Morgan Hill in Santa Clara County, California — The American West (Pacific Coastal)
The Granary
Our History
Photographed by Barry Swackhamer, August 9, 2011
1. The Granary Marker
[Photo captions:] Far left:
A Granary in Kashan, Iran; The Henninger Tower, built by Henninger Brewers to hold its barley is the tallest silo in the world at 384 ft.
Lower left: [The recipes for Mineral Mix and Calf Mix.]
Right center:
105 tons of steel recycled off site; 50 cubic yards of concrete recycled on site.
Inscription.
The Granary. Our History. Background
What is a Granary?. A granary is a storage facility for grains. Granaries have been built from ancient times, with the oldest granaries dating back to 9500BC! Originally, they were carved into the ground or rock, or made of clay. Modern granaries were invented in the late 19th century with the invention of the silo. Today, the worlds tallest silos are almost 400 feet tall!
The Isaacson Granary. The Isaacson Granary provided feed to the many cattle ranchers and dairies around the area. Here, they made special mixes of cattle and calf feed, such as calf mix, steer mix, and dairy mix. Below are two of the many unique recipes that were commonly mixed here. You can see the grain scale where the ingredients were measured by the rest rooms., Who We Are
Weston Miles Architects. Founded by Charles Weston and Lesley Miles, Weston Miles Architects has contributed their considerable expertise to numerous civic projects, residential projects, educational facilities, and historic renovations in the Bay Area. Committed to sustainability and to the community, WMA designed the first LEED certified school in California and has been an active member of the Morgan Hill community for 22 years, WMA acted as designer and developer in the renovation of the Granary., Visit the Granary website at www.wmarchitects.com to learn more about sustainable building, Renovation
Designing for Sustainability. Sandwiched between the railroad tracks and Downtown, the old Isaacson Granary was the most prominent reminder of the areas once preeminent agri-business. As populations grew and Santa Clara Valley evolved into Silicon Valley, the industrial businesses based around the Granary and the railroad tracks slid into non-use and decay, and the Granary became a derelict monument to a bygone era., The Granary redevelopment preserves this piece of the Citys agricultural past, while providing a “gateway” project at the northeast entry to the downtown. Adjacent to the train depot the building is now home to Weston Miles Architects, a community space, a restaurant, and additional offices. The redevelopment focused on sustainable design, a core tenet of WMA., Renovating the granary involved more than simple redesign. Great care was taken to preserve the building's integrity and character while developing it into an integrated structure that met a number of goals; historic building reuse, a sustainable building and site, and adherence to a very limited budget of $2 million dollars. , These goals were achieved by designing an adaptive reuse of the existing building, retaining the Granarys form, structure and foundation. The project transformed a drafty, dark industrial building into an efficient, bright structure using Savings by Design and LEED criteria in addition to traditional design practices. The project received Designer and Owner incentives from the Savings by Design program and is LEED Gold Certified., Today The Granary is a LEED Gold Certified adaptive reuse project designed by Weston Miles Architects. This award winning building showcased Morgan Hills agricultural tradition while demonstrating the principles of sustainable design., Logo: U.S. Green Building Council – USBGC, LEED Gold
Background
What is a Granary?
A granary is a storage facility for grains. Granaries have been built from ancient times, with the oldest granaries dating back to 9500BC! Originally, they were carved into the ground or rock, or made of clay. Modern granaries were invented in the late 19th century with the invention of the silo. Today, the worlds tallest silos are almost 400 feet tall!
The Isaacson Granary
The Isaacson Granary provided feed to the many cattle ranchers and dairies around the area. Here, they made special mixes of cattle and calf feed, such as calf mix, steer mix, and dairy mix. Below are two of the many unique recipes that were commonly mixed here. You can see the grain scale where the ingredients were measured by the rest rooms.
Who We Are
Weston Miles Architects
Founded by Charles Weston and Lesley Miles, Weston Miles Architects has contributed their considerable expertise to numerous civic projects, residential projects, educational facilities, and historic renovations in the Bay Area. Committed to sustainability and to the community, WMA designed the first LEED certified school in California and has been an active member of the Morgan Hill community for 22 years, WMA acted as designer and developer
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in the renovation of the Granary.
Visit the Granary website at www.wmarchitects.com to learn more about sustainable building
Renovation
Designing for Sustainability
Sandwiched between the railroad tracks and Downtown, the old Isaacson Granary was the most prominent reminder of the areas once preeminent agri-business. As populations grew and Santa Clara Valley evolved into Silicon Valley, the industrial businesses based around the Granary and the railroad tracks slid into non-use and decay, and the Granary became a derelict monument to a bygone era.
The Granary redevelopment preserves this piece of the Citys agricultural past, while providing a “gateway” project at the northeast entry to the downtown. Adjacent to the train depot the building is now home to Weston Miles Architects, a community space, a restaurant, and additional offices. The redevelopment focused on sustainable design, a core tenet of WMA.
Renovating the granary involved more than simple redesign. Great care was taken to preserve the building's integrity and character while developing it into an integrated structure that met a number of goals; historic building reuse, a sustainable building and site, and adherence to a very limited budget of $2 million dollars.
These goals were achieved by designing
Photographed by Barry Swackhamer, August 9, 2011
2. The Granary Marker
an adaptive reuse of the existing building, retaining the Granarys form, structure and foundation. The project transformed a drafty, dark industrial building into an efficient, bright structure using Savings by Design and LEED criteria in addition to traditional design practices. The project received Designer and Owner incentives from the Savings by Design program and is LEED Gold Certified.
Today
The Granary is a LEED Gold Certified adaptive reuse project designed by Weston Miles Architects. This award winning building showcased Morgan Hills agricultural tradition while demonstrating the principles of sustainable design.
Logo: U.S. Green Building Council – USBGC, LEED Gold
Location. 37° 7.823′ N, 121° 39.119′ W. Marker is in Morgan Hill, California, in Santa Clara County. It is on Depot Street south of 1st Street, on the right when traveling south. The building complex is located at the intersection of Depot Street and 1st Street. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 17500 Depot Street, Morgan Hill CA 95037, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in California’s San Francisco Bay Area and on the Coast Ranges. It is also on the American Pacific Coast. Globally, it is in North America, on the Ring of Fire, in the Pacific Rim, in the Western Hemisphere, in the Western World, and in the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain and also Mexicos Alta California.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Our History (here, next to this marker); Site of Skeels Hotel (about
5. The Granary Scale Where Feed Mixes Were Weighted
Recipes as noted on far left side of the marker: Mineral Mix
Rice - 1370 Lbs Bran - 130 Lbs Urea Limestone - 270 Lbs Mineral - 35 Lbs Decal - 80 Lbs Baking Soda - 105 Lbs Magnesium Oxide - 10 Lbs
Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on September 1, 2011, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. This page has been viewed 1,247 times since then and 58 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on September 1, 2011, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. • Syd Whittle was the editor who published this page.
