd-fellows/

^[6] Healdsburg Tribune, Odd Fellows Meet in New Hall, Volume XVIII, March 14, 1907, pp 1.

^[7] Windsor Odd Fellows, IOOF History, http://www.windsoroddfellows.org/odd-fellows-history.html, Windsor Odd Fellows Lodge #215 (2013)

^[8] The Mysterious “Order of the Odd Fellows” that frankly, belongs in a Wes Anderson Movie, https://www.messynessychic.com/2020/01/17/237753, Messy Nessy, January 17, 2020

^[9] independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Sovereign Grand Lodge, What We Do, https://odd-fellows.org/history/the-name-odd-fellows/