1198 Fulton St
San Francisco, CA 94117, USA

William Westerfeld House - National Register of Historic Places

Statement of Significance:

The Westerfeld House appears eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion C because it embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type and period of construction and possesses high artistic merit in its elaborate design, architectural quality and prominent hilltop location and tower. It is widely recognized virtually as a symbol of San Francisco's Victorian architecture. "One of the most picturesque examples of the Stick Italianate Villa is 1198 Fulton Street, the most imposing building in the area. This enormous wood palazzo is the closest San Francisco equivalent to the Carson house in Eureka; both are exceptionally picturesque versions of the towered villa form, here seen in uncompromising Stick expression with the characteristic squared-bay window of the 1880s." (1) It has a high degree of integrity; the rear garage was added before 1912. It possesses some additional significance as probably the largest and most ornate house by prominent and prolific local architect Henry Geilfuss, and as the residence 1896-1918 of John Joseph Mahony, prominent local building contractor.

The house is recognized as local Landmark No. 135, legislated in 1981. It was rated in the highest category on both local citywide surveys, the Junior League survey published as Here Today in 1968 and the San Francisco Department of City Planning's Architectural Survey of 1976. It has been illustrated in twenty different publications, which are listed on the Continuation Sheets of Block 9, Bibliography. The HABS San Francisco County Projects include reference No. "31-119, Mahony residence, northeast corner Fulton and Scott," but it never became a full-fledged HABS listing, probably because no historic photograph was found. As a symbol of San Francisco Victorians, the house is pointed out on bus tours, the drivers know where to stop for the best photographs of it, it is shown in tourist publications, and there is a popular postcard of it (copy enclosed).

Construction of the house, from the framing on up, was announced in The California Architect and Building News in March 1889, at a cost of $9,985, which was double or treble the cost of an ordinary speculative house at the time. That it was out of the ordinary for its time is further shown in the court order confirming sale of the house by the first owner's estate seven years later:

It further appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the premises aforesaid is a large establishment to maintain which requires a much larger expense than said widow and her family can afford or than their means would justify and that it is also beyond the requirements and desires of the family and it also appearing that said premises are appraised herein at the sum of $15,000, and are worth that amount, that therefore they are too valuable in proportion to the total value of said estate to be set aside as a homestead.
The house is named for the owner who commissioned its construction and was, with his family, its first resident. William Westerfeld (c. 1843-1895), a baker and confectioner, had owned his business, in partnership or alone, since 1875. He had come to California at the age of 15 and had learned his trade from an uncle who had arrived earlier. He was born in Bremen, Germany, and belonged to several of San Francisco's German organizations. He was well respected in the community. The house at Fulton and Scott may have been the first one he owned, as his address had previously been changing every 2-3 years. The elaborateness of the house may represent both Westerfeld's prosperity at the time of construction and the traditional elaborateness of his major product, wedding cakes and other confectionery.

Architect Henry, or Heinrich, Geilfuss (1850-C.1913, active c. 1876-c. 1913) was one of San Francisco's more prolific 19th-century architects. His listings in Snyder's Partial Index to the "California Architect and Building News" cover 18 pages, his paid biography was printed in a contemporary history book, and half a dozen of his works are recorded in Here Today. (4) Born and trained in Germany, he is known for other San Francisco Landmarks 824 Grove, 294 Page, and St. Mark's Lutheran Church, for packing company buildings at 1050 Battery and 55 Union, and for many residences such as 1367 Oak, 821, 829, 1040, 1048 and 1056 Fulton. The Westerfeld House is probably the largest and most ornate residence he ever designed.

The second owner of the house, John Joseph Mahony (c. 1843-1918), is significant as half of the Mahony Brothers (Jeremiah and John J.), major San Francisco building contractors from about 1875 to about 1909. Extrapolation from their occupations prior to their partnership suggests that Jeremiah, who was listed in directories as a carpenter, probably specialized in the structural part of their construction business; whereas John J. Mahony, who had been a gilder and then one of two partners in a firm that imported mirrors and picture frames, probably supervised the financial and sales aspects and perhaps also the interior finishing. Mahony Brothers played an important role in the rebuilding of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and fire, which has been described by Michael Corbett:

The reconstruction of San Francisco was an astonishing accomplishment to all who had seen the devastation—and to the country at large. By August 1907, a year and three months after the earthquake, 6000 buildings had been constructed and 3000 more were under construction. In three years, by 1909, the city was considered rebuilt. Although there were still vacant lots downtown, it was largely built up, including many large new buildings. The shells of the devastation were no longer in evidence, business could be carried on normally, and to the first-time visitor there was little that was likely to suggest the recent disaster. San Francisco was for the second time an instant city, but this time of a different order. Whereas 20,000 people arrived on a barren peninsula in one year in 1849, this time a thoroughly modern city of skyscrapers arose out of the ashes—from devastation to a city of prominence in three years.

To this reconstruction the Mahony Brothers contributed the construction of at least 20 major buildings, for which they were the building contractors. They built office buildings, banks, and hotels. Ten of their downtown buildings are rated 'A', the top category, in the Splendid Survivors survey of downtown buildings: the St. Francis and Palace Hotels, the Bank of California, the Italian-American and Mutual Savings Banks, the Phelan, Flood and Grant Buildings on Market Street, the Head Building on Post, and the Adam Grant building on Sansome. Three more are rated 'B'. The quality of their buildings is demonstrated by the fact that only four of the 20 have been demolished or altered beyond recognition. The outstanding architects with whom the Mahony Brothers worked included Albert Pissis, Bliss and Faville, William Curlett, John Galen Howard, and Lewis P. Hobart.

There is no body of research on other contractors of the 1906-1909 reconstruction period. Construction of the 9000 buildings cited above demanded many builders, but most of them were fully occupied with the 2- to 3-story frame residential buildings that constituted the bulk of the 9000 structures. Among the approximately 340 contractors listed in the 1908 San Francisco Directory, only 27 were listed in large type as general contractors, and probably not all of the 27 were capable of erecting major downtown buildings like those of the Mahony Brothers. Two others do stand out: Thompson-Starrett Company of New York, known to have constructed one A-rated building, three B-rated and two demolished (the Royal Globe Insurance, Tuning, Sherman Clay and Charles H. Schmidt Buildings) of complexity similar to those of the Mahony Brothers; and Healy-Tibbitts Construction Company, which began as bridge builders before 1890 and are known to have worked on two buildings rated A in the Splendid Survivors survey, three rated B and one C (the Phelan, Adam Grant, Gunst, Tillman & Bendel, Levi Strauss and Drexler or Garfield Buildings), plus the Southern Pacific Hospital outside downtown. Some of their contracts were for fireproofing only; the Fuller, Phelan and Adam Grant Buildings had both Healy-Tibbitts and Mahony Brothers as contractors.

Outside the San Francisco reconstruction context, Mahony Brothers were the contractors for such significant buildings as the Hearst Mining Building on the University of California's Berkeley campus, C. W. Dickey's Oakland Bank of Savings, and the Flood and Grant mansions at 2120 and 2200 Broadway, San Francisco. (8) Their partnership was first listed in the San Francisco Directory of 1875, and within five years they had won a $50,000 contract for a 24,000 sq. ft. brick wine depot on Bryant Street. (9) In 1883 came their first $100,000 contract, to build a 3-story brick powerhouse at Sutter and Polk for the Sutter Street Railway's cable car lines. (10) Other major contracts included the Murphy, Grant & Co. Building at the northeast corner of Market and Jones in 1884, and the 1885 St. Dominic's Church.

John J. Mahony's relation to the Westerfeld House is that he bought it in 1896 from William Westerfeld's estate, moved in immediately, remodeled the staircase, and lived in the house both during his firm's participation in the post-fire reconstruction of San Francisco and until his death in 1918.

Westerfeld House was the home of the Russian Club of San Francisco, a social center for emigres, during the 1930s. Their scrapbook, now in possession of the Russian Center on Sutter Street, contains snapshots taken in both parlors, the hall, the ballroom with a billiards table, and another room.

The house may someday become significant also for some of its tenants in the "hippie" era of the 1960s. Tom Wolfe described the building as the house of an early commune (1965-1967) called the Calliope Company, led by Bill Tara, an actor who brought in CORE (Congress Of Racial Equality) worker Paul Hawken, plus Michael Eaton, Jack the Fluke, and others. They called the house "The Russian Embassy," doubtless a reflection of the Russian Club. In 1967 Tara's commune was evicted by a hopeful new owner, who replaced them with Kenneth Anger. Underground cinema producer of such films as Scorpio Rising. Inauguration of the Pleasure Principle and The Acid Test. Anger was also interested in magic and satanism, and he brought in Anton LeVey, head priest of the Church of Satan. Anger filmed The Invocation of My Demon Brother in the Westerfeld House in 1969; its sound track is by Mick dagger of The Rolling Stones. Another inhabitant at this time was Bobby (Robert Kennet) Beausoleil, of the rock groups "The Magic Powerhouse of Oz" and "The Orkustra." Beausoleil became a member of the Manson Family, probably introduced its leader Charles Manson into this house, and is now in prison for the murder of Gary Hinman in connection with the Manson Family murders. This second group was in turn evicted in 1969 by new owners who proceeded to begin rehabilitation of the house.

Family Home

My mother's father and mother owned this property, Burnice Blackburn and Virginia Blackburn. My mother had three sisters, they all grew up there. I was born in 1959 at that time I also lived there. The Sales Ledger is the only proof of their owning the property. After Burnice Blackburn restored the property he was forced to sell the home to the city. I have submitted copy of Original source.

Westerfeld House, 1198 Fulton St San Francisco, San Francisco County, CA

HABS CA-2218