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Overview

Architect A. Page Brown (1859-1896) designed this residence for Alban Nelson Towne (1829-1896) in the Colonial Revival Style, one of the first examples in the city. Brown, a New Yorker recently transplanted to San Francisco, kept current with the latest stylistic trends in architecture, and helped originate one, the Mission Revival Style. Brown searched for original and authentic American architectural styles, modes of expression that would represent the varied identities of the diverse, increasingly powerful and self-aware United States of the 1880s and 1890s.

Building History

Alban Nelson Towne (born 05/26/1829 in Worcester County, MA-d. 07/16/1895 in San Francisco, CA) worked, by 1887, as the General Manager of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, and lived at the Palace Hotel #1. (See San Francisco Directory, 1887, p. 1160.). He held the title of Vice-president by 1890. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation California State Library; Sacramento, California; Great Registers, 1890; Collection Number: 4-2A; CSL Roll Number: 70; FHL Roll Number: 977632, accessed 05/30/2023.) For most of his career with the railroad in San Francisco, Towne and his wife lived in this grand hotel between at least 1878 and 1890.

Four years later, he had been elevated to Second Vice-President and General Manager, Southern Pacific Company, and, with this promotion, he moved to a new residence at 1101 California Street. (See San Francisco Directory, 1891, p. 1356.)

After Towne's death in 1895 at the age of 66, his widow was listed as living in the house at 1101 California Street. (See San Francisco, California, City Directory, 1896, p. 1542.)

Demolition

The Towne House was lost in the Earthquake and Fire of 04/18-19/1906. Only the Ionic columns and entablature framing its front door survived. These entryway remnants were removed and reconstructed on the northwest shore of Lloyd Lake in Golden Gate Park. It became known as the "Portal of the Past." The entablature's balustrade on top was removed when it was rebuilt in the park.

PCAD id: 21452