the homes
1000 Fulton
The Archbishop’s Mansion
Illustrations by Kit Haskell
San Francisco’s second archbishop, Patrick Riordan, selected Catholic church architect Frank Shea to design this handsome French Second Empire structure. Built in 1904, 1000 Fulton survived the 1906 earthquake so well because it was constructed over bedrock and has a wood frame and a steel beam substructure.
Shortly after the quake, the Archbishop turned his mansion over to the Sisters of the Presentation, whose convent on Powell Street had been destroyed in the fire, and moved to San Mateo until the sisters’ new quarters were completed. The last two prelates to reside in the residence were Archbishops Edward Hanna (1915–1935) and John Mitty (1935–1944).
In the 1940s the building became a home for boys who were honor students and orphaned or in placement. In the ’70s, it served as a counseling center and offices for the Westside Lodge of Presbyterian Hospital. And, in the early ’80s, after two years of extensive renovations, its present owners converted the Archbishop’s Residence into an elegant Bed and Breakfast Inn.
Inside are 15 bedrooms with baths, first and second-floor parlors, a dining room that accommodates fifty, 18 fireplaces and a three-story, curved, mahogany staircase surmounted by an exquisite oval, leaded-glass skylight. The Archbishops Mansion has been designated City Landmark #151.
— taken from the Victorian Alliance’s “House Tour in Alamo Square, October 17, 1999”