In 2003 I devised a car tour of Chico and put it in my E-R column "But this is Chico." I've decided to do a shortened version in this blog, this time with illustrations. Unlike the newspaper column, this post will be available in the archives of this blog. You won't have to go and dig up back issues of the E-R. The cooler weather of fall makes this a good time to go for a drive.

I'm going to focus on Chico's core area. I've put together a route that  doesn't  have too many twists and turns. The tour includes a few buildings I've never written about.

Start at the Bidwell Mansion, built between 1865 and 1868. It was once the home of Chico's most  famous citizen and one of California's most prominent pioneers. This house was not built for his future wife Annie, but it was completed  shortly after they were married. She remained there for the rest of her life, which turned out to be 50 years. The house is an Italianate villa, with three floors, a partial basement and a tower.  It has 26 rooms, covers almost 12,000 square feet and  cost $56,000 to build, which was an astounding sum for a house.

After taking a tour of the mansion, which is a state historic park, head north on The Esplanade, which I have always  described as  Northern California's premier grand boulevard.  John Bidwell had it laid out in 1869, as it was on his property.  By the early 20th century it was home to some of Chico's finest buildings.

Here are some highlights in the first eight blocks of The Esplanade:
• The  1918 prairie-style house on the southeast corner of The Esplanade and Frances Willard Avenue;
• The  1939 Spanish colonial revival house on the southeast corner of  The Esplanade and Lincoln Avenue;
• The 1927 Italian Renaissance revival Veterans Memorial Building on the northeast corner of The Esplanade and East Washington Avenue, which now sits empty, in need of major repairs;
• The 1901 Queen Anne-style Victorian cottage on the southwest corner of  The Esplanade and First Avenue;
• The 1906 "classic box" Goodman House on the southeast corner of  The Esplanade and Fourth Avenue, which is now a bed and breakfast;  (shown in photo)
•The 1937 colonial revival Adam House on the northwest corner of  The Esplanade and  Fourth Avenue.

Turn left on East Sixth Avenue  to get a good sense of how the new  can overtake the old. Enloe Medical Center, which has been on The Esplanade since the 1930s, is undergoing a major expansion. To its credit, it has preserved several older structures in the neighborhood that it has acquired over the years for offices and patient services.


Turn left on Arcadian Avenue and pass by the Grateful Bed bed and breakfast, a colonial revival with Queen Anne touches, built in 1905. (shown in photo)

Turn right on East Fourth Avenue and pass by Citrus School. Built in 1936, it is one of the Chico Unified School District's oldest  structures still being used as a school. Turn left on Warner Avenue and again experience how the new can overtake the old. Warner has smaller, older houses and newer apartment complexes for Chico State University students.

Continue on Warner through the Chico State University campus. On the northeast corner of Second Street, right where Warner becomes Ivy, is the new Student Services Center, one of  the few decent-looking  newer buildings on the campus.

Cross Second. On the  northwest corner of Ivy and Third Street is the Italianate Victorian Walker House, built in 1875. It's one of Chico's few brick houses. Turn left on Third. At the northwest corner of Third on Hazel Street  is the stick-style Victorian Earll House, built in 1883. Its owner, Ray Murdoch, is refurbishing it.

Cross Hazel and go by the block of six so-called Language Houses,  most of them built in the early 20th century. (The house on the northeast corner of Hazel and Third is shown in photo).

These houses were once owned by the university and slated to be torn down for a parking lot. Their preservation has led to a much better outcome for this block.

 On the northeast corner of Chestnut and Third is the 1920 prairie-style Dean House, which the university owns and uses for offices.

At the northwest corner of Normal Avenue and Third is the 1884 Italianate-style Victorian Barnard House, also owned by the university.

At the northwest corner of  Salem and Third streets  is the 1905 gothic revival St. Augustine of Canterbury Anglican Church (shown in photo).

The building was a restaurant for a few years. Today, Augie's, a coffeehouse operated by  the church,  is right next to it. The church was moved to this site from the southeast corner of Main and Fifth streets to make way for the post office almost 90 years ago.

Turn right on Salem. On the southeast corner of Salem and Fifth streets is the 1882 Italianate Stansbury House, which the family lived in for  90 years. It is now a city museum and  is open for tours on the weekend.

Turn left  on Fifth. At the corner of Fifth and Broadway where the Anglican church once was is the 1914 Italian Renaissance revival post office. (Shown in photo).  It's listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
 
At the southeast corner of Fifth and Main is the 1928 art deco Senator Theatre, designed by Bay Area architect Timothy Pflueger.
 
Head east on Fifth until you can go no farther. Along the way, you can look at more late 19th and early 20th century houses:
• The 1889 vernacular style house at the southeast corner of Fifth and Orient;
• The octagonally shaped 1881 "Downing Cottage"  at the northwest corner of Fifth and Olive streets;
• The 1913 craftsman bungalow on the north side of Fifth midway between Pine and Cypress streets (watch out for traffic when you cross Pine and Cypress);
• The 1922 prairie-style bungalow at the southeast corner of  Fifth and Poplar streets;
• The 1912 colonial revival on the south corner of Fifth just before it intersects with Woodland Avenue. (Shown in photo).  It was the home of Ella Gatchell, Chico's first female doctor. She was Annie Bidwell's doctor.

You are now only a block away from an entrance to Bidwell Park's One-Mile Recreation Area. If it's not raining, finish off the tour with a picnic there.

As always, just about all of my information about the buildings comes from a historical inventory the Chico Heritage Association put together in the 1980s. I'm not an expert on old buildings, just intensely interested in them.