Calaveras Community Foundation contributes $5,000 for historic shutter restoration.

Logo of CCF, lollipop tree with green background

The Douglas Flat School House is a historic example of Greek Revival architecture popular during the Gold Rush. The Schoolhouse and grounds are listed on the National Registry of Historic places. CCF helped us replace our tattered shutters with new ones that match the original Bermuda style shutters from the 19th Century which disappeared during renovations in the 1970s.

A graphic describing with pictures the assembly of Bermuda-style shutters above, and side-closing shutters abreast. 

So-called Bermuda-style louver shutters, shown below in a pre-1946 photograph, were popular before electric lights and air conditioning. These practical shutters shade the top of the window, like an awning, but still let light in and allow hot air to rise through the louvers. The bottom of the windows had side-hinged louver shutters. Both shutters could be closed to darken the building and protect it from weather.

Picture of school with Bermuda-style shutters on side windows.

worn out clapboard shutters

Shutters installed by the CCC in the mid-late 1970s have no historical significance.

Prior to their replacement, the historic shutters had degraded as shown in this photo from 1946.

Black and white photo of school with decrepit shutters, missing louvers.

At least three of the historic shutters survived a prior renovation before 1972 as shown in the photo below.

A photo from before 1972 showing three of the historic shutters on the west side.

This spring, DFCC volunteers used the money from CCF and our GoFundme site ($800) to acquire eight (8) sets of Bermuda shutters manufactured by the Solano County Branch of Habitat for Humanity. The custom-manufactured shutters replicate the look and functionality of the original shutters installed on the Schoolhouse during it’s period of historical significance (Late 1800’s). Below is a picture of one set of replicas installed on the building. The shutters are in storage, until our foundation work is completed and the Schoolhouse comes back down to earth.

A set of the new replica Bermuda shutters was installed on the SE window while the building is jacked up for foundation work.

SHUTTERGATE!

In our files we found a signed copy of a letter dated 1978 from then DFCC President Clifford Johnson to LeRoy Chatfield, Director of the California Conservation Corps, with copy to then Governor Jerry Brown.

Clifford politely complains: “when the old original shutters were taken down by the corps to be repaired they decided to take them to the shop. These shutters were the original louvered shutters and had been brought around The Horn for the building. … They showed up later with shutters they had made in their shop, claiming this type was more authentic than the original. ... We very much want the rest of the old shutters back…”

Photo of letter Johnson to Chatfield, page 1

Photo of letter Johnson to Chatfield, page 2.

In 2023 we followed up with a visit to the Six-Mile Rd California Department of Corrections facility located where the California Conservation Corps had their shop in the 1970’s. Unfortunately there was no bone yard or trash dump where we could look for our historic hardware. The facility had been graded and rebuilt decades after the shutters were taken there. Alas our shutters confiscated by the government and not yet returned, are probably gone for good.

Historic and restored shutter design.

Why all the trouble? When a detailed Historic Preservation Report was commissioned, the historical building restoration experts strongly suggested the old building look as mid-1800s as possible.

Excerpts from the experts: "...The Period-of-Significance (POS) for the Douglas Flat Schoolhouse is 1856 to 1908, that period when the features of its Greek Revival style and its use as a school, community meeting place and church can be most clearly and completely understood by the viewer Under Criterion C/3, the schoolhouse retains the distinctive character defining features of the Vernacular Greek Revival architectural style, popular throughout California and the United States in the 1850s and 1860s, especially in rural communities. The schoolhouse retains its integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association to a remarkable degree."

Cover of Historic Structure Report

In Closing

This season (2024-25) the Douglas Flat Community Center is restoring replicas of the original shutters shown in our historic photographs. We have eight windows to cover. The Calaveras Community Foundation awarded us a $5,000 grant to research and restore at least two sets, as prototypes for the remaining six. Due to the gracious in-kind support from the Solano County Branch of Habitat for Humanity, DFCC acquired eight (8) sets of replica Bermuda shutters!

Please visit https://www.douglasflatschoolhouse.com/ where other photos and information about the Schoolhouse history can be found. For direct contributions to our general fund for historic preservation, tap on our donate button at the top of this page.

Your support preserves the historic legacy, of the Angels Camp-Murphys area in the Mother Lode of Northern California. Historic preservation is an important economic driver in our Gold Rush themed community. There may be a California Tax Credit available in 2025! On behalf or our grandchildren’s’ children and our tourist-oriented businesses, we thank you.