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Building History

This exclusive men’s club formed as the result of an 1889 combination of two elite social organizations in San Francisco, CA, the Pacific Club (established in 1852) and the Union Club (begun in 1854). It occupied this location from 1889 until about 1909.

Following the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, the club considered building a new clubhouse, and held a competition for its design, obtaining entries from San Francisco's leading architectural firms, including Clinton Day, Albert Pissis, Reid Brothers and others. The cost of erecting a new building proved too great in the wake of the Earthquake, as the rush to rebuild caused the inflation of building material prices in the Bay Area.

The Club, instead, bought the burned out shell of the former James Flood House on Nob Hill, and hired architect Willis Polk (1867-1924), of D.H. Burnham and Company, to remodel it.

Building Notes

The 1906 Earthquake and Fire did not do much outward damage to the Pacific Union Club Clubhouse #1. An eyewitness account by San Francisco Mayor Eugene E. Schmitz (1864-1928), said this of the building: "At the Pacific Union Club I found that the damage done by the earthquake was trifling. There was a little gap in the firewall of the light well in the eastern side of the building, and a red sandstone key-piece had been shaken out from the window of the room occupied by Mr. Horace Platt on the Stockton Street side. Some of the plaster on the main staircase also was cracked; but nothing had happened that would materially interfere with the regular routine of the establishment. The elevator was running, and was kept running most of the day; lunch and dinner were served as usual.” (See Eugene E. Schmitz, quoted in Three Fearful Days, San Francisco Memoirs of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, Malcolm E. Barker, ed., [San Francisco: Londonborn Publications, 1998], p. 106.) Why San Francisco's mayor would spend time assessing the condition of a wealthy man's social club in the hours after such a dire event seems odd, but might indicate something about his social and political priorities.

It is likely that the damage was a bit more serious than Schmitz detected, as the Pacific Union Club sold the building soon after. The clubhouse became remodeled into a large furniture store in about 1909. (See “Pacific Coast,” Domestic Engineering, vol. XLIX, no, 3, 10/14/1909, p. 76.)

PCAD id: 23412