3.The Tallman Hotel today, following its extensive restoration. Courtesy photo.

UPPER LAKE – Upper Lake’s Tallman Hotel was notified this week that it has been officially listed on the California Register of Historic Resources as a Point of Historical Interest.

The California Historical Resources Commission approved this designation unanimously at its meeting on July 25 in the chapel of the Presidio at Santa Barbara.

The Tallman Hotel, originally constructed in 1896 by Rufus and Mary Tallman as the Lake County terminus of stage lines from Cloverdale and Ukiah, fell into disuse and disrepair by the mid-20th Century.

Derelict since 1962, the hotel was purchased in 2003 by Lynne and Bernie Butcher, who lovingly restored the building and converted it into a state-of-the-art boutique country hotel.

“We’re really happy with this California Register designation,” Bernie commented. “It confirms the fact that we did everything possible to preserve the heart and soul of the old building while adding tasteful period design elements and all the modern conveniences.”

The Commission confirmed the view that the hotel is historically significant because of its simple western vernacular architecture, its connection to the pioneer Tallman family and, most important, the central role it played in the development of Upper Lake and Lake County as a transportation, tourism and agribusiness center at the turn of the 20th Century.

Mr. Butcher thanked all those who actively supported the nomination, including Supervisor Denise Rushing and the County Board of Supervisors, Congressman Mike Thompson, Andy Peterson (past head of the North Shore Redevelopment District), County Marketing Director Debra Sommerfield as well as Tony Marchese and Randy Ridgel of the Lake County Historical Society.

In a letter to the Commission, County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox stated that he was “intimately familiar with this building, both in its dilapidated former state and as fully restored ... The Butchers not only saved the building, but fully restored it and, better yet from our perspective, returned it to its original use as a hotel.”

The Tallman Hotel joins seven other Lake County buildings similarly listed on the California Register, including the Lower Lake Historic Schoolhouse and Lakeport’s St. John’s Episcopal Church.

The Tallman Hotel (then called Riffe’s Hotel) in the 1920s. Courtesy photo.

The derelict Hotel at the time of the purchase by the Butchers in August of 2003. Courtesy photo.

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