70 Buena Vista Terrace
San Francisco, CA 94117, USA

Delane House - National Register of Historic Places

Statement of Significance:

One of the earliest residences in the old park Hill tract of San Francisco, this predominately Italianate residence with Stick and Classical Revival detailing and ornament is particularly significant for its cast iron column and colonette capitals. It was constructed in 1884 for Mr. and Mrs. Silas L. De Lano and their six (6) children who ranged in age, at that time, from twenty-eight to twelve. That same year, Mr. De Lano and his sons founded De Lano Brothers, a marine service firm specializing in ship tin smithing and plumbing. Although its emphasis has changed with the times and San Francisco's needs, the 98-year-old firm continues in operation today, a San Francisco institution headed by Silas De Lano's great-grandson Robert. During that same 98-year period, the De Lano residence has had only four owners, and only two of those have held the property for any significant period; the De Lano family remained in the house for 38 years until 1922, and members of the present owner's family have lived here for the last 59 years, since 1923.

One of the earliest residences constructed in San Francisco's old Park Hill and Flint Tracts, the De Lano residence was built twenty-six years before the streets surrounding Buena Vista Park were cut through and named and numbered as they are today. Until 1895, the property could only be described as an extension of Broderick Street near Fourteenth Street or Ridley; at that time, the street was named South Broderick and the house was numbered 113 - 115. In 1909, the street was re-named Buena Vista Terrace and the present house number was assigned, probably as a result of the number of new residences constructed along the street about that time.

Architecturally, 70 Buena Vista Terrace is significant for its Italianate styling which combines Classical and Classical Revival detailing with the rectangular, three-story bay tier of the later and then-contemporary Stick Style. Most unusual, however, are the intricately-wrought cast iron Corinthian capitals which surmount wooden columns and colonettes, fluted at the base but smooth above. Cast iron supports and ornament are most often associated with commercial structures, and where employed, their use is total. It is unusual to find cast iron used in residential buildings and rare to find cast iron capping wood members. However, it is more plausible when one considers that the De Lanos were metalsmiths, and that Silas De Lano was also a pattern maker.

The architectural importance of this particular residence to its neighborhood and to San Francisco is borne out by its inclusion in every city-wide architectural survey or inventory. It was first noted in the Barclay - Jones Urban Design Project (1959) where it was cited as an "architecturally important building"; its “. surface qualities" and the fact that it is an "architectural curiosity" were also noted. The Junior League of San Francisco's architectural survey which was published in 1968 as Here Today — San Francisco's ^Architectural Heritage, stressed that it was a good-to-excellent example of its style, of great importance to its neighborhood, and its historical associations with both the De Lano and Calvert families. The Department of City Planning's 1976 Architectural Inventory, which includes only the top 10% of all buildings in the city, noted its environmental importance as well as its facade proportions, richness and excellence of detailing, and its overall architectural quality.

In this instance, the overall architectural significance of 70 Buena Vista Terrace is certainly enhanced by the fact that it served as the focal point of the large De Lano family's activities for thirty-eight years during which the family business, which has operated continuously for 98 years, was founded and grew to be "one of the most prominent identified with the local shipping industry". (San Francisco Call, December 19, 1897.)

The patriarch of the De Lano family, Silas L, was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on August 4, 1831, and married Betsy Jeanette Thompson, born in Elkington Gent^, New York, also in 1831, Family records do not indicate when or why they came to California, but their eldest child, a son Willie Winfrey, was born in September, 1856, in Eagleville near Dunnaville and Goodyears Bar which suggests that they might have been lured by news of the Gold Rush. Their second child was also a son, Francis Marion, who was born in May 1858, their other four children were daughters born between 1864 and 1872, By 1881, the family had moved to San Francisco, and Silas and his two sons were employed by W, S, Ray & Company, purveyors of "caboose, office and cookery stoves, tinware, etc.,", (San Francisco City Directory, 1881,) While employed there, Willie was the foreman, Frank a tinsmith, and Silas a wheel right.

Company records indicate that De Lano Brothers was formed in 1884 at 9 Spear Street, and remained in this same block until 1979, \7hile Willie and Frank, both tinsmiths and plumbers, were the firm’s proprietors, they were joined and assisted by their father Silas, a wheelwright and pattern maker, until his death in 1921, By 1890, De Lano Brothers had outgrown its original space and had moved to a building at 21 Spear Street where the sign over the door announced "ship tinsmiths and plumbers, manufacturers of pumps, water closets, tanks, side lights, lamps, etc.," and "ship stoves, ranges, tinware, crockery, hardware, castings, etc.,"

An article in the San Francisco Gall, December 19, 1897, about the firm states that they are "brass, copper and sheet metal workers, one of the most prominent identified with the local shipping industry, they make a specialty of every description of marine work and do an extensive business in the jobbing line. The fine quality of their goods and the superiority of their workmanship have assisted in placing them at the head of local industries of this nature. Their excellent work is always in evidence on the principal ocean liners, the ferry steamers and the larger ships that ply the waters of the bay.”

By 1899, they were not only "occupying the lower floor of the brick building at 21 Spear" but also had a warehouse across the street; they employed 15 men and two wagons. "They make a specialty of every description of marine work and always carry a large stock of ship hardware on hand," (San Francisco, The Imperial City.)

In 1904, the firm moved once again to 70 Spear Street, a two-story brick building considered architecturally significant both by the Department of City Planning’s Architectural Inventory and the San Francisco Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board. The firm remained in this location until 1979, when the site was purchased and the building demolished for San Francisco’s new Federal Reserve Bank, De Lano Brothers is presently located at 1300 Illinois Street, and specializes in marine, sheet metal and light machine work as it has for the last thirty-two years.

From information in the City Directories, it appears that 70 Buena Vista Terrace functioned as a single-family residence for the expanding De Lano family until 1895 when it became two units. Division of the house to two units may have been necessitated by Willie’s marriage in June 1887, followed by the birth of a son, Milton W. in 1888, and another, Frank B., in 1890, all of which must have strained the capacity of even so large a house. That, coupled with his marriage, may have led Frank to move to his own dwelling in 1897, Then, in 1907 - 1908, Willie and his family moved up hill closer to Buena Vista Park into their own home at 25 Buena Vista Terrace.

Although Mrs. Silas De Lano died in 1910, the family continued to live in the house until two years after Silas De Lano’s death in 1921. In July, 1922, Henrietta Forrest purchased the house, but sold it the following month to H, J, and Anna M, Axt who only owned the property for five months. On January 20, 1923, it was purchased by E, R, Calvert whose wife willed it to her sister, the present owner, upon her death. During World War II, the building was converted from two to three units.