{"nrhp_refnum":"82002217","name":"William Tell Saloon and Hotel","other_names":["The St. Helena Feed and Seed Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1228 Spring St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"St. Helena","county":"Napa County","state":"CA","lat":38.50350508100007,"lon":-122.46849804899995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-05-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A restored late 19th century wood-frame false-front hotel and saloon building at 1228 Spring Street in St. Helena, Napa County, California, built about 1876 on a double-wall stone cellar and later known as the St. Helena Feed and Seed Building.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as a unique local example of western false-front architecture, showing the commercial design of the 1870s and 1880s. Its mortarless double stone wall cellar is the only example of that early masonry technique in downtown St. Helena. It is one of the town's oldest commercial buildings and reflects the immigrant-run hotels and saloons of Napa County.","narrative":"Built around 1876 on Spring Street in St. Helena, this wood-frame building began as the William Tell Saloon and grew into a hotel in three segments from south to north. It rests on a double-wall stone cellar originally laid without mortar, a technique once common in Napa County. The hotel had a lobby, dining room and about twenty small upstairs rooms, and it operated as a saloon, hotel and restaurant until the 1940s. It was run by B. Tosetti, then the Salmina family, who later founded Larkmead Winery, and later by Walter Martini. In 1946 it became a feed store, and its false front, portico and first-floor openings were altered or covered in stucco. Restoration beginning in 1979 removed the stucco, rebuilt the stepped false fronts and covered sidewalk, and repointed the stone for safety. It is the only survivor of the early false-front streetscape and is valued as an example of immigrant-run enterprise in the Napa Valley.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Western false-front commercial architecture (Victorian)","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Exterior restored beginning in 1979 toward its c. 1890 appearance; upstairs being converted to offices. Form lists it as occupied, with commercial and private residence use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:32.131834-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/82002217.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002217/218d1b532a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002217/218d1b532a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sanfranman59","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Tell_Saloon_and_Hotel,_1228_Spring_St.,_St._Helena,_CA_10-16-2011_12-23-20_PM.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Sanfranman59</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:William_Tell_Saloon_and_Hotel,_1228_Spring_St.,_St._Helena,_CA_10-16-2011_12-23-20_PM.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123860114","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q133319942"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/napa-county/william-tell-saloon-and-hotel-82002217/"}