Collection: Directories and Documents > Pamphlets

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Title: The Whittier Mansion (PH 9-9)(1977) Collection Type: Directories and Documents Collection Name: Pamphlets Catalog #: PH 9-9 Author: California Historical Society Published: 1977 # of Pages: 3 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Metadata By: Shelby Figueroa Printed or handwritten: All printed text Date Scanned: 2024-11-13 12:33:00 Scanned By: Shelby Figueroa Scanning Equipment: CZUR Book Scanner OCR Software Version #: tesseract 5.4.1 Item Sourced From: JPGs First Created: 2025-03-17 05:49:02 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 05:49:02

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

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THE HOUSE Built as a private residence for William Franklin Whittier during the years 1894-1896, this massive red sandstone building is one of the few great houses of the late 19th century to survive in San Francisco. The mansion, which today houses the Northern California Headquarters of the California Historical Society, combines elegant Period-styling with the most modern technology of its time. Designed by the eminent San Francisco architect Edward R. Swain, the house was constructed at a time when picturesque Victorian exteriors were giving way to more Classical building forms. The exterior of the four story, thirty-room mansion has red Arizona sandstone facing set over steel reinforced brick walls, marking one of the first such residences to be erected in San Francisco. Construction was extremely solid and the building suffered only the loss of a chimney during the 1906 earthquake. Original technical features included an Otis hydraulic elevator, an electric converter to change city street-car power to house current, combination gas-and-electric lighting fixtures, a large attic water storage tank, and electric auxiliary heaters. The Living Room But in keeping with 19th century attitudes and aesthetics, utility was carefully masked with ornamentation. Outside, Richardsonian Queen Anne tower forms are given Periodic Classicist and Baroque detailing with no hint of the steel and brick beneath; inside, steel support posts in the Supper Room are covered in scagliola to resemble fine marble columns. The interiors of San Franciso’s greatest houses were often planned for rich visual effects; the Whittier house is an exceptional example of such grandeur, perhaps symbolizing the social aspirations and relatively newly-won wealth of its builder. Extensive handcarved oak, mahogany, birch, and other fine woods used in the paneling and ornamentation complement intricate oak parquet floors, while polished imported marbles &ive elegance to beautifully carved fireplaces. Many original carpets and fixtures remain, although there is little of the original eclectic collection of furniture. Of particular interest are the cut-erystal and silver-plate wall sconces, an octagonal Aubusson carpet, and a rich polychrome arched ceiling done in Turkish style. Living Room fireplace detail THE ARCHITECT Edward R. Swain (1852-1902) was trained in David Farquharson’s office in San Francisco, and began practice for himself in 1877. He worked on a variety of projects throughout the city, including the Ferry Building with A. Page Brown. He designed many of the buildings for the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894, as well as the handsome Park Lodge in Golden Gate Park, in 1896. He moved to Hawaii in his later years and continued practicing in Honolulu. THE BUILDER William Franklin Whittier (1832-1917), a successful early San Francisco merchant, was one of the original partners of Whittier and Fuller Paint & Glass Co., known today as Fuller-O’Brien Paints. In 1854, at the age of twenty-two, Whittier came to San Francisco from his native Vienna, Maine over the Isthmus of Panama. His personal history reflects many of the pivotal events in the growth of San Francisco and California. He served on the “law and order” Committee of Vigilance of 1856; on the Board of Directors of what is now Pacific Gas & Electric; as Finance Chairman of California’s Republican Party; and as a Director of the Midwinter Fair of 1894. He contributed to the rise of large scale agriculture in California when he helped to develop an irrigation system for the Southern California town of Hemet, which he had helped to found In the late 1880’s. Following Whittier’s death in 1917, his youngest daughter, Mattie (Mrs, Boyd Wier), inherited the mansion and used it both as a townhouse and a rental property. Both She and her daughter were married there. In 1941, title passed briefly to Das Deutsches Reich and it Served as the San Francisco consulate of the Nazi re&ime. When the U.S. declared war on Germany, the house was held by the Alien Property Custodian and later by the Attorney General’s Office. It was sold at auction In 1950, From 1952 until 1956, the Whittier House was the headquarters for Mortimer Adler’s Philosophical Institute, where scholars met to discuss and write about the great issues of Western man. In 1956 the building was purchased to serve as the Northern California Headquarters of the California Historical Society, the only state-wide historical society in California. THE CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Founded in 1871, the California Historical Society works to preserve the historical source materials on which cultural understanding and perspective are built; to serve as a clearing house for scholarship that may one day influence the paths of knowledge; and by publicly presenting historical programs, publications, and exhibitions, to enable people to examine, evaluate, and question the intellectual, social, political, technological, and aesthetic traditions that shape their lives in California today. ALL ARE INVITED TO JOIN Members receive the Quarterly, the most important journal of California history published today; the Courier, our lively and informative newspaper, published five times a year; discounts on CHS publications and programs; free admission to the research library and headquarters building. Membership rates and information are available at the Society. Write to: CHS, 2090 Jackson Street, San Francisco, Ca 94109. When in Southern California be sure to visit CHS at historic El] Molino Viejo, 1120 Old Mill Road, San Marino, an early adobe grist-mill built by Franciscan Padres and Indians of Mission San Gabriel; and our new History Center, 6300 Wilshire Blvd., near the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. CO es. The Reception Room ca. 1896.