Lofts at Globe Mills 1131 C Street
From the Preservation Sacramento Home Tour Brochure:
The 2005 Home Tour featured a stop at Globe Mills, then just a work in progress, a project with a future. At that time, Mike Malinowski, the architect, discussed drawings and plans with tour participants. Now, twelve years later, tour participants can see the finished project that resulted from his work and that of his team.
The Lofts at Globe Mills are the result of an adaptive re-use of a former grain and flour mill overlooking Twelfth and C Streets. The company that operated the mill was originally known as the Phoenix Flour Milling Company, and was headquartered on 13th and J Streets until 1913, when the Alkali Flat property was purchased and an architect was hired to design a new, five story mill building. That architect was Peter J. (Oscar) Herold, younger brother of Rudolph A. Herold, whose Tenth Street house is another one of the sites selected for the 2017 Home Tour.
Costing over $100,000 (a hefty sum in 1913), the new mill covered half a city block and was designed to be fire-proof, with an extensive use of reinforced concrete (one of the architect’s specialties), solid metal sash windows, and double sets of metal doors to prevent the spread of fire between spaces. It was described as the “most modern flouring mill in California” when it was finished in 1914. Five years later, Phoenix was taken over by the Globe Milling Company of San Francisco. Pillsbury, the site’s next owner (as of 1940), was responsible for one of its most distinctive features, the cluster of massive concrete silos (each one 65 feet high) that were part of Sacramento’s largest industrial construction project in 1941.
After the flour mill closed in the late 1960s, the site was used for other industrial and storage purposes before being abandoned in the 1990s. The new millennium brought a new project, The Lofts at Globe Mills (2005-08). The residential complex consists of three multi-story buildings, with affordable senior apartments in two new buildings, and contemporary loft-style apartments in the converted mill buildings.
The Lofts’ ground-floor lobby will be open to the public during the Home Tour. Located in the square silo, it illustrates the adaptive re-use of the original mill structure. Reinforced-glass windows in the floor provide glimpses of old machinery in the basement below, and the ceiling light fixtures are crafted from other mill components. Of special interest are two rooms adjoining the lobby: the tenants’ mail room, in one of the cylindrical silos; and the narrow shaft with the original one-person elevator, visible from a connecting corridor. Displays illustrating the history of the mill site also are installed in the lobby.
Nice write up. I like the soundtrack,too.
Thank you!
Really beautiful pictures and interesting descriptions of these fantastic places, Casey. Am sure you are enjoying this – keep up the good work.