Panoramic views of Santa Cruz, 1870-1906

Six panoramic views of Santa Cruz
(http://santacruzhistory.blogspot.com/2014/10/panoramic-views-of-santa-cruz-1870-1906.html)

Introduction

An important period in the early growth and development of Santa Cruz can be seen through a series of “bird’s eye” and land-based panoramic views of the city, produced using a variety of media and methods. The earliest non-photographic pictorial panorama dates from 1870 - the last from 1904.

A few early ground-based photographs are also panoramic, notably those taken from School Street and from High Street. The era of aerial panoramic photography began in 1906 (using kites).

The Santa Cruz panoramic pictorial views, with links to more detailed articles on each one (to be added as each article is posted):

·        1870 Bird’s Eye View of Santa Cruz, Cal. by Charles B. Gifford, hand-colored lithograph (Bancroft Library, online here - detail shown above)

·        1876 panorama painting by Trousset, looking west from bluff on east side of San Lorenzo River mouth (on display at MAH History Gallery)

·        1877 “bird’s eye” view, from woodcut by artist unknown, (Bancroft Library, online here). A section of this work has been reproduced as an exterior wall mural at Tannery Arts Center.

·        1888-89 panorama lithograph, looking NNE from West Cliff Drive: "Santa Cruz, Cal.” Hand-colored and published in 1889 by lithographer Henry Steinegger (1831-1917) (Bancroft Library, online here). Stan Stevens researched the history of this work and deduced that the artist was probably E. F. Cook.

·        1893  panorama oil painting by Frank Heath, looking south from south end of Pasatiempo heights (SCPL downtown)

·        1904-06 “bird’s eye” lithograph, published by Fred Swanton - probably as a promotion for his development ventures. Some of the structures and streets shown were never built. (Bancroft Library, online here)

The 1870 and 1877 “bird’s eye” views use an imaginary aerial viewpoint offshore from the main beach, and a considerably distorted perspective (especially through foreshortening) to achieve a more inclusive view. There are also some visual factual errors, but these two views are very useful for identifying structures and other features.

The 1888-89 Steinegger “bird’s eye” view uses a slightly lower imaginary aerial viewpoint above West Cliff Drive. It shows more detail than either of the other two lithographs, especially for nearer features, so at first it looks more realistic. There are, however, some major perspective and factual errors.

The 1904-06 Swanton imaginary “bird’s eye” viewpoint is very high off Lighthouse Point, and shows Santa Cruz from Natural Bridges to the mouth of the San Lorenzo River. Online resolution is not very good, and the zoom viewer is lacking. Further study and, especially, finding a higher-resolution image is necessary.

The Trousset and Heath compositions are standard landscape views, and seem to be very accurate. But, because they were made from locations on the ground and show distance perspective realistically, much less detail is visible for all but the closest subjects.

Together, these panoramic views provide some of our best - and most easily appreciated by the general public - information on the growth and development of central Santa Cruz during that period.

The pictorial views are important historical resources for a number of reasons:

1. In some cases, they may be the only surviving pictorial views of long-vanished buildings and other structures – even of entire streets and neighborhoods.
2. In other cases, especially for the later pictorial views, there are corroborating photographs, but they generally do not show neighborhood context as well as the panoramic views.
3. Many natural and built features of Santa Cruz were constructed, altered, removed and/or replaced during the time span covered by the pictorial views. That evolution can be traced by comparing views composed in different years.
4. In a few cases, early structures, streets and physical features have survived, but in greatly altered form.
5. In nearly all cases, historic features’ surroundings have changed to such an extent that the original context cannot be easily imagined.

The predecessor to the three-dimensional pictorial views is the 1853 U.S. Coast Survey Map (view and/or download here). Although only two dimensional, the map does show locations of streets and structures (but with very little identifying text). Santa Cruz changed greatly between 1853 and 1870, but the basic shape and main streets of Santa Cruz were already established at that time. The map was periodically updated with a colored ink, but the newest structure shown appears to be the Powder Company wharf, built in 1865. The 1867 lighthouse was not added.

After 1877, the Sanborn Insurance Company maps make it easier to identify and corroborate street and building locations and, in some cases, names. UCSC Library Digital Collections now has most of the Sanborn maps digitized and viewable online here. 

One other important graphical resource from this time period should also be mentioned. W. W. Elliott's Santa Cruz County Calif. Illustrations (1879) contains a wealth of detailed sketches of houses, commercial buildings and other features. The 1879 timing of the publication is very helpful in corroborating and identifying features seen (or replaced, or not yet existing) in the 1870, 1876 and 1877 panoramic views. The 1997 indexed edition, published by the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and history, is especially useful because of all the additional research material it contains.  

Timeline of panoramic views and other graphical resources

    1853 - U.S. Coast Survey Map: extends inland about a mile; shows water bodies and landforms via topographic contours, roads & building outlines (most unlabeled)

    1860 – or shortly thereafter. Oldest photographic downtown panoramic view, looking south from bluff at end of School Street and showing the newly constructed Flatiron Building. Later photos from this spot, High Street and others (SCPL photos - 'Panoramas and Aerial Views--Santa Cruz City'). 

    1866 – First Santa Cruz street map, commissioned soon after first town charter: many streets have names changed, or are officially named for the first time; no buildings shown

    1870 – (August-November) First pictorial panoramic “bird’s eye” view (Gifford-Bancroft), with numbered key

    1876 – Trousset panorama painting, from east side of river mouth

    1877 – Second pictorial panoramic “bird’s eye” view (artist unknown)

    1877 – First Sanborn Fire Insurance maps of Santa Cruz, showing streets and buildings (some named)

    1879 - W. W. Elliott's Santa Cruz County Calif. Illustrations 

    1888-89 – Third panoramic “bird’s eye” view (Steinegger, pub. 1889)

    1893 – Heath panorama painting, from Pasatiempo hill

    1904-06 - Swanton pictorial panoramic “bird’s eye” view (Britton & Rey lithographers, artist unknown) 

    1906 – First aerial panoramic photograph (Lawrence)