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Overview

Built by one of the Central Pacific Railroad's Big Four, Charles Crocker, for his son William H. Crocker, this grand Richardsonian Romanesque residence stood for about 18 years before being destroyed in the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire or 04/18-19/1906.

Building History

Charles Crocker (1822-1888), one of the owners of the Central Pacific Railroad, erected this 3-story dwelling as a wedding present for his son the banker William Henry Crocker (1861–1937), on the family's large Nob Hill property demarcated by Jones Street, Sacramento Street and Taylor Street. The huge, ornate residence was completed after Charles's death in 1888 and reflected influence of the contemporary Richardsonian Romanesque and Queen Anne Styles popular on the East Coast.

On 10/06/1886, William H. Crocker married Ethel Willard Sperry (born 03/23/1862 in Stockton, CA-d. 07/21/1934 in Hillsborough, CA), the daugther of Simon Willard Sperry, proprietor of the successful Sperry Flour Company in CA, and Elizabeth Barker. (See Louise Pearsons Dolliver,Lineage Book National Society of the Daughters of the american revolution, Vol. XVII, [Washington, DC: Society of the Daughter of the American Revolution, 1904], p. 205.) She and William H. Crocker had three children, Ethel Mary Crocker De Limur (1891-1964), William Willard Crocker (1893-1964) and Helen Crocker Russell (1897-1966).

In 1891, William H. Crocker served as the Cashier of the Crocker-Woolworth National Bank, located at 322 Pine Street in San Francisco. Ralph C. Woolworth was its president in 1891. (See Langley's San Francisco Directory, 1891, p. 414.)

Demolition

The W.H. Crocker House burned in the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 04/18-19/1906. Crocker later donated the property to the local Episcopal Diocese. The Diocese built Grace Cathedral on the site between 1927-1964. Crocker moved his primary residence to Hillsborough, CA, in the 1910s.

PCAD id: 16597