{{short description|Historic house in California, United States}} {{Redirect-distinguish-for|Westerfeld House|Westervelt House||Westervelt House (disambiguation)}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = William Westerfeld House | nrhp_type = | image = Painted Lady.jpg | caption = | location = 1198 Fulton St., [[San Francisco, California]] | coordinates = {{Coord|37|46|38|N|122|26|11|W|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = San Francisco County#California#USA | built = 1889 | architect = [[Henry Geilfuss]] | architecture = Stick/Eastlake | added = March 16, 1989 | area = {{cvt|0.1|acre|ha|2}} | refnum = 89000197<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref> | designated_other1 = San Francisco | designated_other1_number = 135 | designated_other1_date = December 6, 1981<ref name=SFLandmark>{{cite web |title=City of San Francisco Designated Landmarks |publisher=City of San Francisco |url=https://sfplanning.org/sites/default/files/documents/preserv/bulletins/HistPres_Bulletin_09.PDF |accessdate=2020-03-16 |archive-date=November 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104172759/https://sfplanning.org/sites/default/files/documents/preserv/bulletins/HistPres_Bulletin_09.PDF |url-status=live }}</ref> }} The '''William Westerfeld House''', also known as the "'''Russian Embassy'''", is a historic building located at 1198 Fulton Street (at Scott St.) in [[San Francisco]], [[California]], United States, across the street from the northwest corner of [[Alamo Square]]. Constructed for German-born [[confectioner]] [[William Westerfeld]] in 1889, the home is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] and is [[List of San Francisco Designated Landmarks|San Francisco Landmark]] Number 135.
==History== William Westerfeld, a German-born [[confectioner]], arrived in San Francisco in the 1870s. By the 1880s, he had established a chain of bakeries. He hired local architect [[Henry Geilfuss]]<ref>{{Cite book |author=Patrick McGrew |url=https://archive.org/details/landmarksofsanfr00mcgr |url-access=registration |title=Landmarks of San Francisco |year=1991 |publisher=Harry N. Abrams|isbn=9780810935570 }} p. 198.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |author=Paul Duchscherer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N9pOAAAAYAAJ |title=Victorian Glory: In San Francisco and the Bay Area |year=2001 |publisher=Viking Studio |isbn=9780670893768}} p. 78.</ref> to design for his family of six a 28-room mansion with an adjoining rose garden and carriage house. The house was constructed in 1889 at a cost of $9,985 ({{Inflation|US|9985|1889|r=-2|fmt=eq}}).{{cn|date=May 2023}}
When Westerfeld died in 1895, the home was sold to John Mahony, of Mahony Brothers, noted for building the [[St. Francis Hotel]] and the [[Palace Hotel, San Francisco|Palace Hotel]] after the 1906 earthquake.<ref name="feldman">Brown, Serena. [https://feldmanarchitecture.com/third-thursday-october-2018-westerfeld-house/ Third Thursday October 2018: Westerfeld House] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206161843/https://feldmanarchitecture.com/third-thursday-october-2018-westerfeld-house/ |date=December 6, 2022 }}. ''Feldman Architecture''. Retrieved March 16, 2020.</ref> Mahony replaced the rose garden with flats to meet the city's dire need for housing.{{cn|date=May 2023}}
In 1928, a group of [[Czarist]] [[Russians]] bought the home. They turned the ground-floor ballroom into a nightclub called Dark Eyes and used the upper floors for meeting rooms.<ref name="curbed">Bowling, Mary Jo (March 28, 2016). [https://sf.curbed.com/2016/3/28/11319088/westerfeld-house The Westerfeld House: San Francisco's most storied Victorian] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327222108/https://sf.curbed.com/2016/3/28/11319088/westerfeld-house |date=March 27, 2023 }}. ''Curbed San Francisco''. Retrieved March 16, 2020.</ref> The house became known informally as the "Russian Embassy".<ref name="feldman"/>
In 1948, the home was converted into a 14-unit apartment building. For most of the next two decades, the units were rented to [[African-American]] musicians who played in the neighborhood jazz clubs. [[John Handy]] was allegedly one of many to call the Westerfeld House his home, although he later denied having been a boarder there.<ref name="feldman"/><ref name="curbed"/>
In 1965 Charles Fracchia purchased the building to use as a residence but never occupied it. The house was mentioned in the book ''[[The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test]]''. The Calliope Company, a fifty-member collective, moved in. In 1967 underground filmmaker [[Kenneth Anger]] took up residence.<ref name="curbed"/><ref>Yu, Brandon (July 5, 2018). [https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/Snaggletooth-fits-right-into-Westerfeld-13048440.php ‘Snaggletooth’ fits right into Westerfeld House’s horror heritage in SF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221001075300/https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/Snaggletooth-fits-right-into-Westerfeld-13048440.php |date=October 1, 2022 }}. ''San Francisco Chronicle''. Retrieved March 16, 2020.</ref> Anger filmed ''[[Invocation of My Demon Brother]]'' starring Manson family member [[Bobby Beausoleil]], Church of Satan founder [[Anton LaVey]], and featuring music by [[Mick Jagger]].{{cn|date=May 2023}}
In 1968, members of the Family Dog occupied the house while promoting acid rock concerts at the [[Avalon Ballroom]]. Members of the [[Grateful Dead]] and [[Big Brother and the Holding Company]] were frequent visitors.<ref name="feldman"/><ref name="curbed"/> [[File:Westerfeld House (San Francisco).jpg|thumb|The house, as seen in 1981.]]
The first attempts to rehabilitate the building began in the 1970s. Two men purchased the home for $45,000 in 1969 ({{Inflation|US|45000|1969|r=-3|fmt=eq}}). They remodeled the fourth floor servants' quarters beyond recognition.<ref name="curbed"/> The house was left standing despite an [[urban renewal]] project, which claimed 6,000 Victorian-era buildings over a 60-block area in the [[Western Addition]].{{cn|date=May 2023}}
Jim Siegel purchased the home in 1986 for $750,000<ref name="feldman"/> and has since retrofitted the foundation, removed the dropped ceilings, re-wired, re-roofed, and re-plumbed, and restored the interior and exterior woodwork and the historic, ground-floor ballroom, and decorated the {{convert|25|ft|m|adj=on}} ceiling with period wallpaper crafted by Bradbury & Bradbury.<ref name="curbed"/>
==See also== * [[List of San Francisco Designated Landmarks]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|William Westerfeld House (San Francisco)}} * [http://www.noehill.com/sf/landmarks/nat1989000197.asp Noe Hill.com: Westerfeld House]
{{San Francisco, California}} {{National Register of Historic Places in California}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Westerfeld, William, House}} [[Category:Houses in San Francisco]] [[Category:Houses completed in 1889]] [[Category:National Register of Historic Places in San Francisco]] [[Category:San Francisco Designated Landmarks]] [[Category:1880s architecture in the United States]] [[Category:Queen Anne architecture in California]] [[Category:Victorian architecture in California]] [[Category:Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in San Francisco]] [[Category:Reportedly haunted locations in San Francisco]]