PCAD - Richardson, William Antonio, House, Yerba Buena Plaza, San Francisco, CA

AKA: Government of Mexico, Custom House, Yerba Buena Plaza, San Francisco, CA; United States Government, Department of the Treasury, Custom House #1, Portsmouth Plaza, San Francisco, CA

1839 map by Jean Jacques Vioget of Yerba Buena, showing the houses around Yerba Buena Plaza, including that of William Richardson (center), San Francisco, CA, c. 1839. From the University of California, Berkeley, Bancroft Library, Land Case Map D-913A, accessed 08/22/2023

Engraved view of the Richardson House, Yerba Buena Plaza, San Francisco, CA, c. 1850. From US Government, Department of Customs and Border Protection.gov, "The United States Customhouse in San Francsico: An Illustrated History," accessed 08/22/2023.)

Engraving of the Mexican Custom House, the Plaza, Yerba Buena, CA, (later San Francisco, CA), c. 1845. From Gary Kamiya, San Francisco Chronicle.com, “Just Before the World Rushed in: SF’s Small-town Early Days,” published 08/19/2016, accessed 05/09/2020

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823 Grant Avenue
Yerba Buena Plaza, San Francisco, CA 94108

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This location would become part of San Francisco's Chinatown neighborhood.

Building History

According to a US Government, Department of Customs and Border Protection website on the history of custom houses in San Francisco, this one-story adobe building was erected under the supervision of William Antonio Richardson (1795-1858), an English master mariner who served the Mexican Government in Alta California as San Francisco Bay's harbormaster. Richardson built "La Casa Grande," as it was known informally, in about 06/1835, eleven years before the 200-person settlement of Yerba Buena (later San Francisco) was seized by US Navy sailors and Marines on 07/09/1846. Richardson, was removed as harbormaster and custom house collector in 1847 and replaced by a US Army captain, Joseph Libbey Folsom (1817-1855).

This building served as the US Custom House from 1846 until 06/1850, when American officials built a much larger, four-story building at the corner of Montgomery and California Streets. (See US Government, Department of Customs and Border Protection.gov, "The United States Customhouse in San Francsico: An Illustrated History," accessed 08/22/2023.)

Building Notes

An historical plaque commemorating the site of Richardson's Casa Grande was placed at 823 Grant Street.

PCAD id: 23441

Publications

Hill, Mary, Gold: The California Story, 26, 1999. Wiley, Peter Booth, National Trust Guide San Francisco, 20-21, 2000. Lipsky, Florence, San Francisco La grille sur les collines, 155, 1999.

Links

The United States Customhouse in San Francisco An Illustrated History

Richardson, William Antonio, House, Yerba Buena Plaza, San Francisco, CA (1835) demolished

Publications

Links