{"nrhp_refnum":"84000780","name":"Tevis Block","other_names":["Kern County Land Company"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1712 19th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bakersfield","county":"Kern County","state":"CA","lat":35.37652782400005,"lon":-119.02152008999997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-03-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Economics","Education","Architecture","Agriculture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-storey brick commercial office building at 1712 19th Street, on the northwest corner of 19th and H Streets in downtown Bakersfield, Kern County, California. It was built in 1893 for the Kern County Land Company and designed by Henry A. Schultze.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as an excellent local example of Second Renaissance Revival architecture and one of the best of its kind in the southern San Joaquin Valley. It housed the Kern County Land Company, which drove much of the area's land development. It is described as the oldest surviving downtown commercial building that remains architecturally intact, and the only known Schultze work in the region.","narrative":"Standing at the corner of 19th and H Streets in downtown Bakersfield, this two-storey brick office building was completed in 1893 for the Kern County Land Company. San Francisco architect Henry A. Schultze designed it in the Second Renaissance Revival style, with arched first-floor windows, a belt-course, terra cotta arches over the entrance, and a full cornice with modillions and dentils. The brick was imported, and the half-basement is rusticated limestone. The company that used the building owned hundreds of thousands of acres and shaped much of Kern County's land, water, farming and later oil development. The building became the first commercial office building on the west side of H and 19th Streets, extending the downtown business district. It came through the 1952 earthquakes without the remodeling that affected neighboring buildings. Alterations are limited to interior offices, a rear addition and a closed doorway from the early 1960s. It is the only known Schultze work in the southern San Joaquin Valley.","period_of_significance":"1893","architect_builder":"Architect: Henry A. Schultze","architectural_style":"Second Renaissance Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as occupied, in excellent condition, on its original site and altered. A one-storey rear addition and a closed east entrance date from the early 1960s, and reopening the entrance was planned.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:28.280688-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/84000780.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000780/a1a6b4b999-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000780/a1a6b4b999-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Bobak Ha'Eri","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2009-0726-CA-Bakersfield-TevisBlock.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:2009-0726-CA-Bakersfield-TevisBlock.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858873","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tevis_Block","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7707152"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/kern-county/tevis-block-84000780/"}