An elegant, 140-year-old iron fence has found a new home on Eureka Heritage Society property, thanks to its members’ donations and volunteer help. The ornate fence originally surrounded a Eureka mansion that was built for Hans Heinrich Buhne in the 1880s. It is now being installed on the E Street side of the society’s Annie B.
Ryan House and Gardens at 1000 F St. The first section was installed on July 11, and President Chuck Petty reports the work should be completed by October. According to research done by Petty, the fence’s story goes back to Denmark, where Buhne was born in 1822.
At 16, he went to sea. Twelve years later, on April 14, 1850, Second Mate Buhne piloted the Laura Virginia schooner across the treacherous Humboldt bar. It was the first Euro-American ship to enter the bay.
Buhne stayed — and prospered, first as a bar pilot, then as a rancher and merchant. By 1884, he began plans to build a substantial commercial Italianate structure at Second and G streets that would be known as the Buhne Block. It still stands today.
During this decade, Buhne had his own mansion constructed on E Street between Seventh and Eighth. The result was a 13,392-square-feet masterpiece with rooms that had 14-foot-high ceilings and woodwork made from imported Circassian walnut. Outside, was the impressive fence.
Ornamental iron fences were brought to America from England during the colonial era, and they guarded only the finest houses, churches and public buildings. The earliest.