600 Second Street


Built 1884. Erected adjacent to another of his many commercial holdings, the three-story Buhne Building was the most ambitious undertaking of H.H. Buhne. Designed in a Renaissance Revival by Kennitzer and Raun, the building features a cast-iron storefront and brick elevations. Designed for commercial and residential use, the building also housed a large public hall on the third floor.

On the main floor, cast iron pilasters delineate window are storefront openings. Arched windows, a feature duplicated on the upper levels, are intermittently positioned. Store-front openings and cast-iron colonettes are also extant. On the upper floors, single and paired arched double-hung sash windows are separated by piers with classical entablatures. A continuous architrave molding with an elaborate keystone over each window provides horizontal movement across each elevation. A simple belt course separates the floors, and the cornice is supported by curved brackets above the paneled frieze. Quions appear not only at the corners but between bays as well, creating central and lateral pavilions. The building has also been stuccoed (Credit: The Green book). The building used to house the Humboldt National Bank before it housed several different businesses over the years. The building is currently a tasting room, a boutique, and the Humboldt Bay Tourism Center.

(Credit: “Eureka: An Architectural View”)

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