| Bernard Wetzel Building | |
|---|---|
| Ame's Barber Shop & Walker Shoeshine Merle's Treasure Chest | |
 Bernard Wetzel Building | |
| Location | Ocean Avenue, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California |
| Coordinates | 36°33′24″N 121°55′8″W / 36.55667°N 121.91889°W |
| Built | 1916/1928 |
| Built by | Frederick Bigland |
| Built for | barber shop and shoeshine |
| Current use | retail store |
| Architect | Frederick Bigland |
| Architectural style(s) | Spanish Eclectic Revival |
  Bernard Wetzel Building Bernard Wetzel Building | |
The Bernard Wetzel Building is a historic commercial building in downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. It is an example of Spanish Eclectic Revival style architecture. The building qualified as an important building in the city's downtown historic district property survey and was registered with the California Register of Historical Resources on September 7, 2004.[1]
The Bernard Wetzel Building was established in 1906 by Courland J. Arne, Carmel's first barber. The original building had a canvas roof and was on Lot 5. In 1916, when the city was incorporated, Carmelites came to Arne's barber shop to sign the incorporation petition. In May 1923, owner Bernard Wetzel moved the barber shop ten feet to the adjoining lot to make way for the Bank of Carmel. Franklin Devendorf, Frank Powers, Sam Powers, came out to watch M. J. Murphy move the building. Wetzel replaced Arne's tent with a board-and-batten building.[1][2][3]
The Bernard Wetzel Building is a 1+1⁄2-story, concrete block Spanish Eclectic Revival style commercial building, located on Ocean Avenue, between San Carlos and Dolores Streets, in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. The exterior walls are textured in cement stucco. The roof has a low-pitched roof with Mission tile. The building is entered through a dutch door. There are two small, square windows covered by wrought iron grilles. The store is narrow and long with a small garden in the back.[1]
In 1923, the building also housed the shoeshine stand of African-American Rutherford Hayes Walker, who had come to the Monterey Peninsula in 1906 as a chef for the Centrella Hotel and Hotel Del Mar in Pacific Grove, California.[1][4]
In 1928, Major W. J. Hairs founded the Merle's Treasure Chest in the building. At the same time, Wetzel commissioned English designer and builder Frederick Bigland to design and construct the Spanish Eclectic style building.[1][2][5] In the 1950s and 60s, the shop became the Bib'n Tucker shop, a children's clothing store. Ernest and Willa Aylaian are the current owners of the building.[6] The building has been occupied by Whittakers since 1989, which is a gourmet kitchen and garden shop.[7]
The building qualified for inclusion in the city's Downtown Historic District Property Survey, and was registered with the California Register of Historical Resources on September 7, 2004. The building qualifies under the California Register criterion 1, in the area of history as the site of Courland J. Ame's barber shop, and criterion 3 in architecture, as an example of Spanish Eclectic Revival style and the only known commercial building, in the downtown district, designed and constructed by designer and builder, Frederick Bigland. His work in Carmel reflected his own English Tudor storybook style he brought with him from England in the early 1920s.[1][8]
