{"nrhp_refnum":"84000770","name":"Fountain-Tallman Soda Works","other_names":["El Dorado County Historical Society Museum"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"524 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Placerville","county":"El Dorado County","state":"CA","lat":38.72926144100006,"lon":-120.79829263099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-09-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story, thirty by twenty foot stone and brick building at 524 Main Street in Placerville, El Dorado County, California, built about 1853-54 as a soda works and ice storage facility, now a local historical society museum.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building dates from the peak of the Gold Rush and is the earliest documented stone masonry structure in Placerville, and likely one of the oldest surviving in the city. It also reflects the rise of mercantile business in the town and the people who joined the rush to the Mother Lode.","narrative":"At 524 Main Street in Placerville stands a small two-story building of brick and local stone, constructed around 1853-54 for John Fountain and Benjamin Tallman, who moved their soda and ice business there from across the street. Its walls are more than two feet thick, and the stone came from the hillside directly behind it. Brick outlines the doors and windows and forms a row of dentils beneath the eaves. The building survived the destructive fires of the mid-1850s and is considered one of the oldest standing structures in the city, as well as the earliest documented stone masonry building in Placerville. Over the decades it passed through several owners, including a mining company that used it for storage and later power companies. Alterations include a 1920s skylight and a filled-in window. The front facade remains largely unchanged. Since 1981 the El Dorado County Historical Society has operated it as a museum with displays of local artifacts.","period_of_significance":"c. 1853-54","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular design using brick and native stone (slate, serpentine)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Open to the public as a museum run by the El Dorado County Historical Society; interior recently remodeled; integrity described as relatively high.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:28.299647-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/84000770.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000770/bec501914f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000770/bec501914f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Bobak Ha'Eri","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2009-0724-F-TSodaWorks.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bobak Ha'Eri</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2009-0724-F-TSodaWorks.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858611","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain-Tallman_Soda_Works","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5474673"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/el-dorado-county/fountain-tallman-soda-works-84000770/"}