San Francisco History – Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Woodward Garden

Posted by Cindy on February 4, 2017

Feb 042017

Woodward Gardens
Duboce and Woodward Street
Mission/South of Market

On January 19, 1873, 12,000 people showed up at Woodward’s Garden in the Mission District to watch Frenchman Gus Buislay and a small boy soar aloft in a hot air balloon. The man who made it happen was Robert B. Woodward.

Woodward had made his fortune in the grocery store business. In 1849, he opened a store right off the waterfront to serve the ever-increasing number of people flooding into the Port of San Francisco for the Gold Rush.

With the acumen of a savvy businessman, he realized the ’49er economy was moving from supplies to service, and so in 1852 Woodward opened What Cheer House, a hotel and club for men known for its good food, safe accommodations and no alcohol policy.

Two women stand ready to enter the reptile house at Woodward Gardens in 1880. (Photo credit: San Francisco Public Library)

Woodward’s family left Providence, Rhode Island, in 1857 to join him in California. Woodward purchased four acres of land and a house that had belonged to General John C. Fremont. The property was located on the west side of Mission Street between 14th and 15th Streets. He and his family lived in Fremont’s house while he worked to construct a mansion on one of the many hillocks in the area.

A year-long shopping trip to Europe would necessitate the construction of a gallery and conservatory on his property. Here he could show off the copies of famous sculptures he had had made, as well as paintings and other curiosities he had collected. But the true show piece of Woodward’s estate was its fantastic gardens.

Woodward began these gardens during the original construction of the house. Supplied in 1861 with plants, animals and artifacts from Europe, soon the gardens came to be referred to as the Central Park of the West. In 1864, he opened the estate to friends and acquaintances.

As the garden’s fame spread, members of the public began to stand outside for hours on Sundays, hoping to get a peek of the grounds. In 1866, with a little nudging from his daughter the grounds were open to the public. Woodward moved his family to the Napa Valley and dedicated his time to expanding his San Francisco Woodward Gardens for the enjoyment of its visitors.

Woodward Gardens Art Gallery 1836 (Photo credit: San Francisco Public Library)

Recognizing the need for a constantly changing array of attractions, Woodward once again headed to Europe, bringing back crates of items ranging from the fashionable to the odd. Sailors he had befriended over the years also brought him curiosities from around the world.

It was said that Woodward Gardens held the finest zoo on the west coast, with camels, zebras, buffalo, deer and even kangaroos. There was also a bear pit that held both grizzlies and black bears.

In 1873 Woodward opened an aquarium with sixteen tanks that held from 300 to 1000 gallons of fresh or salt water. The lighting of the tanks allowed visitors to see marine creatures in their natural environment. Visitors were entertained by the crabs, lobsters, shark, cod, flounders, rays, and the occasional ink-spitting octopus.

An amphitheater-that held 5000 people-presented shows featuring Delhi Fire-Eaters, Japanese Acrobats, Roman chariot races and Major Burke and his Rifle Review.

Camel Rides at Woodward Gardens 1880

Woodward’s home became the Museum of Miscellanies-a pair of 10,000-year-old mastodon tusks graced the front door. The house contained a mineral display as well as fossils and zoological specimens. At one point park goers could view the “largest gold nugget ever found” from the Sierra Butte mine, a privilege they purchased with an additional .25 cents.

There were several restaurants on the grounds, and, just like What Cheer House, they did not serve alcohol.

General Ulysses S. Grant visited the Garden in 1879. That same year Robert B. Woodward passed away. Although his sons took over the running of Woodward Gardens, they lacked their father’s showmanship and could never match his enthusiasm for the place.

When the park closed in 1894, all the artifacts were sold at auction. Developers stepped in, graded the land, divided it into 39 separate lots and sold them-to become homes for the working class of San Francisco.

Plaque on the outside of Woodward Gardens Restaurant, now missing. (Photo credit: San Francisco Public Library)

Plaque on the outside of the now closed Woodward Gardens Restaurant, plaque is now missing. (Photo credit: San Francisco Public Library)

While many people have never heard of Woodward Gardens, or could not conceive of a four-acre park filled with such wonders and curiosities in the Mission District, some signs hint to its existence. Today, Woodward Gardens Restaurant sits at the corner of Mission and 13th. Alas, the restaurant has no wandering ostriches or playful seals.

Looking Northeast from Robert Woodward’s house, 1865. (Photo credit: San Francisco Public Library)

The Mission Street Entrance to Woodward Gardens, 1862. (Photo credit: San Francisco Public Library)

Woodward Gardens, 1874. (Photo credit: San Francisco Public Library)

Gus Buisley’s balloon often bumped the windmill when ascending. (Photo credit: San Francisco Public Library)

Trader’s of the Adriatic

Posted by Cindy on August 31, 2015

Aug 312015

The banking lobby at the Sansome Street entrance to the Bentley Federal Reserve contains a mural by Jules Guerin. “Traders of the Adriatic” features prominently in the entrance to the main lobby. It pays homage to the world of banking with its depiction of Venetian shipping merchants accepting receipts for goods on deposit and slaves attending to the masters of galleons while the masters give the Venetians rugs, gold, silver, and incense for safekeeping. In the background there is the Venetian coat of arms. The mural is oil on canvas and is dated 1922.

As part of a building restoration in 2004 the mural by was cleaned and preserved.

Jules Vallée Guérin was born in St Louis, Missouri on November 18, 1866 and moved to Chicago to study art in 1880. In 1900 he established a studio in New York, where he made his name as an architectural delineator and illustrator. His first major break occurred when he was hired by Charles McKim to create some illustrations for the McMillan Plan for Washington D.C. These were exhibited and published in 1902. Architects began hiring Guérin to make similar renderings of their buildings. In 1912, when the architect Henry Bacon was competing with John Russell Pope to win the commission for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., he hired Guérin to create renderings of alternative designs. The paintings, still in the National Archives, were likely influential in Bacon’s winning the commission.

Despite his wish to be regarded as a major serious artist, Jules Guérin is most highly regarded as an illustrator and architectural delineator.

Fillmore Car Barn and Powerhouse

Posted by Cindy on August 24, 2015

Aug 242015

Corner of Turk and Fillmore

This was one of the first and one of the largest substations built at the turn of the century when street cars were first converted to electric power. The construction date has been documented as both 1902 and 1907.

United Railroads owner, the owner of the line when the building was built, was Patrick Calhoun. Calhoun was a boxing fan and often hired professional fighters as motormen and conductors. There was a gym to the right of the building, explaining why there are no windows on that side of the building. That lot is now the Fillmore-Turk mini park.

The Fillmore-Turk Mini Park

United Railroads was the third iteration of the company. The first franchise, what would become the Market Street Railway, and the first street-railway on the Pacific coast, was granted in 1857 to Thomas Hayes. The line was the first horsecar line to open in San Francisco and it opened on July 4, 1860. A few years later, the line was converted to steam power utilizing a steam engine that was part locomotive and part passenger car.

After the 1906 Quake

By the 1906 earthquake it was the United Railroads of San Francisco. After the quake the Fillmore Street line was the first to go back into service.

Inside the substation, photo courtesy of SFMTA

In 1944 all the street lines were absorbed into the Municipal Railway. The Fillmore substation fed power to streetcars in the western half of the city until 1978, when a new substation was built at Sutter and Fillmore and the old one was declared surplus, it was then declared a landmark.

August 4, 1921 Photo courtesy of SF Public Library

The building has been sitting vacant and in bad shape – the ventilation tower collapsed and for a while the back wall was held up with posts. The Redevelopment Agency bought it with plans to convert it into a community center. The plan never got off the drawing table, so the building was sold back to the city. At this point, it continues to sit empty with no foreseeable future.

Lincoln Park Steps

Posted by Cindy on August 10, 2015

Aug 102015

Lincoln Park
End of California Street

Lincoln Park was dedicated to President Lincoln in 1909. At the terminus of California street just past 32nd Avenue sits the Lincoln Park Steps. These steps date to the time of the park and were the access for the surrounding neighborhood. If you simply sit on the benches at the top of the hill you can enjoy views of downtown and fog permitting, the East Bay hills.

A photo from the early days of the area

In 2007 Friends of Lincoln Park began a campaign to have the stairs structurally supported and brought back to their glory days.

With the help of the San Francisco Parks Alliance, William Duff Architects and BV builders the stairs sit more elegantly than ever.

Artist Aileen Barr, who has been on this website many times for her tile stairways and other tile work around San Francisco, was the lead artist on the project.

From left: Riley Dotey, Phylece Snyder and Aileen Barr

From left: Riley Doty, Aileen Barr and Phylece Snyder

She was aided in her efforts with tile setters Riley Doty and Phylece Snyder. The tiles, stamped periodically with the names of the project’s donors and sponsors, came from Fireclay Tile and Heath Ceramics.

The project was done in two parts.

Phase 1 consisted of the structural improvements and art tiles for the top bench and retaining wall. This phase was completed in 2010. You can see pictures and read about that phase here.

Phase 2 included the structural repair and tile placement to the stairs, pillars and midway benches. The cost of the structural repairs was funded in part by a grant given to Friends of Lincoln Park for $180,000 from the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, Community Opportunity Fund. The grant was contingent on the success of Friends of Lincoln Park to raise private funds of at least $250,000 to cover the cost of the art tiles and installation

Visit Aileen Barr’s website for a larger view of her work.

Hellenism in San Francisco

Posted by Cindy on July 7, 2015

Jul 072015

This plaque sits, somewhat neglected in an ivy bed at the corner of 3rd and Folsom Streets at the Moscone Center. I, like so many people, have seen it, read it, and continued on my way. I began wondering what was behind it.

The Greek immigrant community was one of the largest and most conspicuous communities South of Market prior to the 1960s. Greeks had begun coming to San Francisco even before the 1906 Earthquake, the community grew rapidly prior to the First World War as Greeks escaped their own war-torn and poverty stricken homeland. Many made their way across the country as railroad workers. According to the San Francisco Chronicle (December 9, 1923) by 1923, 11,500 Greeks lived in San Francisco. In that year, San Francisco contained 26 Greek-owned coffee houses, 380 Greek grocery stores, and 120 Greek shoe shine stands. Many other Greeks worked in auto repair shops, banks, or upholsterers’ shops. Some with transit experience got jobs with the San Francisco Municipal Railway. San Francisco’s Greek community, although dispersed across the city, was centered on the intersection of 3rd and Folsom streets. For a while, the presence of so many Greek businesses gave the area the name Greek Town.

The First Holy Trinity Church

What is left of this vast Greek population in the South of Market area is Holy Trinity. This edifice, the first Greek Orthodox Church west of Chicago, was founded in 1904 at 345 7th Street. The church was destroyed in the 1906 Earthquake and Fire. It was rebuilt, at an original cost of $20,000 in 1907 with additions throughout the years immediately following. In 1964 the church was sold to St. Michael’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The architect for the second church was an S. Andrio and the contractors were R.R. Thompson of San Francisco. In 1922, the church was radically remodeled and the architect for that job was John Bowers of San Francisco.

According to volume 7 of the Architect and Engineer “the building will be of frame construction, ornately decorated, the dome and roof being supported by eight pillars.

The San Francisco Call on October 15, 1906 reported “New Church Plans Approved by Representative Greeks Edifice Will Be Built on Seventh Street. A new Greek church on Byzantine Greek lines of architecture is destined to rise in San Francisco, according to the plans accepted by the Greek Society. A meeting of representative Greeks was held yesterday afternoon at 1735 Market street, at which the plans were displayed and discussed. The edifice, which will be called Holy Trinity, will be located at 317 Seventh street, and will cost more than $20,000.

In addition to the church a school will be attached, in which the children of the Greek population of over 3000 in this city will be educated. The church itself is to be ornately decorated, the dome and roof being supported by eight pillars. The building will measure fifty feet by seventyflve. The architect Is S. Andrio. –

The historical photos are from the great website for Hellenistic history in San Francisco San Francisco Greeks.

Compton’s Cafeteria

Posted by Cindy on June 27, 2015

Jun 272015

Corner of Turk and Taylor
Tenderloin

Funny how a plaque can stop you and educate you about something you may have known nothing about, and at the exact same time leave out so very very much of the story.

If you were to hear about this event during those times you would have been told that in Gene Compton’s Cafeteria at the corner of Taylor and Turk Streets, in August 1966*, a person, described as a “queen” threw a cup of coffee in a police officers face. The police began arresting “queens” and a riot broke out. The riot included around 50 to 60 patrons, and an unnumbered amount of police.

*The exact date of the riot is unknown because 1960 police records no longer exist and the riot was not covered by newspapers.

Photo Courtesy of Shaping San Francisco and FoundSF

While hard to believe in our more progressive times that it was unlawful to crossdress or impersonate a female in San Francisco in 1966. The harassment of “effeminate” gay males was prolific and since discrimination was so prevalent, often the only type of employment open to the transexual, drag performing and “gay” population was prostitution. The one thing that has not changed was that the tenderloin was a place to ply your trade.

Another thing that has not changed is Glide Memorial’s open heart and helping hand to the situation. Glide began a program titled Vanguard to help trans and gay youth improve their living situations. Vanguard had been holding their meetings at Gene Compton’s Cafeteria.

To continue the story in the words of Susan Stryker, author of Screaming Queen:

“Late one August night in San Francisco in 1966, Compton’s Cafeteria was hopping with its usual assortment of transgender people, young street hustlers, and other down-and-out regulars who found refuge there from the mean streets of the seedy Tenderloin neighborhood. The restaurant’s management, annoyed by a noisy crowd at one table that seemed be spending a lot of time without spending a lot of money, called the police—as they had been doing with increasing frequency throughout the summer. A surly cop, accustomed to manhandling Compton’s clientele, grabbed the arm of one of the queens.

She responded unexpectedly and threw her coffee in his face. Mayhem erupted: plates, trays, cups, and silverware flew threw the air at the police, who ran outside and called for backup. Tables were turned over, windows were smashed, and Compton’s queer customers poured out of the restaurant and into the night. The paddy wagons pulled up, and street fighting broke out in Compton’s vicinity, all around the corner of Turk and Taylor. Drag queens beat the police with their heavy purses, and kicked them with their high-heeled shoes. A police car was vandalized, a newspaper stand was burned to the ground, and—in the words of the best available source on what happened that night—“general havoc was raised in the Tenderloin.”

According to Strykers’s Screaming Queens the next night, more transgender people, hustlers, Tenderloin street people, and other members of the LGBT community joined in a picket of the cafeteria, which would not allow transgender people back in. The demonstration ended with the newly installed plate-glass windows being smashed again.

All of this was three years before Stonewall.

If you would like to explore further, Susan Stryker’s documentary is titled Screaming Queens . The fascinating story, by the author and filmmaker, about how the movie came about, can be read here.

The building today 2015

The building itself has a wonderful history as well. It was designed by architect Abraham M. Edelman and built in 1907. At that time it was the 115 room with 50 baths Hotel Hyland. It became the Hotel Young in 1908, The Hotel Empire in 1911 the Chapin Hotel in 1920, the Hotel Raford in 1923 the Tyland Hotel and then the Warfield Hotel in 1982 it is now the Taylor Street Apartments.

Abraham (or Abram) M. Edleman (August 19, 1863) was the son of a Polish-born American rabbi living in Los Angeles. While most prolific in Los Angeles, with many buildings on the National Historic Register, he often worked in partnership with firms in San Francisco.

Edelman began his own practice in Los Angeles in the 1880s; he became a member of the Southern California Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1902 and remained a member until 1941.

Edelman’s education came from having worked as an apprentice for various architects in San Francisco, which most likely is how his name became attached to this particular building.

Labyrinth in Duboce Park

Posted by Cindy on June 2, 2015

Jun 022015

Scott Street
Lower Haight
Duboce Triangle

This labyrinth was part of Duboce Parks revitalization plan. The plan, funded by Friends of Duboce Park, began with fundraising in 1997 and took years to accomplish. The labyrinth was laid in 2007.

It was proposed by Friends’ Janet Scheuer, who had walked labyrinths all over the world. “We need to create a quiet spot for people,” she said. She volunteered to “own” the project, find funding and work with designers. Hal Fischer headed up the fund raising. They raised $90,000, with $5000 from San Francisco Beautiful, $25,000 from the CPMC Davies Campus that adjoins the park, and $10,000 from Charlotte Wallace and Alan Murray. Rec and Park contributed around $80,000, says landscape architect Marvin Yee, Capital Improvement Division.

The Scott Street site had been occupied by a play structure in the shape of a pirate ship. Toxic, closed down and rotting away, it was ripe for extreme makeover. Janet recruited designers Richard Feather Anderson, a founder of the Labyrinth Society and Willett Moss, CMG landscape architect to create a labyrinth. The 23 ft. wide multi-circular path was sand-blasted into concrete. A border of mosaic tiles made by members of the community surrounds it, and a commemorative tile collage of the pirate ship graces the concrete bench facing the path. …

The joyous opening celebration April 28, 2007 was short-lived when the labyrinth was closed two days later due to the misapplication of anti-graffiti coating, damaging the labyrinth surface and making it slippery. A reopening eventually took place3 seven months later, on Nov. 2. One of the city’s most unique open space features is now a multi-use area. “People are doing tai-chi, picnicking, reading, walking and meditating,” says Janet happily, adding, “and it all works.”…From the Neighborhoods Park Council.

On this mosaic pedestal sits a labyrinth that allows sight-impaired and other visitors to trace a path with their fingers.

It says in both cursive and braille: With eyes closed, trace the grooved path from the outermost edge to the center with one or more fingers. The center is the halfway point. To complete the journey, retrace the path from the center outward.

This spot where Duboce Park now occupies was originally to be a hospital. However, Colonel Victor Duboce, after serving with the First California Volunteers in the Spanish-American War, returned to the city and was elected to the Board of Supervisors. He died on August 15, 1900 and was buried in the National Cemetery, at the Presidio. Upon his death the city changed Ridley Street to Duboce Street and decided to turn the land into Duboce Park (1900) rather than a hospital The park became a tent city after the 1906 earthquake, sheltering displaced residents from all over the City.

Castro District History

Posted by Cindy on May 12, 2015

May 122015

Castro Street

The Castro Street Design Project was a street improvement project by the City of San Francisco that improved the cable car turn around at Market Street and Castro Street between Market and 19th. This included the fabulous rainbow cross walk you see above and historic markers placed in the sidewalk up and down Castro Street on both sides of the street for those two blocks.

The native Yelamu people lived nearby in the village of Chutchul relocating each winter to the bayside village of Sitlintac. A creek flows past grassland and chaparral toward the bay along the path of today’s 18th street.

American settler John Hohner purchases a portion of Rancho San Miguel, Castro Street, named after a prominent Mexican Era Californio Family, makes the western border of the nascent neighborhood known as Horner’s addition.

Thousands attend the first known festival on Castro Street to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Twin Peaks Tunnel. The San Francisco Chronicle declares the celebration “A riot of hilarity and merrymaking.”. The tunnel opens in 1918.

The Nasser Brothers open the Castro Theater. The first movie palace designed by Prominent architect Timothy Pflueger. An early usherette at the theatre, Janet Gaynor, goes on to win best actress at the Academy Awards in 1929.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, A queer activist and charity group founded in 1979, organize one of the world’s first AIDS related fundraisers, a dog show on Castro Street. Local resident and disco star Sylvester is one of the judges.

A Sister of Perpetual Indulgence

National attention turns to the Castro as thousands gather to celebrate the U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex marriages in California, marking a milestone in the neighborhood’s historic role as a center for LGBT rights.

There are many more plaques along the sidewalks, all part of the City’s improvement program.

Lover’s Lane

Posted by Cindy on December 22, 2014

Dec 222014

Lover’s Lane
The Presidio

There is a small trail in the Presidio titled Lover’s Lane. It has a well known history that you can read on the plaque found at one end of what is still existing of this trail.

The sign reads: “This trail has witnessed the passing of Spanish soldiers, Franciscan missionaries and American soldiers of two centuries It is perhaps the oldest travel corridor in San Francisco. In 1776 this path connected the Spanish Presidio with the mission, three miles to the southeast. During the 1860s it became the main route used by off-duty solders to walk into San Francisco. Many of those men made the trip into town to meet their sweethearts, and the trail became known as Lovers’ Lane.”

Keep in mind that when they say walk into San Francisco, San Francisco at that time was the mission. However, what you also must keep in mind is that those three miles were sand dunes. That is right, not nice dirt trails, or gravel roads but hard to trod, rolling hills of sand.

This map is a compilation of several maps from the 1860’s, remember lovers lane began in 1776. I have underlined in red the Presidio at the top and the Mission on the bottom right. The original, and enlargeable map can be found here. It is part of the San Francisco Watershed Finder series of maps. This series of maps was put together with the help of Joel Pomerantz of ThinkWalks, Joel gives walks all over town to discuss these watersheds and the hidden streams and creeks of San Francisco.

If you aren’t really great at reading topo maps here are some photos from San Francisco, while from the late 1800s and early 1900s sand dunes were still prevalent.

Late 19th Century
The Richmond District looking towards Lone Mountain
Photograph from a Private Collection

Sunset District 1900 Photo courtesy of Greg Gaar

Golden Gate Park construction with the Sunset District in the back – 1900
Photo courtesy of Greg Gaar

So imagine how hard it must have been to trod for 3 miles over these sand dunes. Also, in 1776, these would have been the Spanish soldiers that came with Juan Bautista de Anza, and I am rather sure their boots weren’t the easiest to cross these sand dunes in either. The need to get back to town had to have been rather pressing to make a trek like that.

This bridge, which marks either the end or beginning of your trip, depending on where you start, was built around 1885. The bridge crosses Tennessee Hollow and a creek, whose source is El Polin Spring.

The presence of the spring was a reason that the Presidio was a viable place for a garrison. While not enough water for cattle and crops, which is why the Mission is 3 miles away, it was enough for horses and men. During the Spanish American War of 1898, the First Tennessee Volunteer Infantry Regiment camped here, providing the name Tennessee Hollow.

While walking the Lover’s Lane path keep an eye out for Andy Goldsworthy’s Wood Line.

Mission Branch Library and Leo Lentelli

Posted by Cindy on November 25, 2014

Nov 252014

Mission Branch Library
24th Between Bartlett and Orange Alley
Mission District

Leo Lentelli was one of San Francisco’s more prolific and well known sculptors during his time. Sadly very little of his work survives inside of the city. There is a beautiful piece at the Hunter Dunlin building downtown, and this sculpture over the original entry door on 24th Street of the Mission Branch Library.

Lentelli, an immigrant from Italy spent 1914-1918 in San Francisco. During that time he did a series of equestrian statues that were part of the Court of the Universe and his sculptures of Water Sprites for the Court of Abundance for the Pan Pacific Exposition

Lentelli created “Five Symbolic Figures,” a series of five statues representing Art, Literature, Philosophy, Science and Law, that were placed between the pillars above the entrance to the Old Main Library at Larkin Street. These works, made of cast stone were installed in 1918, the year after the Library opened, and were not intended to be permanent. Sadakichi Hartmann, writing for the Architecture and Engineer in 1918, praised these works for “their sturdiness of conception and attitude, their decorative expression, and a certain swing and freedom of handling.” To my horror upon learning this, and to the detriment of all, the Asian Art Museum, when taking over and renovating the Library, found that these works had deteriorated so much that no attempt was made to retain or restore them.

From the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection SFPL

The Mission Branch Library is part of the group of libraries built in San Francisco with William Carnegie monies, this particular building was built under the design guidelines of the Carnegie Standards.

What are those ruins in the parking lot of the San Francisco Zoo?

Posted by Cindy on November 17, 2014

Nov 172014

San Francisco Zoo
The Parking Lot
Sloat and The Great Highway

This small monument is a remnant of a once great institution of San Francisco, the Fleishacker Pool.

Photo Courtesy of the SFPL

Fleishhacker Pool, like the San Francisco Zoo, was a gift to San Francisco by Herbert Fleishhacker. The idea, conceived by John McLaren, designer of Golden Gate Park, was to help bring athletic competitions to San Francisco.

The first event held at the pool was on April 22, 1925, and featured a freestyle swimmer named Johnny Weissmuller representing the Illinois Athletic Club. Weissmuller appeared several times at Fleishhacker and was a real crowd pleaser.

Photo Courtesy of SFPL

The 6, 500,000 gallon, filtered seawater-filled pool, opened to the general public on May 1, 1925. It cost 25 cents for adults and 15 cents for kids under 12. For that, you had use of the dressing rooms with showers and the loan of a bathing suit and towel that were sterilized between uses.

The pool had twelve lifeguards and a number of life rowboats. It also boasted a tree-sheltered beach, a cafeteria, and even childcare if you needed it.

The pool, while it existed was the largest in the world. In 1943 U.S. troops used it to train for amphibious beach assaults.

Photo Courtesy of SFPL

Slowly slipping into disrepair the pool suffered its final blow when an outflow pipe collapsed in a 1971 storm, the city was unable to foot the bill for repairs. The pool closed in June of 1971, and the concrete was broken up and the hole filled with dirt. The land was granted to the zoo with the intention of adding parking.

The pool house, however, remained, it was hoped it would become a restaurant. Sadly it simply became a shelter for vagrants and feral cats. The pool house caught fire and burned to the ground on December 1, 2012

leaving San Francisco with but a remnant of a glorious past.

155 Sansome Street

Posted by Cindy on November 10, 2014

Nov 102014

155 Sansome Street
Financial District

The sculptures over the Sansome Street entrance to the Pacific Stock Exchange, now the City Club, were done in 1929-1930 by Ralph Stackpole.

Stackpole has been in this website many times before and you can read about him and his work here.

On January 18, 1930 Junius Cravens of the Argonaut wrote of this piece:

“As one studies Stackpole’s fine decorative sculpture group, ‘Progress,’ which overhangs the east entrance to the office building, one finds in it a symbol,whether employed consciously or not, of the aforesaid future. A huge nude male figure, in high relief, dominates the group, his outstretched hands resting upon the arc of a rainbow. Above the rainbow, to the right and left,are stylized suggestions of rain and lightning, symbolizing water and electric power. Beneath it, and flanking the main figure, are two smaller male figures in low relief which represent progressive labor. The group as a whole is beautifully balanced in design, and is executed with mastery.”

Hearst Grizzly Gulch

Posted by Cindy on October 21, 2014

Oct 212014

San Francisco Zoo

This grizzly by Tom Schrey graces the Hearst Grizzly Gulch building at the SF Zoo. Tom has a degree from California College of the Arts and presently works at Artworks Foundry.

The following was excerpted from a June 15, 2007 SF Gate article by Patricia Yollin:

Three summers ago, two grizzly bear orphans in Montana were trying to fend off starvation. Now they are coddled ursine superstars living in San Francisco.

On Thursday, the public got its first glimpse of the twins’ opulent new home as Hearst Grizzly Gulch, a $3.7 million habitat at the San Francisco Zoo, opened for business. Kachina and Kiona, whose species adorns the California state flag, quickly demonstrated that they knew how to work the Flag Day crowd.

Proximity is one of the exhibit’s highlights. A thick glass window is the only thing separating humans and carnivores in one section of Grizzly Gulch, which also includes a meadow, 20,000-gallon shallow pool, heated rocks, 2-ton tree stump, dig pit, herb garden and 20-foot-high rock structure.

“My initial reaction was, ‘Where are we going to put them?’ ” recalled Manuel Mollinedo, the zoo’s executive director.

The sisters, now 4 years old, moved into a concrete enclosure that’s part of an old-fashioned bear grotto built in the 1930s. It will serve as night quarters and adjoins the new habitat, the result of a fundraising campaign by Carroll — who said he envisioned an endless series of “$100,000 lunches” before Stephen Hearst, vice president and general manager of the Hearst Corp., set up a $1 million donation.

Hearst was mindful of his family’s connection to grizzlies. His great-grandfather, San Francisco Examiner publisher William Randolph Hearst, arranged for the 1889 capture of a wild grizzly that he named Monarch — his paper’s slogan was “Monarch of the Dailies” — who inspired the creation of the city’s first zoo.

The Zoo’s first major exhibits were built in the 1930’s by the depression-era Works Progress Administration (WPA) at a cost of $3.5 million. The animal exhibits were, in the words of the architect, Lewis Hobart, “ten structures designed to house the animals and birds in quarters as closely resembling native habitats as science can devise.” These new structures included Monkey Island, Lion House, Elephant House, a sea lion pool, an aviary, and bear grottos. These spacious, moated enclosures were among the first bar-less exhibits in the country.

Bruton Sisters WPA Mural at the San Francisco Zoo

Posted by Cindy on October 4, 2014

Oct 042014

San Francisco Zoo
Mother’s Building

These murals, on the Mother’s Building at the San Francisco Zoo were WPA projects. They were done by three sisters: Esther Bruton, Helen Bruton and Margaret Bruton.

Helen Bruton has murals in downtown San Francisco that you can read about here.

Here is an excerpt explaining the sisters work on the Zoo murals in their own voices:

This Oral history interview with Helen and Margaret Bruton, 1964 Dec. 4, is from the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Interview with Helen and Margaret Bruton
Conducted by Lewis Ferbrache
In Monterey, California
December 4, 1964

LF: All right, Margaret and Helen, about the Fleishhacker Mother’s House mosaics – you were mentioning Anthony Falcier and how you learned from him.

HB: Yes, he was actually, at the time, a tile-setter in Alameda, but he was a thoroughly-trained mosaicist from his early days in the old country. He used to tell us how he came over here. He came over here to work on the courthouse in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, which evidently had a mosaic top. And then he came out to San Francisco, to join a group of Italian workmen who were doing the mosaics down at San Simeon for the Hearst Castle. Since then, we ran across another man who worked in that same crew, several in fact. In fact, I think there was one on the WPA whose name I can’t remember. But if it hadn’t been for Mr. Falcier, I don’t know what we would have done, because he gave us pointers that we would have been quite helpless without. About how to set up the drawing, how to reverse it, how to divide it in sections in such a way that when the actual mosaic was mounted on the wall – which was an operation that began from the bottom and worked up –the section that you were mounting was square enough in shape so that it didn’t sag or settle too badly at one side or another, and begin to throw the thing out of wack. Because everybody that saw us working always had the same expression. “”Oh, that’s just like working a jig-saw puzzle.’’ Well, it was a little like a jig-saw puzzle on a big scale.

LF: What were the sizes of these tiles, did you say?

HB: Well, the material that we used – as I said we couldn’t get any – there was no such thing as getting “smalti,” which is hand-cut Venetian enamel material. We used for the material some commercial tile that was manufactured at that time in San Jose, California, by a small tile outfit called Solon & Schennell, or the S&S Tile Company. They made a beautiful commercial tile, too beautiful to be very successful as commercial tile, because they couldn’t really satisfy the jobbers, who insisted on a perfect match to every lot of tile, which they had catalogued by number. There was so much variation in their tile that there was a great deal of waste from a practical commercial standpoint. And the tile that we used was mostly that tile that was what they would call a second, because of the variation. We had names for these tile colors, one was called St. Francis, and St. Francis varied in color all the way from deep Mars violet to a fawn color almost, or a strong ochre color, warm ochre, but it was the same glaze, depending on where it was put in the kiln it would come – that would be the range of shades.

LF: Different shading?

HB: Yes. And it was very, very strong, very good body to the tile, except that it was so tough that before we could even cut it up in smaller pieces, use any kind of tools on it, we had to have the thickness reduced by about half. And the way we did that was, we took it to a marble works over in Berkeley, over in Emeryville, really, on the waterfront there in the industrial section, and they would mount the tile on slabs of marble set in plaster of Paris, glazed side protected of course, with the bottom side up, and rub about half of it off. Then it would come in a workable thickness. And poor Len sawed it, used to saw it in strips of about three-quarters to an inch in width. And from then on we could cut it into any size we wanted, with some good strong tile nippers. Except that there was a difficulty in setting it up, finally because of the very absorbent terra cotta back, which drew the water out. When the cement coat was put on the back of the tile, it sucked the water out unless the terra cotta was dampened beforehand. So we always had the problem, when it came to mounting it on the wall finally, of dampening the back without making it so damp that the surface, which was eventually to be the fact of the decoration, would be still kept dry enough to hold on to the paper. And we did. It just made it a little bit more complicated in the process. But it was in the mounting that Mr. Falcier was so valuable. He’d come over with us from Alameda every day. I think it took us about almost a week for each one – five days for each panel. And he’d actually mix the concrete, the mortar. Esther was helping me on that. I don’t know where Marge was, and Len, I don’t remember Len being there. It is funny, but he must not have been with us when we were actually working with Falcier. But anyway, Mr. Falcier would mount a certain amount face out – you see the paper would still be stuck on the face – and each day we’d move up so much. We might set eight or nine pieces, depending on the way the design built up, the sections built up.

LF: You would have your cartoons to go by, I would imagine?

HB: Yes.

LF: Did all three of your get together on the selection of the subject matter, the topics? Did you talk it over between the three of you?

HB: Oh, I suppose we did.

LF: Or what it suggested by the City or –?

HB: I think it was, not – as a matter of fact, I think that particular thing was pretty much my job of designing. Somebody else, probably Esther or Margaret might have suggested the subject matter actually, but I remember it was a matter of – I remember hardly doing more than one sketch of that, especially St. Francis. I think I put it down and that was it. Of course, there was more work put on it as you got to getting it full size, but I think that first sketch, which was rather unusual for me because the more work I did the more fooling around that I do in design, and maybe not really improving it.

LF: You had to submit the design or the sketches to Dr. Heil or someone in his office?

HB: Yes, and then of course, you’d bring in a sketch and a proposal of what material was to be used.

LF: Did you estimate your time and what you needed?

HB: Oh no, you couldn’t possibly, because we’d never done such a thing before. But I don’t remember that it took, I’m afraid that I couldn’t say exactly how many months it took, whether we were two months on it, or three months, or whether – considering both the panels, we might have been perhaps three months.

LF: This was the first work done in the building?

HB: I think Helen Forbes and Dorothy Puccinelli were working at the same time. In fact, I know they were. But we were not there anything like – that project continued for a long, long time, but of course we didn’t actually have to work out there at the building until it came to installing the panels.

LF: I see. Where did you do your work then?

HB: At home in Alameda.

LF: In Alameda, that’s interesting.

HB: That was the house that we’d always lived in, and we had a wonderful big studio in the top floor, the whole top floor with great big dormer windows on three sides.

LF: And you completed the mosaic murals in the house and had them moved?

HB: They were in sections, you see. We did it on the floor. We laid it out on the floor as we completed it section by section. One thing that made this particular material still more complicated was that the color was only on the fact. So we used to have to lay it out roughly on the face so we could see what we had done, what we had before us. But, of course, when it came to mounting it, the mounting paper, the heavy paper on which it was mounted and transported, had to be put over the face. So when it was laid out on the floor, then we mounted paper over the face so it all disappeared. In other words, it was completely covered up and dismantled. And we had to get the paper off the back and clean it up so that the mortar could go directly on the back.

LF: This is the Fleishhacker Zoo Mother House? In other words, it was a sort of resting place, and so on, for mothers and their children visiting the Zoo? Is that correct?

HB: Yes. It was a memorial given by Mr. Herbert Fleishhacker, as I understand it, given in memory of his mother, Delia, because it says across the face of it, “To the memory of Delia Fleishhacker.” And I remember Mr. and Mrs. Fleishhacker came over one day to see it. They wanted to see it while it was still on the floor to see that there was not going to be anything offensive slipped in, and they had to climb three flights of stairs to get up to it, but they did it.

LF: This was when it was being installed or — ?

HB: Just before, when it was completely laid out.

LF: In your house?

HB: At home in Alameda, yes, because they wouldn’t see it again until it was all on the wall, so that was something they had to do, if they wanted to see it.

LF: I’ve never seen this because naturally a man can’t go in to see –

HB: No, but this is on the outside.

LF: It’s on the outside? I thought it was on the inside.

HB: Oh no, it’s –

LF: It doesn’t say here in the thesis where it was located so –

MB: It’s right on the outside of the building.

HB: I have a number of other photographs that will give you a better idea. That doesn’t give you an idea of the outside. (Interruption to look at photographs).

LF: You were talking about the mosaics, Miss Helen Bruton, on the outside of the Fleishhacker Zoo Mother’s Rest House. I had thought they were inside, but they are outside. They have stood up against the weather, have they?

HB: They just seem to be exactly the same as they were. That was one of the things I was interested in. The other day I looked at them hard, to see what was going on and I can’t see that there’s been any deterioration at all. Of course, they’re not actually exposed to the weather. It’s a loggia, they’re at either end of a long loggia perhaps sixty feet long, and you can turn from one to the other which makes it –

LF: You believe this was finished then probably in the late spring of 1934?

HB: Yes, yes, I would say that very definitely because I think we have a little tile with the date on it. It’s there on the panels.

Native Sons of the Golden West

Posted by Cindy on September 2, 2014

Sep 022014

414 Mason Street
Union Square

The Native Sons of the Golden West Building on Mason street is an eight story, steel frame structure, with a highly ornamented façade of granite, terra cotta and brick.

Around the two main entrances to the building are placed medallions of men associated with the discovery and settlement of California. They are (starting at the bottom and moving up and to the right): Cabrillo, General John A. Sutter, Admiral John Drake Sloat, Peter Burnett, General A. M. Winn, James W. Marshall, John C. Fremont and Father Junipero Serra. These were sculpted by Jo Mora, who has been in this site many times before.

In the front of the building at the second floor are six terra cotta panels, the work of Domingo Mora and his son, Jo. The scenes are: “The Discovery of California”; “Civilization”; “The Raising of the Bear Flag”; “The Raising of the American Flag”; “The Pioneers”; “The Discovery of Gold.”

Sadly, due to the awning on the building it is impossible to see all 6 of the panels. I was unable to find photos of the other two anywhere, to share with you. This is the best I could do, by blowing up a photo I took from across the street.

The third Floor is marked by a line of the symbol of the State of California, the Golden Bear.

The California Bear and the Phoenix, the symbol of San Francisco, also grace the front of the building.

The Association purchased the lot from the Congregation Ohabai Shalome, for $42,500. The original Native Sons of the Golden West building built in 1895, burned down in the 1906 Fire and Earthquake.

The cost of the new building ws approximately $210,000.00

The architects of the new building were August Goonie Headman, Persio Righetti and E. H. Hildebrand, of Righetti and Headman, a firm that operated for 5 years during the post Earthquake and Fire of 1906.

The Contractor was P.J. Walker and Associates and the foreman on the job was Mr. J.S. Fifield.
The corner stone of the new building was laid February 22, 1911. It is the old corner stone saved from the fire with a new stone covering it.

The Rialto Building

Posted by Cindy on July 2, 2014

Jul 022014

116 New Montgomery
South of Market

I became intrigued with this building when a friend showed me this Black and White photo in the lobby of the Rialto.

(Note: the round building on the left is the Crossley building)

The Rialto is an eight-story H-shaped plan with center light courts. It has a steel frame clad in brick and terra cotta. The eighth story is highly ornamented. The façade accommodated the lack of interior partition walls by providing a large space between the window mullions. This allowed partitions to be erected between the windows once floors were leased. Since the interior lacked dividing partition walls, tenants could rent large floor areas that could be configured according to their needs.

Originally constructed in 1902, it was reconstructed in 1910 after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire. The original 1902 building façade was maintained. The 1910 reconstruction consisted primarily of structural improvements.

In 1902, during the 20th century building boom, Herbert Law financed construction of the Rialto Building, as well as the Crossley Building. The Rialto was named after a commercial center in Venice, Italy, a rialto is an exchange or mart.

Law hired the architectural firm of Meyer & O’Brien. Meyer & O’Brien, who despite only operating between 1902 and 1908, were prolific in the Financial District, designing some of San Francisco’s most prominent buildings, including the Monadnock Building, 637-687 Market Street (1906); the Humboldt Bank Building, 793- 785 Market Street (1906); the Hastings Building, 180 Post Street (1908); the Foxcroft Building, 68-82 Post Street (1908); and the Cadillac Hotel, 380 Eddy Street (1909).

Photo from Meyer & O’Brien lobby. Exact date not determined.

Terra Cotta work by Steiger Terra Cotta and Pottery Works

After the 1906 Fire and Earthquake Bliss & Faville was hired to supervise the reconstruction of the Rialto Building, as Meyer & O’Brien were no longer architectural partners and Bliss & Faville had gained prominence. Bliss & Faville was among the most established architectural firms in San Francisco during the reconstruction period after the Earthquake and Fire.

******

In June 1910, the San Francisco Call newspaper ran this article:

“The reconstruction of the old Rialto building at the corner of Mission and New Montgomery streets has begun. Dr. Hartland Law, the owner, is preparing to spend about $500,000 in rebuilding it on a handsomer plan than the original structure. The old building was erected in 1901 at a cost of $650,000.

The great fire left it a complete wreck. The walls have stood, but the steel frame was so bent and twisted most of it has had to be taken out. New steel columns have been put in from basement to roof. All the steel is being fireproofed with cement this time, instead of with terra cotta, as previously. The fireproof flooring is already in on the two upper stories. All the reconstruction work will be of class A quality throughout. The outer brick work will be cleaned and treated in some way to brighten it up and make it look like an entirely new building. The corridors will be wainscoted with marble and will have a flooring of mosaic tiling. They will be wider and brighter than in the old building. The woodwork of the building will be of oak. Metal doors probably will be put in. Special attention is being paid to the plumbing equipment. There will be a vacuum cleaning system and compressed air supplied to all the offices. There will be four high speed elevators, the contract for putting them in having already been let. The light, heat and power for the building will be supplied from a plant being constructed on a lot adjoining the main building. A special feature will be equipment for sterilizing water for drinking purposes. After the heating process it will be cooled and distributed to every suite in the building by faucets. In this and other ways Doctor Low [sic] has studiously endeavored to make the new building thoroughly modern and up to date in every particular. McDonald & Kahn have general engineering charge of the whole reconstruction work and are letting all the contracts. Bliss & Faville are the architects.”

September 1906

When the work on the Rialto Building was complete, the project was lauded as the building that restored faith in the City. The Rialto Building had been the feature of numerous newspaper articles during the reconstruction period because of its location and because the building shell had remained intact and highly visible.

San Francisco Flower Market

Posted by Cindy on June 9, 2014

Jun 092014

San Francisco Flower Market
6th and Brannan
SOMA

With the face of San Francisco changing so very rapidly right now, I thought I would take a look at a block of buildings that has been a stalwart in the South of Market area serving an single industry, the San Francisco Flower Market. There are only 5 grower owned Flower Markets in the United States, and San Francisco is privileged to have one of those.

A coalition of three ethnic groups founded the organizations that began the early San Francisco Flower Mart. Italian growers started the San Francisco Flower Growers Association; Japanese growers founded the California Flower Market, Inc.; and Chinese growers ran the Peninsula Flower Association. Each group brought its flower growing expertise and individual personalities to the mix. When they joined collectively in 1926, the flower industry in San Francisco changed forever. Today, two of the original stockholders operate the Mart. These stockholders are members of the California Flower Market and the San Francisco Flower Growers Association.

Darold Fredricks of the Daily Journal wrote an excellent history of the Flower Market some of which I have excerpted it here:

Before 1900, a unofficial flower market sprung up on Market Street around Lotta’s Fountain. There was a transportation system in place with the trolley cars on Market Street and others that converged in this area. Twice a week, the growers and retailers met between Lotta’s Fountain and Podesta and Baldocchi flower shop at 7 a.m. and inspection of the blooms were made, deals from buyers consummated and demand gauged for the shops.

All went well until the 1906 earthquake. Because of the increasing number of growers that sprung up down the Peninsula and the problem of keeping the area clear of large crowds, the flower market was banned from the Lotta’s Fountain area and they had to find another site at which to gather. They found a place between Montgomery and Kearny streets. This site was indoors.

Due to the destruction of many buildings and the rapidly developing market for flowers, the three main ethnic groups of growers — Italians, Japanese and Chinese — developed their own market locations. The Italians grew field variety of flowers and ferns; the Chinese raised outdoor pompons and asters; and the Japanese specialized in greenhouse-grown flowers, chrysanthemums, roses and carnations. These groups felt they could find adequate space for their wholesale market they split up. The Italians started the San Francisco Flower Growers Association, the Japanese growers founded The California Flower Market, Inc., and the Chinese ran the Peninsula Flower Growers Association. They nevertheless remained close to the Kearny/Market Street vicinity.

The growers met with increasing resistance by developers in the city as land became too valuable for only plots of flowers. With a surplus of land available down the Peninsula, groups began planting swaths of land around Millbrae and San Mateo. The San Francisco Water Department rented land in Millbrae and the Cozzolinos and Betrocchis, the Ludemanns , DelDons and a few others purchased growing land to meet the challenge of the increasing market. The Mock family settled in San Bruno and the Leong family in San Mateo.

In 1924, however the three groups relocated to large central complex at Fifth and Howard streets.

In 1956, the organization of growers moved to a new building at the corner of Sixth and Brannan streets. Here there was room for 100 vendors in the 135,000 square feet of space.

This is a fun video, made in the 1970’s, of the flower market.

In 2007 there was a lot of scuttlebutt about the closing of the flower mart, Amy Stewart, author of Flower Confidential commented, “This isn’t the ’50s or ’60s. No one wears corsages or orders a centerpiece for a dinner party from the florist down the street,” Stewart said. “People buy their flowers at Costco, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s”, only time will tell.

This story was an adjunct of a friend asking me about a little fellow on the exterior of the building. Ron Chiappari at the Flower Mart and Kim Hernandez of McClellan Botanicals (where my grandmother bought her orchids, as do I) have both been very helpful in my quest to determine who he is and why he is in the sidewalk on Brannan street, alas, no one knows why. If you have any information, please contact me.. the mystery continues.

Sargent Johnson Tile’s the Maritime Museum

Posted by Cindy on May 11, 2014

May 112014

Maritime Museum
Aquatic Park

This 14′ x 125′ glazed tile mural was created by Sargent Johnson in 1939 with the help of FAP (Federal Art Project) funds. The east end, however, is incomplete.

When the project began, the building was to be a publicly-accessible bathhouse. However, shortly after it opened, the City leased a majority of the building to a group of private businessmen who operated it as the Aquatic Park Casino, limiting the public’s use of the building. Because of this, Johnson walked away from the project before he had completed this interior tile mosaic.

Johnson has been in this website before here for the slate art piece on the front of the building.

This shows the unfinished section of the mural.

And yes, those two animals are by Beniamino Bufano.

Arelious Walker Stairway

Posted by Cindy on May 5, 2014

May 052014

Innes Avenue
Bay View / Hunters Point

This was the proposal that was written for the Call for Artists by the SFAC:

The Arelious Walker Drive Stair replacement is a dynamic community project in partnership with the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency and the Department of Public Works to create ceramic tile mosaic steps on the Arelious Walker Drive extending uphill from Innes Avenue to Northridge Road in the Bay View Hunters Point neighborhood. The stairway provides a vital connection from an isolated low-income community to the India Basin Shoreline, the Bay Trail, Herons Head Park, and future development at Hunters Point Shipyard. The mosaic steps project will enhance the character and livability of the surrounding area so that it becomes a gathering place consistent with the nature and spirit of the neighborhood. The project will also beautify the site by landscaping it with California native plants, succulents, and other drought tolerant species to attract birds, butterflies, and other wildlife.

The new stair comprises 87 equal steps, each measuring four feet wide (4’) and seven inches high (7”). Each riser will be faced in ceramic tile mosaic ½ inch thick.

The artists chosen are the same lovely ladies that are responsible for two tiled stairways in Golden Gate Heights, Colette Crutcher and Aileen Barr. Both ladies have been in this website many times before. The cost for the installation was slated to be $90,000.

McDowell Hall

Posted by Cindy on March 17, 2014

Mar 172014

McDowell Hall
Franklin Street
Fort Mason
Marina District

Fort Mason was originally called Fort Point San Jose

According to a 2005 Historic American Buildings Survey Quarters 1 was built in 1877. General Irvin McDowell secured $9,998.74 from Congress to construct Quarters 1. This building was not named McDowell Hall until July 1958, in honor of the General.

From the Report:

“The original building plans have not yet been found. Quarters 1 was originally built for General Irvin McDowell, the commander of the Military Division of the Pacific, who was stationed at Fort Mason. Prior to 1877, the building site was home to the Brooks- Grisar house, a privately-owned building constructed in 1855. In the course of constructing the general’s residence, the old Brooks-Grisar house was moved from its former location and relocated approximately 250 feet to the north. During the construction of Quarters 1, the Brooks- Grisar kitchen and servant’s wing were retained on site, moved slightly and set on new foundations to serve the same function for the new house. ”

This oil painting, which once hung inside McDowell Hall when it was an Officers Club documents landscape characteristics of 1868 when Point San Jose (Now Fort Mason) remained an isolated outpost.

Quarters 1 Circa 1885-Library of Congress

“The original architect is not known. The building was probably built from standard army quartermaster building plans. The United States Army contracted the construction of this building.

The building was owned by the United States Army from 1877 to 1972, when the property of Fort Mason was transferred to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, National Park Service.

The original builders and contractors for this building are unknown. It is presumed that the original and all subsequent contractors were hired through the army’s quartermaster office. Almost immediately after the building was constructed, the army began modifications and upgrades to the building. Over the years, there were several different contractors hired for the work, although their information has not been found.

Quarters 1 Circa 1891

Quarters 1 played a significant role during the great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906. The Commanding General’s house experienced little damage from the earthquake and the building was quickly pressed into service as the army’s emergency headquarters for firefighting and relief activities in the aftermath of the disaster. The divisional commander, General Adolfus Greeley, was not in San Francisco at the time of the earthquake so his second in command, Colonel Frederick Funston, assumed command until the general’s return. It was Funston who realized that the army’s Divisional Headquarters, located in downtown San Francisco, had been grievously damaged during the earthquake and would probably not survive the expanding fires. Reacting quickly, Funston established Quarters 1 as the emergency command post and coordinated the critical martial and civil law enforcement from the building. While much of the city’s down town was on-fire, Fort Mason was quickly designated as San Francisco’s temporary City Hall and emergency command center. Fort Mason was also home to the essential earthquake relief camps, where the soldiers provided food, water and temporary shelter to hundreds of homeless citizens. ”

Fort Mason’s earthquake relief encampment. Photo courtesy of the San Francisco Public Library; photo circa 1909

Midway through World War II Quarters 1 was turned into an Officers Club it remained so until 2002 when the building was turned over to the GGNRA

The following two photos are from the Fort Mason website, as the house is now available to rent for private parties.

Sadly the renovation looks as though it was done by the government, the rest of the interior is not worth any further photographs, but the views are rather fabulous.

Atlantis and Mu

Posted by Cindy on March 13, 2014

Mar 132014

Maritime Museum
Aquatic Park

The interior of the museum is painted with a large mural by Hilaire Hiler, These murals depict the mythic continents of Atlantis and Mu.

Many know the story of Atlantis, but Mu is not as well known. Mu is the name of a suggested lost continent whose concept and the name were proposed by 19th-century early Mayanist, archaeologist, photographer, traveler and writer, Augustus Le Plongeon Le Plongeon claimed that several ancient civilizations, such as those of Egypt and Mesoamerica, were created by refugees from Mu—which he located in the Atlantic Ocean. This concept was popularized and expanded by James Churchward, who asserted that Mu was once located in the Pacific

Hilaire Hiler was born in St Paul, Minnesota on July 16, 1898. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania; University of Denver; Golden State University, Los Angeles; and the Nat’l College, Ontario, Canada. Sailing to France in 1919, he continued at the University of Paris while playing saxophone in a jazz band. During the 1920s he ran the Jockey Club (an artists’ hangout) on the Left Bank. At the club he often played jazz piano with a live monkey on his back.

Upon moving to San Francisco in the 1930s, he was commissioned by the Works Progress Administration to paint these murals in the Maritime Museum. He contributed illustrated maps for the Golden Gate International Exposition of 1939 and exhibited at the fair.

From San Francisco he moved south to Hollywood where he opened a short-lived nightclub on the Sunset Strip. He then lived in Santa Fe (New Mexico), New York City, and in the early 1960s returned to Paris where he remained until his death on January 19, 1966.

Hiler was a Modernist. He helped found the idea of ‘Structuralism’ which aims to create harmony by the presentation of organized color and form. Structuralism design is made for contemplation.

Hiler’s works are in many museums including the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of New Mexico, Oakland Museum of California, Portland Art Museum, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and Georgia Museum of Art. His work is in numerous private collections in the United States and abroad.

I found this when pursuing the Hiler papers in the Archives of American Art. I thought it to much fun not to share.This was drawn up around 1965.

Sargent Johnson and Aquatic Park

Posted by Cindy on February 13, 2014

Feb 132014

Maritime Museum
Aquatic Park

This carved sandstone entry to the Maritime Museum was done as a Federal Arts Project (FAP) by Sargent Johnson. Johnson was in this site before for the log.

This building was originally a New Deal WPA (Works Progress Administration) building called the Aquatic Park Bathhouse. Construction began in 1936 and the building was dedicated in 1939. It is a stunning Streamline Moderne style building and a focal point of the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park.

Both the interior and exterior of the building contain art funded through the FAP.

Johnson designed and carved this green Vermont slate that adorns the museum entrance. The two-inch thick pieces of slate were cut into three by four foot pieces and carved by Johnson offsite. They were then attached to the building using wires and plaster of Paris.

According to Gray Brechin, author of Imperial San Francisco: allowing Johnson a prominent piece of art on a large scale, was a significant tribute to him and the African American community. WPA projects should also be remembered for efforts in gender and racial equality. Almost half of the artists who worked for the WPA were women, and room was made for Chicanos, American Indians, Asians and African Americans.

Judge James Seawell

Posted by Cindy on February 11, 2014

Feb 112014

Second Floor
City Hall
Civic Center

The San Francisco Call ran this article on November 8, 1898:

Judge James M. Seawell.

No better nomination has been made by any party than that of Judge James M. Seawell, one of the Democratic candidates for Superior Judge. During the six years he has served in that capacity he has built up a reputation as a jurist that he may justly feel proud of. He has shown conspicuous ability, has ever presided with dignity and has been honest and conscientious in his interpretation of the law. It can be truly said that his services have helped to elevate the bench of San Francisco and gain for it the confidence and respect of the people. Judge Seaweil was born in 1536 at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, where his father, who was at the time a captain in the regular army, was then stationed. The Judge graduated at Harvard College In 1855. and at the law school of Louisville, Ky., in 1857. He came to this city in 1861 and has resided here ever since. He was elected to the Superior bench in 1892, and his candidacy for re-election is most favorably received because of his eminent fitness for the position.

The artist of this bust was Ralph Stackpole. Stackpole is responsible for many statues throughout San Francisco that you can see here.

Ralph Ward Stackpole (May 1, 1885 – December 13, 1973) was an American sculptor, painter, muralist, etcher and art educator, San Francisco’s leading artist during the 1920s and 1930s. Stackpole was involved in the art and causes of social realism, especially during the Great Depression, when he was part of the Federal Art Project for the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Stackpole was responsible for recommending that architect Timothy L. Pflueger bring Mexican muralist Diego Rivera to San Francisco to work on the San Francisco Stock Exchange and its attached office tower in 1930–31.

The statue was a gift of the SF Bar Association.

Dianne Feinstein

Posted by Cindy on February 7, 2014

Feb 072014

City Hall
Mayors Balcony
Civic Center

Dianne Feinstein was the head of the Board of Supervisors on the day that Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were tragically assassinated. She instantly became Mayor.

This sculpture (the second of Dianne Feinstein to sit in City Hall) was done in 1996 by Lisa Reinertson.

According to Lisa’s website:

Lisa Reinertson is known for both her life size figurative ceramic sculptures and her large-scale public sculptures cast in bronze.

Coming from a family of peace and social activists, Reinertson’s work has an underlying humanism that can be seen both in her poetic ceramic figures with animals, to her more historic public commissions that express ideals of peace and social justice. In her public sculptures of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Cesar Chavez she blends bas-relief into her three-dimensional sculptural forms creating an historic and powerfully moving narrative. Her work combines a realism rooted in figurative art traditions, with a contemporary expression of social and psychological content.

Reinertson completed her MFA at UC Davis in 1984, studying with Robert Arneson, and Manuel Neri. She has taught at several universities and colleges in Northern California including CSU Chico, Santa Clara University and UC Berkeley. Her ceramic work has been in exhibitions and museums nationally and internationally, and is in several public and private collections including the Crocker Art Museum, the ASU Art Museum and the Mint Museum. Reinertson has completed over 20 public commissions in bronze.

Cyril Magnin

Posted by Cindy on January 31, 2014

Jan 312014

City Hall
South Light Court

Cyril Magnin served as San Francisco’s Chief of Protocol from 1964 until his death in 1988. He was responsible for keeping many key international consulates from moving out of San Francisco and to Los Angeles. He is seen here walking his dog Tippecanoe.

In Magnin’s 1981 autobiography, “Call Me Cyril,” opera superstar Beverly Sills is quoted as saying: “He twinkles, he’s a song-and-dance man, a sentimentalist, a tough businessman, a sucker for a hard-luck story–and one of the great philanthropists. He’s a prince of pleasure, a king of kindness, a formidable friend, and I am madly in love with him.”

Cyril Isaac Magnin (1899–1988) was one of the most prominent San Francisco businessmen of the post-World War II era, chief executive of the Joseph Magnin Co., which evolved into a multi-million dollar chain of upscale women’s clothing stores.

Personally gracious and urbane, Magnin was a veteran political fund-raiser and power broker in the Democratic Party, dating back to New Deal days. He was Treasurer of President Franklin Roosevelt’s northern California re-election campaign in 1944, a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1948 (that nominated President Harry Truman) and again in 1964, when he co-chaired the Finance Committee of President Lyndon Johnson’s campaign in California.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Magnin was one of a quartet of fabulously wealthy San Francisco Jewish contributors to Democratic candidates, appreciatively called “The Green Machine” by career politicians, the others being Fairmont Hotel magnate Benjamin Swig, Lilli Ann clothing company founder Adolph Schuman, and real estate mogul Walter Shorenstein.

The painting was done by Elaine Badgley Aarnaux. While her website is sparse, this article from the San Francisco Chronicle is charming and revealing about the lady:

Elaine Badgley Arnoux, painter of mayors
By Sam Whiting
Thursday, November 1, 2012

Each mayor of San Francisco receives a letter from Elaine Badgley Arnoux with an invitation to sit for a portrait. The strategy has worked for every mayor going back toDianne Feinstein. Badgley Arnoux (her professional name), 86, would now like to advance to governors, starting with Jerry Brown.

Q: Describe your occupation?

A: I am a professional painter. In 1985, I did 100 people in San Francisco, which was shown at City Hall in 2001. I’ve painted 190 portraits of San Franciscans over a 30-year period.

Q: How do you pick your subjects?

A: Carefully. I spend a lot time debating within myself. It is based on how this person relates to the whole feeling. The shoeshine man, for instance, at Second and Townsend. Most everybody knows him who goes to the ballpark.

Q: You set up an easel where you find them on the street?

A: Oh, no. This is one thing I’m very particular about. I really want people to sit for me, so they come to my studio.

Q: How long do they have to sit there?

A: If I’m very direct that day, I can do someone in two hours.

Q: How do you know when the time is right?

A: I’m certain within myself that now I want to do this mayor. It might be after they retire and it might be before they are elected. I was able to find George Christopher after he was out of office.

Q: What was the most recent portrait you did?

A: Eight months ago, I did George Moscone. I found an excellent photograph and was able to draw him and show it to his family before it was shown in City Hall.

Q: How did Mayor Ed Lee react to the finished product?

A: He was absolutely delighted, and he was delightful to work with. He came to my studio twice.

Q: Who was the least delightful to work with?

A: Oddly enough, Willie Brown, who is generally very effusive. It was before he was mayor. He came to my studio because he was told to come, and he didn’t say a word, not one word during the whole sitting.

Q: Which mayor was most difficult?

A: The portrait of Gavin Newsom was the most difficult because he doesn’t really stand still. He moves and moves and moves.

Q: Have another mayor portrait in you?

A: Not a mayor but a governor. I would very much like to do the portrait of Gov. (Jerry) Brown. I think he has an interesting face.

Q: Latest project?

A: It’s not portraiture. It’s figurative paintings and sculptural entities. I’m going to be in a group show at a new gallery in Burlingame. It is called Gallerie Citi. I’m going to be showing a three-dimensional sculpture that includes a donkey, an elephant and Mother Goose all having tea in a voting booth.

Q: Where do you live?

A: My husband and I live in the Golden Gateway, on the sixth floor. We look out at the bridge.

Q: What is your husband’s name?

A: Harold Kozloff.

Q: So were you Elaine Badgley growing up?

A: Now we’re going to get into a sticky wicket. I was Elaine Harper. Then I was Elaine Stranahan. Then I was Elaine Badgley. Then I was Elaine Arnoux. Now I’m Elaine Kozloff. Take a deep breath.

Q: What would you buy if you could?

A: A condominium in San Francisco on a hill so that the earthquake would not topple us down.

Q: When did you arrive in San Francisco?

A: It was 1964.

Q: What do you miss about old San Francisco?

A: The buildings are now so high that they are diminishing the character of the architecture.

Q: What is the key to longevity?

A: You just work all the time, and you work with people and they give you so much of themselves. So you have a thread that goes from one person to another until it becomes a community and a city and a life.

The paining shown above was done in 1981.

Goddess of Progress

Posted by Cindy on January 29, 2014

Jan 292014

City Hall
South Light Court

Goddess of Progress by F. Marion Wells

The plaque that accompanies her reads: On April 17, 1906, the dome atop San Francisco’s City Hall that was completed in 1896 supported a twenty foot statue by F. Marion Wells. The Goddess of Progress, with lightbulbs in her hair, held a torch aloft in her right hand, causing some contemporary counts to refer to it as the Goddess of Liberty. The statue was so securely mounted that on April 18, 1906, when City Hall and the city around it lay in ruins from the great earthquake-fire, it continued to stand at the peak of the now exposed steel tower. After workmen brought it down from the precarious perch when the building was finally torn down in 1909 the statue fell from a wagon and the 700-pound head broke off.

***

It is my understanding that the whereabouts of the body is unknown.

Photo courtesy of the San Francisco Public Library taken in 1906

Francis Marion Wells was born in Pennsylvania in 1848. Wells arrived in San Francisco about 1870 and was a cofounder of the Bohemian Club in 1872. He was Douglas Tilden’s first teacher in 1883 and the following year was commissioned to do a bust of Hawaii’s King David Kalakua who was visiting in Oakland. Wells was active in the local art scene as a teacher as well as a producer of portrait busts and bas reliefs.

Once a very wealthy man, he fell on hard times, as this article from the San Francisco Call of July 14, 1903 attests:

FRANCIS MARION WELLS FORCED TO ENTER THE COUNTY HOSPITAL

Well-Known Sculptor, Artist, Literateur and Former Club Man, Afflicted by Illness, Compelled to Ask Municipality for Help

FRANCIS MARION WELLS, sculptor, literateur, club member and well-known man about town, was forced by dire illness and strain of circumstances to apply for admission to the City and County Hospital yesterday. He is now lying there in a helpless and pitiable state. Not one single friend came to him in his distress, although when in affluent circumstances his beautiful home and grounds at Berkeley were filled with those who enjoyed the royal hospitality that they were always welcome to there.

Broken in spirit, sick nigh unto death, his arms paralyzed, his mind partially deranged from his sufferings, he was compelled to seek the only relief at hand and become a ward of the city. His faithful wife has struggled nobly during his four months illness. He has been during all that time entirely, helpless, the result of five apoplectic shocks.

Two months ago, to save the family from actual starvation, Mrs. Wells took a position as housekeeper at the Vienna Lodging-house, 533 Broadway, where, with their two young sons, she was just enabled to make enough to keep the wolf from the door. As she had to do the entire work of twenty rooms and also cooking for the family, she had no time to give her husband the constant nursing that his case required, but was by his side whenever she could steal a moment from her work.

Yesterday afternoon when the ambulance came to take Wells away he said: “I hope there won’t be a crowd to see me put into the ambulance, as I don’t want the people to see me in this poverty stricken condition.” This was too much for his wife to bear, and she borrowed $2 from some kind neighbors, a hack was procured and the sufferer was, carried down the rickety stairs and placed in it. His wife and sons accompanied him, to the hospital and made him as comfortable there as possible and then bade him farewell and returned to their humble lodgings.

Mrs. Wells, who is a highly educated and refined Parisian, is broken hearted over the thought of his position.” She said with tears streaming down her pale face: “I do not care for myself; I am young and can work for my two boys, but to think that my husband’s friends should allow him to become a burden to the city is almost more than I can bear. When we were in deep distress, surrounded, by poverty and sickness, I wrote to several of his former wealthy, old-time and intimate friends in the Bohemian Club to come to his relief with food and medical attendance, but not one of them replied. I did not ask for anything for myself, only for him, and that appeal they refused him. Today he fainted four times on the way to the hospital, and when I left him he was almost, unconscious. Oh! I do not want him to die there. Don’t you think some of his old friends will do something for him and put him into a private sanitarium where his last hours can be spent?

RUINED BY SPECULATION.

“We have been very unfortunate.. When I came from Paris, fourteen years ago, I brought $60,000 with me and used it in buying property here and then built a beautiful home in Berkeley. All went well until General Ezeta persuaded us to go into his San Salvador scheme, and he was so persuasive that we put in $40,000— and we lost every cent of it.

Bad luck followed, we mortgaged our home; and lost it. Then I commenced to sell my jewels. My $8000 diamond necklace, which my mother gave me, I pawned for $1200. I had hoped to redeem it, although Mr. Shreve had offered to buy it for $5000. Little by little everything went, and now we are worse than penniless. My husband was always goodness itself to me, and we all love him dearly. My oldest son is 13. He has just ha, the misfortune to cut off the end of his finger. My youngest boy, Emanuel, is 11, and helps me as much as he can. “My husband is a member of the Universal Order of Knight Commanders of the Sun, and here are the original parchments granted him. I think he was also one of the charter members of the Bohemian Club. It is a very sad ending to the life of a man with a brilliant brain, with accomplishments and with so generous and kind a heart for all his friends.

He was born in Louisiana, his father being General Francis Marion Wells, but he was educated in the eastern part of Pennsylvania.

SCULPTOR OF LIBERTY. Marion Wells, as he was called, has been well known here for many years and has been one of the most prominent sculptors in the city. His statue of Liberty on the dome of the City Hall is a fine piece of work and a monument to his abilities. The figure is modeled from his wife and the poise is extremely graceful. The bas relief of John Lick, which was executed at the request of the Lick trustees, and now hangs in the Pioneer Hall, is a splendid likeness of the great philanthropist. The John Marshall monument in Sonora County, erected to commemorate the first discovery of gold in California, also exhibits great talents.

Among other works are the bears over the entrance to the First National Bank, which have marked merit in conception and design. He also did some artistic modeling for the Hibernia Bank, which adds much to the beauty of that handsome structure. The great owl which stands at the top of the grand stairway of the Bohemian Club is also of his handiwork. Other work which has been highly commented upon adorns St. Ignatius Church, the quadrangle and the memorial chapel at Stanford University.
***
Wells Died, July 22, 1903

The head suffered a few indignities on its way to the San Francisco City Hall Museum area.

The head was apparently given to John C. Irvine by former mayor James D. Phelan after it was removed from the old City Hall. It was, later, owned by his son, William Irvine.

It then came into possession of the South of Market Boys who gave it back to the city April 18, 1950, the 44th anniversary of the Great Earthquake.

It was later displayed in Golden Gate Park, then placed in storage.

Seven years later, in 1957, the head was sold, along with several cable cars, at public auction to Knott’s Berry Farm, a Southern California amusement park. It was given back to the city by Knott’s Berry Farm in the mid-1970s.

The goddess was, for many years, displayed at the Fire Department Museum, but was moved in 1993 to the Museum of the City of San Francisco. The goddess was then moved to City Hall in 1998 to celebrate the reopening of the structure after it was repaired following the 1989 earthquake.

Cosmo Cocktails

Posted by Cindy on January 21, 2014

Jan 212014

20 Cosmo Place
Lower Nob Hill/Tenderloin

This unassuming building has been providing fine drinks, food and happiness to San Francisco’s since 1951.

Trader Vic’s opened in Cosmo Alley in 1951. The restaurant was built from an old corrugated parking garage. Passing along the narrow walk way through a tropical garden, customers entered the rustic shed.

This photograph, from the archives of the San Francisco Chronicle (with no caption or story) must show the very beginnings of the place, if not the construction for its opening.

While I spent fond nights there eating Pu pu Platters and downing Trader Vic’s famous Mai Tai’s I never took photographs, so we will have to rely on old photographs for pictures of the interior.

While famous for so many things Trader Vic’s was the first restaurant to serve Queen Elizabeth II. Until her visit with the Reagan’s in 1983 she had never eaten in a restaurant. Sadly Trader Vic’s closed in 1994.

Victor Bergeron, Trader Vic, was also a sculptor and has two sculptures in Golden Gate Park that you can read about here.

Trader Vic’s was replaced with Le Colonial. A fabulous French Vietnamese Restaurant.

San Francisco has so very many hidden treasures, Cosmo Place is no different, who knew you would find so much San Francisco history down an alley such as this.

Caduceus

Posted by Cindy on November 25, 2013

Nov 252013

110 Sutter Street
Financial District

This was originally designed in a skeletal Chicago School manner by the important but little-known firm of Hemenway and Miller and remodeled with an overlay of Beaux-Arts details by architect E. A. Bozio.

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This slightly stuffy, but excellent article, written in 1979, explains the building and its environs perfectly.

In 1902, the architectural supplement to the San Francisco periodical Town Talk called the original design “A modern, superbly appointed, fire-proof building, now in the course of construction.” It was designed for the Bullock and Jones Co., who occupied the lower two floors, with offices above. At that time it was a two-part vertical composition, strongly skeletal in expression with the principal differentiation between the 2-story base and the shaft being the color of the decorative tile cladding. The shaft was terminated in a frieze punctuated by small round windows recalling Sullivan’s Guaranty and Wainright buildings, among others. Ornamentation was Renaissance/Baroque, applied in a purely decorative manner except in the traditional cornice and cresting. Unfortunately the tile cladding of the steel frame failed in the fire and the exterior was badly damaged. In 1907, it was apparently rebuilt to its original design.

At some point after 1907 the building was taken over by the French American Bank. In 1913, it was enlarged and remodeled by E. A. Bozio for the French Bank. As remodeled, although the facade was still skeletal, its composition and ornamentation became even more elaborate and its base and columns were treated as rusticated masonry. Piers were clad in gray Colusa sandstone; spandrels and cornice were copper. The design and placement of the decorative iron grilles above the spandrels are taken directly from Ernest Flagg’s first Singer Building in New York, of 1904, as is a certain quality of the overall conception, albeit in miniature. The building was extended for three bays down Trinity Street and is fully ornamented for the length of that alley facade. Although part of that facade is hidden by the California Pacific Building, much of it is visible above the low buildings on Montgomery Street. The small but sumptuous marble banking hall, with its coffered ceiling, has been partially remodeled. In composition, the present building is a three-part vertical block.

Apart from its great architectural value, the French Bank (now the French branch of the Bank of America) is extremely important as a supportive structure to the Hallidie Building and as a part of one of the finest rows of buildings in downtown San Francisco in this block of Sutter (and extending west another block to Grant). The block can be viewed as a capsule history of downtown San Francisco architecture which has come together in an aesthetically highly successful group. This building represents both the skeletal, Chicago-derived aspect of the city’s buildings and the influence of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and also serves as an integral element in the progressively taller buildings on the block whose cornices change in design and color at every step.

Michael R. Corbett – 1979 Splendid Survivors: San Francisco’s Downtown Architectural Heritage Hemenway & Miller designed several significant buildings in San Francisco during the first decade of the twentieth century. Comprised of architects Sylvester W. Hemenway and Washington J. Miller, the firm was responsible for several prominent pre-quake commercial buildings in downtown San Francisco including the Aronson building at the corner of 3rd and Mission, also done in the Chicago Style.

The ground floor columns display a handsome scrolled shield with a caduceus, the symbol of Mercury, the god of commerce.

One of only Two Octagonal Houses in San Francisco

Posted by Cindy on November 22, 2013

Nov 222013

1067 Green Street
Russian Hill

The Feusier Octagon House, built between 1857 and 1858, is one of only two surviving octagon plan houses in San Francisco. The other is the Colonial Dames Octagon on Gough Street. Both Houses retain their original exterior construction and reflect their eight-sided shape in the interior. This house was originally two stories and copied from a plan in a book on octagon houses by Orson Squire Fowler.

Phrenologist, Orson Squire Fowler published The Octagon House: A Home For All, or A New, Cheap, Convenient, and Superior Mode of Building in 1848. He started a 19th century fad in house building. Fowler maintained that the most efficient shape for a house is a circle, but that an octagonal house is almost as efficient and much easier to build, especially for carpenters of that period with their expertise in bay windows, towers, turrets and other fashionable follies. According to Fowler, octagons enclose more space with less material, provide more light and are more efficiently heated in winter and cooled in summer.

The house, originally built by George Kenny, his grandson Robert W. Kenny was Attorney General of California from 1943 to 1947. George Kenny was an agent for H. H. Bancroft, the famous bookseller, publisher and historian. (The Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley, named in his honor, was founded when the University of California purchased his book collection in 1905.)

The house was sold to San Francisco businessman Louis Feusier in 1875, and his family remained there until they sold it in 1954.

According to the family history, Louis Feusier arrived in California about 1852, spent the years 1857-1867 in Nevada, and then returned to San Francisco, later marrying Louise Guerne, daughter of the pioneer for whom Guerneville was named.

Feusier is said to have been a companion of such San Francisco notables as Leland Stanford and Mark Twain. Feusier’s many business interests include wholesale produce, mining, salmon canning, winemaking, and importation of oriental goods. His wife Louise lived in the house until her death, as did their son Clarence who died in 1951. In 1954 the Feusier Octagon was sold by the family.

The original two-story house was modified late in the century when the Feusiers added a third story with Mansard roof, topped by an octagonal cupola. Like other buildings on Russian Hill, the Feusier House escaped the 1906 Earthquake, but because of the fire, the outbuildings were dynamited but the main house was saved.

It is San Francisco Landmark 36. On March 24, 1974, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The House was listed for sale in 2012 for 5.2 million. These pictures are from that real estate listing.

Bernstein’s Fish Grotto

Posted by Cindy on November 21, 2013

Nov 212013

123 Powell Street
San Francisco

Bernstein’s Fish Grotto was opened by Maurice Bernstein (1886-1932) in 1907. It was known for its unique entrance, a ship’s bow jutting into the sidewalk. The ship was a faithful reproduction of Christopher Columbus’s Nina. Inside the restaurant, the marine theme continued. Bernstein’s had seven colorful dining rooms: the Fisherman’s Cave, the Pilot Room, the Sun Deck, the Main Salon, the Cabin Nooks, the Upper Deck, and the Porthole Counter.

Located near the end of the Powell cable car line, the Grotto was a popular tourist attraction for many years.

Advertising called it “The Ship that Never Sailed.” Despite the fact that the restaurant never saw the sea, they did serve fresh fish and a number of signature dishes. Maurice Bernstein was an Oakland fish merchant who ran a number of eateries in the Bay Area. According to San Francisco’s Lost Landmarks the Fish Grotto served three dishes found nowhere else in the city: abalone steaks, mussels bordelaise and and coo-coo clams (from Coo-Coo Cove).

Bernstein’s Fish Grotto closed in 1981

In 1988 the owners of the Mermaid Seafood Bar and Bar opened across the street. Michael H. Casey Designs was asked to make a mold of the original and repair the original.

She sat outside for many years with a plaque that read:
We dedicate the opening of the Mermaid Seafood Bar and Bar at the Hotel Union Square with this mermaid whose journey began across the street at Bernstein’s Fish Grotto in 1907. Though she has lain dormant for many years, she is again ready to lift the spirits of those who sight her and welcome them for a respite from the sidewalk seas. May she again shine like a beacon in this city’s future as well as illuminate the memories of her past.
February 1989

The restaurant has since closed and I have no idea where the original went, but I know where a copy graces someone’s backyard.

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