The historic Minerva Clubhouse in Santa Maria has been a source of pride to the Minerva Club since it was built in 1928. The mostly female Minerva Club was started in 1894 as a ladies literary society; however, it was named not for the Roman goddess of wisdom, but for a founding member, Minerva Thornburg, wife of a prominent judge.
To finance the upkeep on the property, club members have taken on fund-raising events, one of which is their annual gala. This year’s gala on April 26 will feature a gourmet dinner with Central Coast wines, a live and silent auction, and musical entertainment by the local group Tu Chez.
“At the gala, we will honor our past with visits from such luminaries as William Randolph Hearst and his paramour Marion Davies,” said president Ethel Donati said. These historic figures will be portrayed by members of the Orcutt Community Theater.
Anyone interested in attending can call the gala co-chair Heidi Cole, 805-878-3812.
Because, in the 1920s, one of the club members was a friend of the renowned architect Julia Morgan (who designed the Hearst Castle, among over 700 buildings), Morgan was invited to submit a design for a proposed club house to be built on donated land at the corner of Boone and Lincoln streets, one block west of the main thoroughfare.
Her design was accepted; construction began; and the facility opened in 1928. It featured a large room (like a ballroom in a New York townhouse) with a smallish stage, an adjacent large room, a parlor, a storage room, and a kitchen.
No ordinary clubhouse, in 1984, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2007, the city of Santa Maria recognized it as a National Landmark.
Now 96 years old, the structure has been showing its age and requiring costly maintenance and updating. A commercial dishwasher, a recent addition to the remodeled kitchen, has been a source of joy for the kitchen crew.