The first Santa Cruz business buildings were, for the most part, simple frame structures with small-paned windows. Two plain brick buildings--the 1850 James Leslie building at 555 Mission Street, and the Hugo Hihn Flat Iron building at 1538 Pacific Avenue-- exemplified this type building. However, all this began to change as the business community began to grow, and the business buildings of the 1870's began to favor the Italianate style. This style was derived from fifteenth and sixteenth century Italian architecture. It is characterized by straight-front buildings without any sizeable projections or recessions. Columns, if present, are primarily confined to porches and window frames. The crowning feature of this style is a cornice along the entire front of the building; the roof behind it is low and invisible to the spectator in the street. Large window areas are fairly common in commercial buildings.

The only two remaining examples of Italianate business buildings are the Williamson and Garrett Building at 1547 Pacific Avenue [demolished as a result of damage from the Loma Prieta earthquake, ed.], and the A.P. Hotaling (McHugh and Bianchi) Building at 1553 Pacific Avenue, built in 1886. The McHugh and Bianchi building is one of the two buildings within Santa Cruz which has been included in the National Register of Historical Places by the U.S. Department of Interior.

Sedgewich Lynch House

Other examples of the Italianate style can be found in a number of residences constructed in the 1870's and early 1880's. The 1877 Sedgewick Lynch House, 170 West Cliff Drive, designed and built by John Morrow, is a prominent example of an Italianate style home.

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