The Nevada City Downtown Historic District is a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

in Nevada City within the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Located in Nevada County, it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1985. It dates from 1917, with examples of Moderne and

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

architecture. and The period of significance is 1856–1917. The historic district covers the downtown section roughly bounded by Spring, Bridge, Commercial, York, Washington, Coyote, and Main Streets. It includes 70

contributing buildings In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...

including the National Hotel, which is separately listed on the National Register. Several historical buildings have received

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in the U.S. state of California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meetin ...

status, and have been preserved.

Numbering

* Buildings on Broad Street, numbered from 211 to 420 * Buildings on Commercial Street, numbered from 200 to 405 * Buildings on Main Street, numbered from 30 through 308 * Buildings on South Pine Street, numbered from 108 to 203 * Buildings on North Pine Street, numbered from 108-1/2 to 231 * Buildings on Springs Street, numbered from 300 to 325 * Buildings on Church Street, numbered 214 to 222 * Buildings on Washington Street, numbered 310 and 317

Buildings

* National Hotel, 211 Broad Street * Court house in Courthouse Square and city hall

Art deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

facades are attributable to

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

projects. * St. Canice Catholic Church, 317 Washington Street *

Doris Foley Library for Historical Research The Doris Foley Library for Historical Research (formerly, Nevada City Free Public Library and Nevada City Library; colloquially: Carnegie Library or Foley) is a reference and research library in Nevada City, in Nevada County, California. Built ...

(NRHP No. 90001809), 211 (re-numbered 231) North Pine Street, is a Carnegie library. * Miners Foundry (CHL No. 1012), 325 Spring Street, was the first manufacturing location of the

Pelton wheel The Pelton wheel or Pelton Turbine is an Impulse (physics), impulse-type water turbine invented by American inventor Lester Allan Pelton in the 1870s. The Pelton wheel extracts energy from the impulse of moving water, as opposed to water's dead w ...

. * National Hotel (CHL No. 899), 211 Broad Street, is one of the oldest continuously operating hotels west of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

. * Nevada City Firehouse No. 2 is a Neoclassical-

Greek Revival style Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

building. The firehouse was built in 1860 and was added to the

on May 3, 1974. * Nevada Brewery (NRHP No. 85002303), 107 Sacramento Street, was used for brewing and serving lager beer to the mining community. * Nevada Theatre (CHL No. 863), 401 Broad Street, is California's oldest original-use theatre. * Ott's Assay Office * The

South Yuba Canal Office The South Yuba Canal Office was the headquarters for the largest network of water flumes and ditches in California. It is located at 134 Main Street, Nevada City, California, USA. Structure Built in 1855, it was originally known as the Potter Bu ...

(CHL No. 832) was the headquarters for the largest network of water

flume A flume is a human-made channel for water, in the form of an open declined gravity chute whose walls are raised above the surrounding terrain, in contrast to a trench or ditch. Flumes are not to be confused with aqueducts, which are built to t ...

s and ditches in California. Located at 134 Main Street, it was the headquarters for the largest network of water

s and ditches in California. It became a

in May 1970. Built in 1855, it was originally known as the Potter Building. A two-story brick structure, it was fitted with iron doors and shutters, plus a filigree balcony railing. The company's original ditch was put into use in 1850. The South Yuba Canal is now part of the public lands of the Tahoe National Forest. The South Yuba Canal System is used for delivering domestic and agricultural water to Nevada City and its neighbor Grass Valley. The water also generates electricity in

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

. It is approximately in length. Crossing private and

National Forest National Forest may refer to: * National forest or state forest, a forest administered or protected by a sovereign state ** National forest (Brazil) ** National forest (France) ** National forest (United States) ** State Forests (Poland) ** The N ...

lands, the canal is bordered by

conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

s and hardwoods.

Gallery

File:Nevada City Downtown Historic District-6.jpg, Corner of Broadway and Pine File:Nevada City Downtown Historic District-46.jpg, Masonic Building, 108 N Pine Street File:US-CA-NevadaCity-BroadStreet-AlphaBuildingCommunityCollaborative-pano v1.jpg, Alpha Building, 210 Broad Street File:NevadaCityCA95959c.jpg, Commercial Street File:Ott's Assay Office-7.jpg, Left: Ott's Assay Office, 130 Main Street; Right: South Yuba Canal Building File:Nevada City Downtown Historic District-26.jpg, Historic New York Hotel building, 408 Broad Street File:Nevada City Downtown Historic District-144.jpg, Left: McGees Annex, 315 Broad St. Right: City Hall, 317 Broad St. File:US-CA-NevadaCity-2012-07-18T170103 v1.jpg, Nevada Theatre, 401 Broad Street File:US-CA-NevadaCity-2012-07-18T171915 v1.jpg, Nevada City United Methodist Church File:Nevada City Downtown Historic District-16.jpg, File:US-CA-NevadaCity-2012-07-18T194510 v1.jpg, Nevada City Firehouse No. 2, Main Street File:US-CA-NevadaCity-2012-07-18T162742 v1.jpg, The Independent building, 310 Broad Street File:US-CA-NevadaCity-2012-07-18T162905 v1.jpg, I.O.O.F building, 225 Broad Street File:US-CA-NevadaCity-2012-07-18T194138 v1.jpg, Two Room Inn, 431 Broad Street File:Nevada City Downtown Historic District-65.jpg, Fire House Museum (on far left), 214 Main Street File:US-CA-NevadaCity-2012-07-18T191146 v1.jpg, A fifteen-ton Pelton wheel in front of the South Yuba Canal Building on Main Street File:Ott's Assay Office-26.jpg, Ott's Assay Office with Pelton Wheel monument to the right. File:US-CA-NevadaCity-2012-07-18T190539 v1.jpg, St. Canice Catholic Church File:Nevada City Free Public Library.jpg, Doris Foley Library File:National Exchange Hotel-4.jpg, National Exchange Hotel File:Charles Marsh House, 123 Nevada St., Nevada City, CA.jpg, Charles Marsh house

References

{{National Register of Historic Places, state=collapsed Nevada City, California Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in California History of Nevada City, California National Register of Historic Places in Nevada County, California Buildings and structures in Nevada City, California Geography of Nevada County, California Italianate architecture in California Moderne architecture in California Victorian architecture in California