{"nrhp_refnum":"78000727","name":"St. Helena High School","other_names":["Vintage Hall"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"437 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"St. Helena","county":"Napa County","state":"CA","lat":38.49734562700007,"lon":-122.46166285699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-05-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story-plus-attic stone school building at 437 Main Street in St. Helena, Napa County, California, built 1911-1913 as the town's high school and now known as Vintage Hall.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as one of the earliest public high school buildings still standing in California, possibly the oldest, and as the only remaining stone school building in Napa County. It marked the shift from small scattered rural schools to one central high school. Its original landscaping was by Donald McLaren, son and partner of John McLaren, creator of Golden Gate Park.","narrative":"Built between 1911 and 1913, this school at 437 Main Street in St. Helena has a reinforced concrete core faced in native Napa County cut stone. It rises two stories plus an attic and measures 120 by 64 feet. The main entrance opens through a circular arch to the second floor. Classrooms filled the lower floors, and an assembly hall occupied the attic. Frederick Soderberg of Oakland was the architect, and the original cost was $30,000. For decades it was the only high school serving the St. Helena area, from 1913 to 1967, and it replaced a patchwork of small local schools with one central institution. Nominators describe it as one of California's earliest surviving public high school buildings and the only stone school left in Napa County. Original landscaping was by Donald McLaren. The interior retains many original features, including pressed metal wainscoting. Since 1967 it has served as a community and cultural centre, run by Vintage Hall, Inc., because earthquake rules ended its use as a school.","period_of_significance":"1911-1913","architect_builder":"Architect Frederick Soderberg of Oakland; builder E.T. Thurston, San Francisco; landscape Donald McLaren; stonework Martini and Co.; concrete work Harry Thorsen","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Excellent condition and largely unaltered; no longer usable as a school under California's Field Act, it has served as a cultural and community centre since 1967 and has also housed school district offices.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.561205-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/78000727.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000727/c84f30a59b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000727/c84f30a59b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Ɱ","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Helena_high_school.tif\" rel=\"noopener\">Ɱ</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Helena_high_school.tif"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123860098","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Helena_High_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7588310"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/napa-county/st-helena-high-school-78000727/"}