- San Francisco.
According to the Argonaut article Spring 2011 by Ruth Donohue: The oldest and grandest octagon built on Russian Hill, known as the John Bull house, was demolished around 1905. It had previously been thought to be the Feusier home pre mansard roof, because 2 octagons stood atop Russian Hill. See the 1862 map for an image of the 2 houses marked 1B .
Photo 1 A showing the house was taken by Nathan M Klain.
Confusion came from the similarity of the Klain photo and the Feusier today which shares many architectural similarities. The brackets below roof line, double windows and 2nd floor balcony. The 1862 map image shows both houses have these elements. Possibly they used the same architect.
New Yorker John W Harker is shown to be living here by 1858. He opened a bank in 1861 but was charged with concealing assets and had to flee the city with his wife.
Subsequently the home was owned by coal merchant George Fitch who came from England from pre 1871 to beyond 1890; most likely until it was razed. Englishman were nicknamed John Bulls—hence the name for the home. No one named John Bull resided here. Fitch's daughter was married there according to splashy news article but by 1905 it was replaced with a different, multi-story house according to Sanborn maps.
Feusier and Bull/Harker house are the oldest in city. This is the best info on the Bull house to date .
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
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1A - Nathan M. Klain
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1899
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1887
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Source: Ellen Puerzer
Entered: September, 2011.
Updated: January, 2015
Updated: September, 2016
- San Francisco. 1067 Green St. Built in 1858
GPS coordinates: 37.79835 -122.41677
George Kenny, a produce merchant, built this octagon house and city directories record him here until 1873. The original address ws 1027 Green Street. It stood on Russian Hill a neighbor to the John Bull/Harker house mentioned above. See photo 2A. It was 2 stories with a small widow’s walk originally. See image 2 B and note the balcony on left side of house still there today. This house with balcony below double windows, and brackets under roof is similar to the Bull/Harker home. Perhaps they used the same architect.
After mining Kenny went into the bookselling business. After 1873 he sold the octagon to a French family, the Louis Feusiers who occupied the home for many years. He was a wholesale grocer. The story goes while Mme. Feusier was paying a visit to France, her husband as a surprise, added the octagonal mansard roof story This was a popular architectural feature added to many houses in the 1870s. It gave the family more room. A narrow tower also mansard roofed, stood at the apex.
The house and tower was one of the few to survive the 1906 earthquake/fire. It is unknown when the tower was truncated into a cupola. In 1970 the owner planned to raze it for a high-rise apartment. Fortunately it was saved although currently it is sandwiched between 2 high rises.
The images below show the house over the years. As of year 2011 the house appears to
be in excellent condition.
Left click on the image below for a larger version.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
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1950
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1971
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1906
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February 12, 1868
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1905 Sanborn map
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1899
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1948
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1971
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c2013
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1909
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1886 & 1905
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Sources: Ellen Puerzer
Entered: September, 2011.
Updated: November, 2011
Updated: July, 2012
Updated: August, 2013
Updated: December, 2013
Updated: April, 2014
Updated: January, 2015
Updated: September, 2015
Updated: November, 2015
Updated: April, 2016
Updated: September, 2018
Updated: May, 2021
- San Francisco.
The William C. McElroy Octagon was built in 1861. Located at 2618 Gough Street in 1905, it was moved to 2646 Gough Street after the 1906 earthquake. It was erected as a rather simple 2-story house with cupola, and had stucco exterior with quoins at the corners. McElroy, a miller, married Harriet Shober in 1859. She owned the land they built their octagon on,in what was called Cow Hollow. It’s original location was the E. side of Gough St. at Union (then called Presidio Rd. Nothing of this history was known until 1953 when a time capsule hidden in the home by McElroy was discovered. His death in 1869 left his widow and their adopted daughter Emma Eliza as owners. She was a teacher and Harriet owned $30,000 worth of property. Still they opened the home to boarders among them dressmaker Ameila Woolf, and launryman Leopold Bower. Eliza married Samuel Tallman, grocery-merchant in 1882. He died in 1887 and she married again in 1889; attorney Abraham Van Duzer. They resided in his home on Guerrero St. In 1890 Harriet moved in with them and rented out the octagon house. Journalist Daniel O”Connell and family resided here 1891-92. Wine merchant Firenzo Cavagnaro and wife Magdalen lived in the home through 1907. It suffered extensive damage in the 1906 earthquake that leveled much of the city and they relocated during rebuilding. . Entire walls of the home collapsed, exposing the interior. When it was rebuilt, scored exterior vertical wood replaced the stucco siding and quoins once more framed each corner. Emma Eliza had inherited following her mother’s death in 1899. Her step-daughter Kate Van Duzer inherited the home and sold it to Pacific Gas & Electric in 1924. It was rented from 1910 to 1949 to Customs Court Clerk Augustine Riley. His 3 daughters inherited following his death and were extremely reclusive. It was vacant and deteriorating from 1949 to 1952 and PG&E took bids to raze the home. The Colonial Dames purchased it for a $1 plus moving costs and it’s new location was the west side of Gough st. At this time alterations were made—the central staircase removed to create one large room out of the 4 original rooms . Upstairs 3 original rooms and the triangular rooms remained. (source: The Argonaut Spring 2011 issue.)
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
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c1930s - WPA photo.
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1906
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1905 - before the earthquake
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Source: Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: September, 2011.
Updated: January, 2012
Updated: September, 2013
Updated: October, 2013
Updated: April, 2014
Updated: September, 2014
Updated: January, 2015
Updated: February, 2016
Updated: September, 2018
- San Francisco.
An octagon house stood on Leavenworth Street (corner of 1000 Lombard) built 1859 by Maine-born Arden Ellis and known as the Octagon Boarding house. He died in 1872 leaving octagon home to wife Margaret who ran a boarding house thru 1890s albeit not in the octagon which appears to have been razed circa 1876. It was similar to the Gough street octagon with quoins on the corners. It appears on a 19th century birdseye-view map but not on 1899 Sanborn map.
1880 directory shows Mrs Margaret M Ellis (widow) living at 1010 Lombard which is no longer octagon shaped nor on the corner. So this dates the octagons demise to 1870s.
Maggie still there at 1010 in 1904 - gone by 1905
It is shown on an 1862 Gifford Map (attached.)
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
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January 3, 1861
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1862
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1862
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Source: Ellen Puerzer
Entered: September, 2011.
Updated: January, 2015
- San Francisco. Palmer House. Built pre-1856. 2nd Street, between Harrison and Folsom. Now gone.
An octagon built on Rincon Hill near the Second Street Bridge is known as the Cyrus Palmer House. It appears in pictures dating from 1856 so probably is earlier built. He arrived in the city in 1849. He operated a foundry on same lot just below the house. In 1865 he was sued by one George Donner. In 1903 his son Wales sold the property to the Schilling family who were in coffee and spices. By 1899 the Schilling factory resided on the octagon house lot and it was gone. It was a large 2-story home with a baluster atop the first floor porch and around the roof. Each of 8 walls had a pair of windows. There was a small addition on one side. An 1868 photo at left. The Henry B Wyman’s may also have resided in this house pre 1900. By 1899 sanborn maps it was gone. (move the 2 photos we have of Harrison St into position #3.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Sources: Ellen Puerzer
Entered: September, 2011.
Updated: January, 2015
Updated: October, 2018
- San Francisco. Octagon house. Also served as a lookout station.
Built in 1927. Now owned by the Golden Gate National Recration Area. The house
was used to watch for ships, and announce their arrival to companies so they
could be unloaded or otherwise handled. One might have thougth that radio would
have served that purpose by 1927, but for some reason the system of lookout
stations was still in operation.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Source: Ellen Puerzer
Entered: December 31, 2009.
- San Francisco Octagon house.
Photo,July 13, 1952 shows a two story, shingled tea house on Fallon Place, on San Francisco's Russian Hill. It sat below the Verdier Mansion (extant), at 1001 Vallejo Street. According to rumor, Sally Stanford ran her brothel here for a period. It was a residence as seen by the drawings of floor plan.
It was occupied by Styles Dickenson, an artist at one time and in 1952, an architectural designer, named David Stovel, moved in and improved the property. Its known to have existed on an 1899 sanborn map.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
July 13, 1952.
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Source: Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: February, 2017.
- Glen Ellen Octagon house.
Built in 1900. Located at 4100 Wake Robin Drive.
The house was known as Wake Robin Lodge. It was a favorite place of author Jack London, who
eventually settled there.
GPS coordinates: 38.368748, -122.539299
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Source: Ellen Puerzer.
Entered May, 2013.
- Monte Rio Octagon house.
Built in 1904. Located at 22292 Moscow Road, on the Russian River. Extant.
1985 picture. One riverfront octagon house was built near Monte Rio in 1904 as
the summer home of T.M. McLauchlan, a wealthy San Francisco contractor.
After McLauchlan died it was passed on to his daughter Elizabeth, who led a
lavish, worldly lifestyle. The house was also known as "The Prior Place,"
according to a Press Democrat report. It had stained glass windows and no
hallways, and it appears to currently be a private residence. From Press D
emocrat.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Source: Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: July, 2019.
Updated: June, 2022
- Two Rock. A.k.a. Petaluma. Octagon house. The house was built about 1857
by Charles Blackburn, who came west in 1852 in the same wagon train
as Silas and Nancy Martin. A diary suggests the Martin's lived in
the house by 1857. Located at about 3925 Spring Hill Road.
GPS coordinates: 38.242494, -122.752694.
Evelyn McClure relates the following
information:
He was born in Kentucky but moved to
Illinois at age 4. he learned the harness making trade. he served as justice
of the peace in Iowa and California. He served a term in the CA State
Legislature from 1867 and in 1882. a charter member of the Grange and Odd
Fellows and a deacon of the Presbyterian Church. He established a dairy herd
on 326 acres in Two Rock in 1853. Silas married Nancy Cameron of Illinois.
they had 4 daughters and 2 sons. Silas Martin died in 1894.
The house stood vacant for a about a 20 year period, but miraculously was
not badly vandalized, and was then occupied by Harold Martin, a great
grandson of Silas Martin, in 1946.
Two story, with a large cupola,
the house no longer has the porch which extended
entirely around it. There is a spiral staircase to the second
floor from a circular hallway in the center of the house.
According to information supply by Carolyn Winters, a great great
granddaughter of Silas Martin, and who lived in the house starting
in 1946, the seventh generation of martins is living in the house today.
The images below show the house over the years. For now, no more current
photograph is available here, and the most current one that is available shows the
house has entirely lost the elaborate porch. The photo at the right does not
show steps by the door. There is a curtain the window above the door, suggesting
the house is lived in, but no indication of power lines in this view.
And there appears to have been a lot of repair done to the stucco, and more
needed, for example on both sides of the door. Being in California probably
saved the house at all during it's 20 years of being empty. That vandals did not
tear the house apart is all the more amazing.
Left click on the image below for a larger version.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
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1993
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1993
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Restoration work
in progress.
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Restoration work
in progress. 2011
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1955
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1973
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Charles Blackburn, builder.
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Two photographs above show that serious restoration work
has begun on the hows as of year 2011. The photograph
reported to be Charles Blackburn appears to have time
frame issues.
Satellite images, showing the context of the house.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Sources: Evelyn McClure, who also supplied photographs,and
"The Valley of the Trail Between the Two Rocks,"
by Margaret Martin Paull, self published, 1993.
Carolyn Martin Winters, a great granddaughter of the builder, Silas Martin.
Vanessa Pritchard supplied the 2007 B&W photograph.
Dale Travis located the satellite image. Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: February, 2003.
Updated: October, 2003.
Updated: January, 2007.
Updated: November, 2011
Updated: December, 2012
