{"nrhp_refnum":"82000964","name":"Fresno Bee Building","other_names":["Carlos K. McClatchy Building","Fresno Metropolitan Museum of A"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1555 Van Ness Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fresno","county":"Fresno County","state":"CA","lat":36.74021643000003,"lon":-119.79580065299996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-11-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Communications"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A six-floor reinforced concrete newspaper plant at 1555 Van Ness Avenue at Calaveras Street in downtown Fresno, California, built in 1922 for The Fresno Bee and designed by architect Leonard F. Starks.","why_significant":"It was the home of The Fresno Bee, the first major expansion of the McClatchy newspaper company outside the Sacramento area. It is the only surviving work in Fresno by Sacramento architect Leonard F. Starks, and its Renaissance-inspired design departed from the town's more conservative styles. Its adaptive reuse as a museum preserved a landmark of the city's historic skyline.","narrative":"Built in 1922 at the corner of Van Ness Avenue and Calaveras Street, this six-floor reinforced concrete building housed The Fresno Bee, an evening newspaper launched by the Sacramento-based McClatchy company. Architect Leonard F. Starks gave it a modified Palazzo look, with a rose-colored brick veneer, a rusticated triple-arched entrance, a recessed loggia and a tile mansard roof. Its ornament was painted in bold colors that set it apart from the sedate buildings around it. Additions in 1936, 1947 and 1951 altered the structure, and the newspaper moved to a new plant in 1975, leaving the building empty for years. Much original material survives, especially in the two-story business office with marble wainscoting and a coffered ceiling. The building matters as the paper's first large expansion outside Sacramento and as the only Fresno work by Starks. A museum conversion with exterior restoration was underway when it was listed.","period_of_significance":"1900- (specific date 1922)","architect_builder":"Leonard F. Starks, Architect; George D. Hudnutt, General Contractor","architectural_style":"Modified Palazzo, Renaissance-inspired Classic Revival commercial style","criteria":[],"status_note":"The newspaper abandoned the building in 1975 and it stood empty for nearly seven years. Conversion to a museum was underway at the time of nomination, with exterior restoration of the 1922 structure in progress.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:27.3432-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/82000964.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82000964/58297801e0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82000964/58297801e0-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Bryan868","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fresno_Bee_Building_Dec_2012.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bryan868</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fresno_Bee_Building_Dec_2012.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858646","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresno_Bee_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15978507"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/fresno-county/fresno-bee-building-82000964/"}