Lost Landmark: When a gym won out over art deco style

The kids moved out in 1986. An earthquake fault was discovered directly under their school and temporary quarters were soon found. But what was once Colfax Elementary School still stands today, finding new life as the Sierra Vista Community Center. Locals love their community center, tucked away on quiet School Street. But look at a pre-1954 photo of the building and you'll see classic art deco styling that was sacrificed for some Eisenhower-era practicality. With a bond issue passed and plenty of Baby Boom children coming onboard, the school's original 1937 lines were given a boxy revamp. A new multipurpose room and kitchen would replace the 350-seat auditorium. The curved windows designed to give the school a stylish streamline look were blocked by some unfussy, linear architecture. Function won out over form and Colfaxians 64 years later utilize a space that has become the traditional place to hold crab feeds, bingo nights, election polling places and many other community gatherings. The non-profit Sierra Vista Community Center association keeps the lights on and the welcome mat out these days. Vision of Sellon If the look of the Colfax Elementary School in the circa 1941 photo is a familiar one, it's because the architect — Sacramento's George Clinton Sellon — was also responsible for designing the old City Hall and Firehouse building in Downtown Auburn. The High Street Auburn art deco counterpart 17 miles down the hill was completed around the time Colfax Elementary School was opened but has lasted without major modifications to this day. The same can't be said for the Placer County Jail — a lost art deco landmark in Old Town Auburn next to the courthouse that was built in the early 1940s and demolished in the 1980s. It too was Sellon's architectural brainchild. Sellon was famously given the word from a Depression-era, penny pinching Auburn City Council to "forget all gingerbread." Like the Auburn building — the Colfax school building was built on a budget. It cost $55,000 to construct. More examples Sellon was no slouch in the design department. Born in San Francisco — his grandfather was an original 49'er — Sellon returned to California from Chicago in 1907 to work on government-building restoration as the first state architect. He would work three years in that post and then go into private business. Among his more notable achievements over a lengthy career was designing Sacramento's first skyscraper — the California-Western States Life Insurance Co. headquarters on J Street. At 14 stories, the 94-year-old landmark still stands today, repurposed as a hotel. Sellon also worked on parts of San Quentin Prison after the earthquake and if you travel to Lassen County, Susanville's courthouse was designed by Sellon and completed in 1917. The Colusa Union High School is another Sellon building. As for Colfax, Sellon died in October 1954 at the age of 73 — just as the school he had designed in the 1930s was getting a boxy overhaul and Colfax was getting a gym. Gus Thomson and Media Life can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com or 530-852-0232. Thomson is a state and national award-winning reporter who writes for the Auburn Journal.