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Overview

Early Anglo-American immigrant to San Francisco, Maine-born Samuel Brannan, financed the erection of the four-story Express Building begun in 1853 and completed the following year. Composed of granite, the Express Block at first housed the offices of Wells, Farge and Company, the Atlantic and Pacific Express Company and Pollard and Company.

Building History

In 1865, Samuel Brannan (1819-1889), an early Mormon settler who arrived in San Francisco, CA, in 1846, owned the Express Building. He has been credited with being the earliest communicator to the world about the Gold Rush and being the state's first millionaire. Brannan left San Francisco after a prolonged and costly divorce in 1866 required him to sell most of his real estate assets. He moved to Mexico and then Southern CA, and passed away in Escondido, CA, at the age of 70, greatly reduced in wealth.

In the 1850s and 1860s, Brannan was one of California's wealthiest men, owning large real estate holdings in San Francisco, Sacramento and Calistoga. Brannan owned two other buildings nearby to the Express Block on Montgomery Street, one which contained the store of William Schmolz, and the other being the Armory Building, completed in 1853.

Building Notes

In 1854, Pollard and Company, real estate agents and auctioneers, occupied Office #102 of the Express Building. (See Pollard & Co. ad, Daily Alta California, vol. 5, no. 64, 03/06/1854, p. 3.)

Beginning on 06/21/1855, the Mechanics' Institute rented a room on the Express Building's fourth floor for its small library. It used this room for about one year, before moving to other quarters.

In 1864, the Whitman Gold and Silver Mining Company occupied Room #10 of the Express Building. (See Whitman Gold and Silver Mining Company classified ad,Daily Alta California, vol. 16, no. 5084, 01/31/1864, p. 2.) In 1868, the North Star Gold Mining Company occupied this same room. ("Stockholder's Notice, North Star Gold Mining Company," Daily Alta California, vol. 20, no. 6642, 05/13/1868, p. 2.)

PCAD id: 20928