Gobbi Building

One of the three remaining cast iron front structures of Healdsburg, this building facade has been rebuilt three times (the first following the 1906 Earthquake when the front wall collapsed). The original iron columns were cast at the McCormick Foundry in San Francisco. Built during a local commercial boom by Barney Gobbi, an Italian immigrant, the building has housed a succession of retail stores. Gobbi's family were grape growers who first came to this area in 1869. Establishing the Sotoyome Winery in Healdsburg along with a relative in 1881, Gobbi financed this structure by selling his winery interests, but lost it by foreclosure in 1905. Having been restored to its pre-Earthquake appearance in 1984, the Gobbi Building began its fourth incarnation on the downtown Plaza.

Built in 1885, the Gobbi building is an example of an Italianate false front commercial building. Italianate buildings developed as part of the picturesque, or romantic movement, which emphasized nature an idealized view of rural living. The style became popular in the U.S. starting in the 1850s. The rambling, asymmetrical form of Italianates was considered pleasing and was a rejection of the more rigid classical styles such as the Greek Revival. Characteristics of Italianate style include asymmetrical massing (in residential buildings), pronounced ornamental cornices and friezes, decorative brackets, overhanging eves, low pitched roofs, an emphasis on verticality, square cupolas or towers, small entry porches or wrap-around porches, Italianate porch columns, and decorative window surrounds.[1] Oriel (bay) windows on upper stories and cast-iron columns are common on Italianate commercial buildings.[2]^,[3]

The Gobbi building is one of the oldest buildings on the Plaza. It was initially built for Barney Gobbi in 1885. Gobbi ran a successful wholesale and retail liquor house at this location in the 1890s.[4] The Gobbi building, had endured its share of ups and downs starting in 1906 when it, like most brick buildings in Healdsburg, suffered damage when the front façade of the building fell into the street. Five cast-iron columns were lost in the earthquake, while the remaining were later stuccoed over. The historic windows were eventually replaced, and in 1982 the building suffered a fire. In 1983 Dr. Nas Maghzi of San Francisco spent $400,000 restoring the building, including replicating the missing columns and restoring the windows.[5] The restoration of the Gobbi building is considered one of the turning points in revitalizing the downtown Healdsburg Plaza. A Commercial Restoration Award was presented to Dr. Maghzi in 1992.

Over the years, the building housed a coffee shop, Garretts Hardware and various other businesses. [6] A video store tried to open on the bottom floor, but was the business was deemed as “not harmonious with the special character of the Plaza”.[7] Mr. Moon's, an eclectic gift shop, has been in the Gobbi building since the mid 1980s.[8] In 1985 the first wine outlet, Valfleur, opened along the Plaza.[9] That same year merchants complained that commercial rent space on the Plaza was an average of $.75 to $1.00 per square foot. Today prices range from $18.00 to $66.00 per square foot.[10]^{, [11]}

[1] Architectural Styles of America and Europe, Italianate, https://architecturestyles.org/italianate/, October 2011

[2] Moore, David W., Historical Studies Report No. 2011-01, Guidelines for Assessing the NRHP Eligibility of Commercial Historic Districts in Crossroads Communities in Northwest-Central Texas, Texas Department of Transportation, Austin Texas, August 2011, pp 35-38

[3] Longstreth, Richard. The Buildings of Main Street: A Guide to American Commercial, pp 24-31

[4] Sonoma County Tribune, Healdsburgers Abroad, July 31, 1890, pp 3.

[5] The Healdsburg Tribune, Gobbi Building Stands Restored, Number 6, Wednesday October 24, 1984, pp 3

[6] The Healdsburg Tribune, Garrett Hardwar celebrates a century, Number 776, Wednesday, July 12, 1989, pp 1,11

[7] The Healdsburg Tribune, Videos not wanted on downtown Plaza, Number 17, Wednesday, December 2, 1987, pp

[8] The Healdsburg Tribune, Inside Story, Number 17, Wednesday, February 4, 1987, pp 2

[9] The Healdsburg Tribune, Plaza filially gets wine outlet-in Gobbi Building, Number 88, Friday, August 30, 1985, pp

[10] The Healdsburg Tribune, Rents crack $1 a square foot; shock merchants, Number 30, Wednesday, January 23 1985, pp 1

[11] Loop Net, Healdsburg, Ca., https://www.loopnet.com/search/retail-space/healdsburg-ca/for-lease/