Northern California structures

[Russ Bellinis]

Pikestuff sheet metal is common for many commercial buildings. Most likely use would be machinery repair shops, and maybe some stores out in the country. Larger buildings like warehouses would likely be reinforced concrete tilt up, like some of the buildings that Kurt or Reinhard have built. Much of Northern California was first settled during the gold rush in 1849 and following. Wood was frequently used for home construction. In the hills with a lot of trees log cabins would not be uncommon. In town the houses would be more conventional frame construction with the various methods of construction being evident. I think the most common I've seen is board and batten, or lapped. Commercial buildings in town were different. The old west towns were originally built with wood, but stores, saloons, the dentist or doctor's office were built close together, often sharing walls between buildings. If a fire started, the entire business district of the town was destroyed. Most of the towns were rebuilt with brick after the second or third fire, but many of the old buildings remain wood. In the downtown areas of most of the old towns in Northern California, wooden buildings will not look a lot different from the main street you see in most Hollywood westerns. Downtown in most larger cities and many of the towns will look like Old Sacramento with brick buildings. Unfortunately, the brick was fine unless there was an earthquake, in which case the brick walls caved in. That is why new construction is seldom done with brick or else it is brick facing on a conventional wood frame, and the brick is just decorative. Many of the older cities with old brick structures have had the brick structures reinforced with a vertical concrete column every few feet on the sides and back of the building to preserve the old architecture while making the buildings safe in an earthquake.

Here are a couple of web sites to give you some ideas:
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<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.oldsacramento.com/">http://www.oldsacramento.com/</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.oldtownauburnca.com/">http://www.oldtownauburnca.com/</a><!-- m -->

I hope this is helpful to you. If you have further questions, throw them up here and I'll try to help you out.