Historic Downtown Bakersfield Walking Tour · Stop 1
Start Here: Bakersfield Escape
Escape rooms inside the Historic Haberfelde Building
Publichall via Wikimedia Commons,
licensed under
CC BY-SA 4.0.
Quick Facts
- Tour Stop
- Stop 1 of the Historic Downtown Bakersfield Walking Tour
- Business
- Bakersfield Escape
- Address
1412 17th Street, Suite 311, Bakersfield, California 93301
- Phone
- 661-GoGames (661-464-2637)
- Website
- BakersfieldEscape.com
- Historic Building
- Historic Haberfelde Building
- Construction Date
- Completed in 1927
- Architect
Charles H. Biggar
- Architectural Style
- Sullivanesque commercial architecture
- Primary Tour Theme
- Downtown history, early twentieth-century architecture, and modern adaptive reuse
Start the Tour Here
Begin the walking tour at Bakersfield Escape,
located upstairs in Suite 311 of the Historic Haberfelde Building. This is a fitting place
to start because the business itself is built around observation, clues, teamwork, and hidden
details—the same skills that make a historic walking tour more rewarding.
Before heading to the next stop, take a few minutes to look carefully at the building and the
surrounding intersection. The corner of 17th Street and Chester Avenue was once one of the
most visually recognizable places in downtown Bakersfield. Today, the Haberfelde Building
remains one of the city’s strongest reminders of the commercial ambition and architectural
confidence of the 1920s.
Overview
Bakersfield Escape is a modern escape-room attraction inside one of downtown Bakersfield’s
best-known historic buildings. Visitors come here to solve puzzles, search for clues, unlock
mysteries, and work together through themed adventures. For this walking tour, the site serves
two purposes: it is the starting point for the route and an introduction to the larger story of
downtown Bakersfield.
The tour begins here because the location sits near the historic center of downtown, close to
theaters, hotels, murals, parks, and civic landmarks. It also immediately introduces a major
theme of the tour: historic buildings are not frozen in time. They survive by being reused,
reimagined, and brought back into daily life.
The Haberfelde Building began as a large office-and-retail building in the 1920s. Nearly a
century later, it now houses a mix of businesses, including Bakersfield Escape. That blend of
old structure and new use is one of the most important things visitors should notice at this
first stop.
What You Will See When You Arrive
From the sidewalk, look up at the five-story Haberfelde Building. Its height, vertical lines,
and decorative details make it stand out from many of the surrounding downtown buildings.
The building occupies the prominent corner of 17th Street and Chester Avenue, with storefronts
at street level and upper-floor office space above.
Look for the building’s most distinctive exterior details:
- The tall, repeated window bays that emphasize the building’s verticality.
- The decorative masonry and terra-cotta-style ornament near the upper façade.
- The name “HABERFELDE” carved high into the building.
- The circular window and ornamental details near the top of the façade.
- The street-level storefronts, which show how the building was designed for both commerce and office use.
- The way the building addresses the sidewalk directly, a classic feature of older downtown commercial districts.
Inside the building, Bakersfield Escape brings a very different kind of energy to the space.
Instead of visiting a static museum display, guests enter an active downtown business where
the rooms are designed around mystery, teamwork, and close observation. That makes the stop
both historic and interactive.
Historic Background
The Haberfelde Building is named for George Carl Haberfelde, a prominent Bakersfield businessman
and civic leader. Haberfelde made his mark in the automobile business and became one of the
city figures associated with Bakersfield’s growth during the early twentieth century. In the
1920s, as Bakersfield was expanding through agriculture, oil, transportation, and downtown
commerce, Haberfelde commissioned a major office-and-retail building for the city’s central
business district.
The building was designed by
Charles H. Biggar,
one of Bakersfield’s most important architects. Biggar’s work helped define the look of several
major local buildings, and the Haberfelde Building remains one of the clearest downtown examples
of his architectural influence.
When completed in 1927, the five-story building was one of the tallest buildings in the southern
San Joaquin Valley. That height mattered. In the 1920s, a building like this signaled confidence:
Bakersfield was not merely a small agricultural town, but a growing regional center with banks,
offices, shops, hotels, theaters, and professional services.
The building’s location was also significant. It stood beside the original Beale Memorial Clock
Tower, once located downtown at the intersection of 17th Street and Chester Avenue. The tower
was later lost after the 1952 earthquake sequence, and the reconstructed Beale Memorial Clock
Tower is now located at the Kern County Museum. The Haberfelde Building, however, remains at
the historic downtown intersection and continues to serve modern tenants.
Today, Bakersfield Escape represents a new chapter in the building’s long life. The original
purpose was office and retail space; the current use includes entertainment, events, and group
experiences. That shift is a good example of adaptive reuse: preserving a historic building by
giving it a useful role in the present.
Construction Date
The Historic Haberfelde Building was completed in 1927.
- Building: Historic Haberfelde Building
- Completion date: 1927
- Original use: Office and retail space
- Original owner: George Carl Haberfelde
- Architect: Charles H. Biggar
- Height: Five stories
- Current tour use: Starting point for the Historic Downtown Bakersfield Walking Tour
- Current business at this stop: Bakersfield Escape
Architectural Style
The Haberfelde Building is associated with the Sullivanesque style, an architectural approach
influenced by the work of Chicago architect Louis Sullivan and the early development of tall
commercial buildings. Sullivanesque buildings often emphasize vertical lines, repeated window
bays, strong structural rhythm, and decorative ornament concentrated near the top and entrances.
At the Haberfelde Building, visitors should notice how the architecture draws the eye upward.
The building is not just a box of offices. Its façade is organized into vertical sections, with
repeated windows and decorative details that make the structure feel taller and more formal.
The ornament near the upper façade gives the building a ceremonial quality, especially where
the Haberfelde name is displayed.
The building also demonstrates the practical side of early twentieth-century commercial design.
The street level was intended for businesses that interacted with pedestrians, while the upper
floors provided office space. That arrangement helped create the active downtown streetscape
that visitors still experience today.
Bakersfield Escape
Bakersfield Escape describes itself as offering “the hardest escape rooms around.” The rooms
are designed for groups that enjoy problem-solving, communication, searching for clues, and
working through puzzles together.
Traditional escape rooms at Bakersfield Escape cost $25 per player. The current traditional
room lineup includes:
| Room | Price | Group Size | Difficulty | Theme |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gambler’s Den | $25 per player | 4–6 players | 7/10 | A gambling-room mystery with hidden money and safe-cracking clues. |
| Oligarch’s Office | $25 per player | 4–12 players | 7/10 | A secret mission set inside an office, with nuclear launch codes at stake. |
| Detective Dirk Deranged | $25 per player | 4–6 players | 9/10 | A difficult detective mystery with a high failure rate and an intense puzzle structure. |
| Musical Misadventure | $25 per player | 4–6 players | 4/10 | A music-themed room built around clues, instruments, and a lighter difficulty level. |
Bakersfield Escape also offers Bible-themed adventures, including
Armor of God Bible Adventure,
Difficult Journey,
Prophecies Fulfilled,
and the free online
Journey of Paul.
Those experiences are secondary to this walking-tour page, but they are part of what makes
the business unusual among downtown attractions.
Visitor Information
Bakersfield Escape is located in Suite 311. Visitors should enter the Historic Haberfelde
Building and proceed to the third-floor suite.
- Walk-in hours: Monday through Thursday, 12:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
- Friday and Saturday: 12:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. and select holidays.
- Sunday: Bookings only, with booking at least 24 hours ahead.
- Other times: Available by appointment. Call 661-GoGames (661-464-2637).
Because this stop is inside an active business, visitors who plan to play an escape room should
check availability through BakersfieldEscape.com.
Visitors who are only taking the walking tour can begin outside the building by observing the
Haberfelde façade and then continue to the next stop.
Interesting Stories and Local Legends
A walking tour that starts at an escape room should have at least one mystery, and the Historic
Haberfelde Building has several. A webpage called Haunted Haberfelde page discusses
local stories connected to the building while also making clear that the business does not
claim the building is actually haunted.
The most repeated legends include stories of unexplained sounds, tales connected to the
building’s construction, and folklore involving the Haberfelde family. These stories should be
understood as local legend rather than documented history, but they add an appropriate sense of
mystery to a tour that begins at an escape-room business.
The building also has a documented historical story that is just as interesting as the legends.
It was created during a period when Bakersfield was becoming a larger and more confident city.
George Haberfelde’s investment in a five-story downtown building showed faith in Bakersfield’s
commercial future, and the building’s continued use shows how historic structures can remain
relevant across generations.
Historic Photograph
Image source:
Historical Research Center | CSU Bakersfield.
This image shows why the Haberfelde Building and the Beale clock tower are often linked in downtown memory,
even though the reconstructed clock tower now stands at the Kern County Museum.
Compare the historic image with the building today. The most important change is the absence
of the original Beale Memorial Clock Tower from the intersection. The Haberfelde Building,
however, remains a major visual anchor at 17th Street and Chester Avenue.
Modern Photographs
Photo by
Publichall via Wikimedia Commons,
licensed under
CC BY-SA 4.0.
Bakersfield Escape.
Bakersfield Escape.
What to Notice Before You Walk On
Before leaving Stop 1, take one minute to treat the building like a puzzle. Look for these
three details:
- The Haberfelde name: Find the carved name high on the building. It is one of
the easiest ways to connect the modern business location with the building’s original owner. - The vertical rhythm: Notice how the windows and masonry guide your eye upward.
That is one of the main architectural effects of the building. - The missing clock tower: Use the historic photograph to imagine the original
Beale Memorial Clock Tower standing near this intersection. Its absence helps explain how much
downtown Bakersfield changed after the mid-twentieth century.
Directions to Stop 2: The Historic Fox Theater
When you are ready to begin walking, exit Bakersfield Escape and return to the sidewalk on
17th Street.
- Walk west on 17th Street toward H Street.
- Turn right on H Street.
- Continue north on H Street toward 20th Street.
- The Historic Fox Theater is located at 2001 H Street, near the corner of H Street and 20th Street.
Approximate walking distance: 0.4 to 0.5 mile.
Estimated walking time: 8 to 10 minutes.
Open walking directions from Bakersfield Escape to the Historic Fox Theater
.
Photo Credits
- Historic postcard image:
Historical Research Center | CSU Bakersfield. - Modern Haberfelde exterior:
Publichall via Wikimedia Commons,
CC BY-SA 4.0. - Escape-room images:
Bakersfield Escape.