0920_September Comstock's Magazine September 2020 | Page 46

HEALTH CARE
PHOTO BY MENKA BELGAL
Folsom Roundhouse Building
THE HEART OF FOLSOM’S PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
The heart of Folsom’s Historic District is where the town’s original railyards — and now, the historically based Roundhouse building — bring
the city’s rich past to life. The Roundhouse honors Folsom’s history while also confirming its present significance, alive with activity and
prosperity. And it’s the home of Scott’s Seafood and Willamette Wineworks — two popular gathering spots.
“We see ourselves as building the furniture for what has been Folsom’s family room for 160 years,” says Jerry Bernau, president of Bernau
Development Corp. “The planning and design behind the Roundhouse has been long and challenging, but the result is ideal. The gold
rush-era Folsom rail line was the first west of the Mississippi, and many passionate interest groups, as well as longtime residents, wanted
to see history preserved with this key property.”
In striving to meet a design challenge and honor history, Bernau’s architects proposed a Roundhouse for the site immediately adjacent to
Folsom’s railroad turntable. Their inspired concept turned out to be historically correct — serendipitously, it was discovered during site
excavation that their proposed roundhouse would sit precisely where the original Folsom roundhouse, a maintenance shop for locomotives,
was built in 1869.
Situated on the public plaza next to the rail turntable, the new Roundhouse is in Historic Folsom’s activity hub, which includes a farmers
market, an ice skating rink, amphitheater and draws hundreds of thousands of visitors. “It’s emotional and satisfying to recreate a building like
this,” says Bernau. “We’ve tried to be true to history, reproducing as many original features as possible, while still ensuring it’s functional and
economically feasible in current times.”
46 comstocksmag.com | September 2020