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This building is the City's oldest standing firehouse. In the heart of the Mission District, this rare brick firehouse in the Victorian Italianate style has a front surface made entirely of cast iron detail. Such buildings are very rare in San Francisco with most clustered in the Jackson Square area. Engine Co. No. 13 remained stationed here until 1942. The firehouse was purchased privately in 1959 at the City’s surplus property auction. |
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Built as a Corporate Yard Storehouse for Department apparatus and supplies, this simple one-story building was later used as a stable for the Department's beloved fire horses before becoming home for Engine Company No. 27. It has a pediment adorned with the S.F.F.D. emblem above the main door. This hidden gem survived the 1906 Fire and now houses a private school. |
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The firehouse of Engine Co. No. 21 and Truck Co. No. 6 was designed by Henrikson & Mahoney. This 1893 building in the Haight district is in a Victorian style, and is noted for its prominent hose tower. Motorized apparatus replaced the horse drawn equipment on September 19, 1915. In 1958 Engine Co. No. 21 was moved to new quarters at 1443 Grove Street, and Truck Co. No. 6 was also moved to new quarters located at 135 Sanchez Street. Over the following years the firehouse was used by the department for general storage, a clothing depot, headquarters of the portable water system, and during the 1990’s as its gymnasium.
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Designed by Henrikson & Mahoney, Victorian style Engine No. 23 is nearly identical to Engine Co. No. 21. Constructed with redwood millwork that characterized much of the architecture of the era, the company acted as protector to the prominent families of the Pacific Heights district. The firehouse and the company were deactivated in 1963. The firehouse was sold at public auction to interior designer John Dickerson, who converted the building into his home and studio. After John Dickerson’s death, Carl and Martha Harmon bought the firehouse, and they later sold it to former Governor Jerry Brown. Governor Brown lived in the firehouse for two years during the 1980’s. |
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In April 1876, Hose Company No. 6 went into service on this site. Engine Company 14 moved here later with 12 men and horses. In the 1950’s Engine 14 was moved to new quarters at 109 Oak Street and the firehouse closed. The firehouse itself was demolished as part of a Western Addition redevelopment project in the 1960’s, but the facade was preserved and the address was changed to 1047 McAllister. This facade now acts as a portal of the past, serving as the gated entranceway to a housing complex. |
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Engine Company No. 30 occupied this large two-story frame firehouse until 1917. It was the quarters for 27 firefighters. Chemical Engine Company No. 5 and Truck Company No. 12 were later stationed here before it closed in 1956. Truck Co. No. 12 was moved to new quarters at 1145 Stanyan Street. The upper story has four arched windows with pilasters, and the belt cornice is dentil molding. Now privately owned, it is painted in the colorful style of San Francisco’s Victorian homes. |
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Victorian style Engine Co.33 was built on property purchased in 1895 from Delia and Albert Hall for the price of $350.00. Designed by Charles R. Wilson and constructed entirely of redwood, the firehouse has 20 foot ceilings on two floors. The building facade incorporates Classical Revival architectural influences with symmetrical and geometric embellishments. The hose drying tower is three stories tall, rising over sixty feet above the street. Located in the Southwest corner of San Francisco in the Ocean View district, this firehouse was originally built to protect a woman's college planned for the neighborhood, but was never built. Ten years later, after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, this area famous for its wild flowers and frog ponds, started being developed as residential neighborhood.
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In 1896 there was a fire in a munitions factory in Colma, and Engine 33 was dispatched to assist in fighting the blaze. This was the first San Francisco act of mutual aid to a neighboring fire department. When the Department was converting to motorized apparatus between 1912 and 1922, Engine 33 was one of the last two companies to bid farewell to their horse-drawn apparatus. In 1974 the firehouse was deactivated and Engine 33 was moved to new quarters nearby at 8 Capitol Street. |
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Since 1977, this firehouse has been privately owned by Robert and Marilyn Katzman, SFFD Historical Society members and two of San Francisco’s most flamboyant fire buffs. The Katzman’s open their 110 year old firehouse, which is a "living museum of San Francisco history” to the public by appointment. The couple also provides a unique way to tour the City - in their beautifully restored 1955 Mack Fire Engine. Their famous Golden Gate Bridge tour includes authentic fire gear to keep you warm on San Francisco’s foggy days. |
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The Inner Sunset district's first firehouse, Chemical Engine No. 2, later Engine Company No. 22, was also designed by Charles R. Wilson. The two story wooden building was sold at auction in 1969. Now tastefully painted in accents of brick red and white, the building is currently home to the Oakes Children's Center, although plenty of its firefighting artifacts endure as reminders of its history.
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After the 1906 earthquake and fire, Newton J. Tharp was named city architect and was charged with rebuilding city government buildings. He designed this firehouse along with a number of Beaux Arts-style firehouses. Located on top of Russian Hill this firehouse was designed to conform to the neighboring architecture and is the only firehouse of the Tudor Revival and Craftsman styles. |
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During the horse drawn era, the Department chose to build their firehouses at the top of the City’s many hills as it was quicker to respond to fires that were “downhill”. To get the four ton steam engine back to the firehouse took time. All San Francisco steam engines and trucks were drawn by a three horse hitch, and at times the double horse team from the hose wagon was also hooked up to the steam engine, making a five horse team. Even with five horses, the return trip up the hill to the firehouse was often difficult. On the steepest return up Leavenworth to Green Street there was a mechanical pulley system to move the steam engine up the hill. In 1952, the firehouse and the company were deactivated. |
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In 1959, philanthropist Mrs. Louise M. Davies bought the firehouse at a sealed bid City surplus property auction for $17,500. The communications area on the main floor was remolded into a sitting room that featured the 1855 Knickerbocker No. 5 hand engine and other fire memorabilia. The wooden apparatus floor was used for social receptions, banquets and dancing, and the upstairs dormitory and officer’s rooms were converted into living areas. Mrs. Davies, an Honorary Chief of Department, opened her city home to neighborhood associations and charitable organizations for fund raising events. During the 1970’s and 80’s Mrs. Davies hosted many fund raising parties for the SFFD Museum. In 1978, Mrs. Davies donated the firehouse to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In the 1998 the Trust sold the firehouse to the Scottish American St. Andrew's Society. |
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City Architect Newton J. Tharp designed Engine Co. No. 2 in the orderly and symmetrical "City Beautiful" style to proclaim its civic importance, adding emblematic shields and prominent inscription to further enhance the claim. Faced in Vancouver granite, with windows flanked by ionic pilasters and a graceful balustrade roof, this stylish structure was the first thoroughly fireproof station built after 1906. This firehouse is located in the heart of the Financial District. Engine Co. No. 2 was deactivated on July 1, 1970 by City budget cuts. |
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The Underwriter's Fire Patrol was privately financed by insurance companies, and responded to fires to protect office records and merchandise. These firemen often worked below the fire floor and spread waterproof covers over merchandise threatened with water damage. They also saved and removed business records from the fire building. This three story brick structure designed by Clinton Day has a terra cotta bracketed cornice with egg and dart molding, and an arched entry ornament in bead and reel pattern molding. The Underwriters’ Fire Patrol was incorporated into the department in 1943 and renamed the Salvage Corps. At one time after the surplus City property public sale, this building was own by Michael Praszker and Doug Craig. |
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This wooden structure on the corner of Albion Street is the third firehouse to be built on this site. In 1854 the Young American Engine Company with their hand drawn apparatus occupied the first firehouse built here. In 1868 the newly organized Engine Company No. 7 with their horse drawn steam engine was stationed here. The firehouse was lost in the 1906 Fire. In 1908 the firehouse was rebuilt with a simple corniced structure. In the 1960’s Engine Company No. 7 was moved to 80 Digby Street in Diamond Heights and the firehouse was closed. The exterior was renovated in 1978 and has in recent years been used as an art gallery and a disco. |
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City architect Newton J. Tharp replaced Engine No.1's one-story firehouse built around 1868 and destroyed in the 1906 Fire with a two-story brick, building which is similar to Engine Co. No.2. Built in the civically minded "City Beautiful" style, the building has a simple cornice and a large arched doorway. It was owned at one time by Mr. Leslie Grubin. |
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Engine Company No. 44 is two-story stucco Mission Revival firehouse that was constructed by the McSheehy Brothers in the style most popular after 1906. Know as a “Hill Company” this firehouse gave protection to the Noe Valley area and Castro district of the City. It was sold at auction by the Department in 1959 to Mark and Beth Adams. For over forty years, they maintained the house as an artist's studio, and private residence in this quiet neighborhood. |
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Another hill company, Engine No. 40, Mission Revival style firehouse, popular after 1906, provided the first significant fire protection for this Upper Market section of the City. Although most neighbors were undoubtedly pleased with the fire protection, as least one was annoyed by a problem common to stables and horses. "The Municipal Record" of May 28, 1914 refers to a letter which complained that the stables connected with Engine 40 were "causing a swarm of flies to infest the neighborhood." In 1956 Engine No. 40 was moved to new quarters at 1145 Stanyan Street. The firehouse continued to be used by the department for general storage and by the fireman assigned to Asbury Tank across the street. The house was sold at public auction in late in the 1970’s, and at one time was owned by Miss Courtney Clarkson. |
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Engine No. 43 is a two-story frame Mission Revival style firehouse that was built to provide fire protection to the Excelsior Homestead District. It was one of the first to leave behind the horse-drawn days for the newly fashioned motorized apparatus. The firehouse was sold at the City surplus property auction in 1976 to Dr. Steve Shohet who maintains it as a private residence. |
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In the general election of 1909, the citizens of San Francisco passed a bond issue that created the San Francisco Fire Department Auxiliary Water Supply System. The AWSS is a fire hydrant system that is for the exclusive use of the department. Chief Engineer Dennis Sullivan had been requesting this type of system from the City supervisors for years before the Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906. After the Fire, everyone in the City saw the need for such a system, and plans for this massive engineering wonder were undertaken.
In the simplest terms, the AWSS is a gravity flow system with the highest point being a ten million gallon reservoir atop Twin Peaks. The AWSS flows through two additional water tanks, the upper Asbury Tank, and the lower Jones Street Tank on Jones at Washington. The systems special hydrants are on a grid system with gates so that various sections can be closed, if necessary, in case of water main breaks like those that happened in the 1989 Earthquake. At the lowest end of the system two pumping stations were built near the waterfront in case it would become necessary to add more water into the system. One is located on the south side of the City, at 698 2nd Street. It is Pumping Station No.1, which is now also Department Headquarters. The other, Pumping Station No. 2, is on the North side of the City. Both pumping stations are an integral part of the system. In addition, intake manifolds were placed along the waterfront so that the two new fireboats could pump saltwater to the system.
Pumping Station No. 2 was designed by the firm of Manson, Marsden, Caldwell & Co. in the Mission Revival style. The station is extensively documented in the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record. |
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Completed and ready to be occupied in 1913, the brick, iron and terra cotta firehouse of Engine Company 47 could not be put into service until the arrival of motor driven apparatus that was being delivered from the east coast. The two-story brick building, designed by John Reid Jr., has terra cotta cornices with acanthus leaf molding and brackets. "SFFD" and "No. 47" are embossed in terra cotta medallions on either side of the apparatus door and small iron balconies embellish the three windows of the upstairs dormitory. Now Station 44, it is the oldest firehouse still in active service. |
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Engine No. 24, now Station 24, designed by John Reid Jr., is still in active service. Original drawings for the building were revised so that the building could "accommodate" motor driven apparatus with no provision for horses. This alteration signaled the beginning of the changeover from horses to motors which began in 1912 and lasted until 1922, when the last run was made with horses. The Company’s first apparatus was a steam engine with a Christie motorized tractor. The two-story building has an exposed brick facade with an arched entryway, and simple cornice of brackets and dentil molding. |
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This beautiful two-story brick structure brought fire protection to the neighborhood known as Potrero Hill. The eleven firemen and horses of Engine Company No. 48were the first to occupy this firehouse designed by John Reid Jr. With an interior newly refurbished, this house merges the most modern fire apparatus with the style and workmanship of a facade embellished with intricate terra cotta detail. |
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This building was part of the 1915 Panama-Pacific World’s Fair held in the newly land filled area of the Marina district. The fill for this area was the rumble of the 1906 Earthquake. At the closing of the fair the building was shipped to Pier 22 ½ and transformed into a fire house. Engine Co. No. 9 was deactivated on July 1, 1970 by City budget cuts. In 1976, Engine Co. No. 35 was transferred from 676 Howard St and remain quartered here. |
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Topped with the Spanish tile of the "Mission Revival" style, John Reid Jr. designed this firehouse with greater strength to hold heavy equipment. The building now known as Station 4 has main doors flanked by pilasters with terra cotta composite capitals, a belt cornice with Greek meander molding and rows of dentils. Both companies were deactivated on July 1, 1976 by City budget cuts. The firehouse remained in use as the storage facility for the Fire Department's Toy Program and a medical supply station. In December of 2006 the firehouse was sold at the city’s surplus property auction. |
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Ward & Blohme designed this one-story brick and terra cotta embellished firehouse to serve the Mission District. Nestled near Hwy. 101 in the inner Mission neighborhood, it has a double arched entry with terra cotta detail in the cornice and around the windows. A shield with "SFFD" and the two trumpet insignia of a fire department captain are embossed in terra cotta above the apparatus door. This firehouse is one of the two firehouses in the City without fire poles. When Engine 37 and 9 Truck were moved to new their new quarters at 2249 Jerrold Street, the firehouse became the home of the Bureau of Equipment. |
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City Architect John Reid Jr. designed the Fire Chief's residence to look like a firehouse. San Francisco was the country's first city to have a separate building for its chief. It was built by donations of the City’s firemen and by public subscription. It is now Official City Landmark No.42. A bronze tablet dedicates the building to the beloved Chief Engineer Dennis Sullivan, who was fatally injured by the Earthquake of 1906. George Sterling's quote reads in part, "By fire shall hearts be proven, lest virtue's gold grow dim, and his by fire was tested, in life's ordeal of him."
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Off Third Street, in what is now called the "Dogpatch" section of the Potrero neighborhood, City Architect John Reid Jr. designed this two-story brick structure to replace Engine 16's original 1887 home that was a block away. Two-story brick with a cornice brightened with small colored tiles, terra cotta keystones accent the arched dormitory windows and plaques above the doors. Engine Company 16 and Battalion 11 were deactivated on July 1, 1970 by City budget cuts. The firehouse is now used by the department for storage. |
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During 1972 and 1973, Chief of Department Keith Calden made the decision to modernize the Department by using the term “fire stations” rather than continuing with the term “firehouses”. To make this “modernization,” the numbers of engine companies were exchanged so that every engine that shared a station with a truck, known as a double company, would have the same number as the truck. As an example, 15 Truck and 38 Engine were located at 1000 Ocean Avenue in the Ocean View district. 15 Engine was located at 2150 California Street on the other side of town in the lower Pacific Heights district. The engine numbers were exchanged so that 15 Engine on California became number 38 and 38 Engine on Ocean became number 15. At the museum’s firehouse at 655 Presidio Avenue, 26 Engine was with 10 Truck. 10 Engine was at 2300 Folsom in the Mission district with 7 Truck. 7 Engine was at 80 Digby on Diamond Heights. So that the new Station 10 and the new Station 7 would have the same engine numbers it was necessary to have a three way (firehouse) switch. The 26 number on Presidio was sent to Digby, the number 7 on Digby transferred to 10 engine at 2300 Folsom and the number 10 moved to Presidio. Every month or so, a day was set aside for the change over of numbers. In this case Engine 7, 10 and 26 met and exchanged their stamped hose, fittings and appliances. The only double City firehouse not affected by this change was Station 3, because it already housed Engine 3 and Truck 3. Several single engine companies also had their number changed. After World War II the SFFD had 49 engine companies. Between the years of 1945 to 1971 several companies were deactivated due to city budget cuts. Chief Calden wanted to have the engine companies in consecutive order so the numbers of engines 45, 46, 47, 48 and 49 were changed. Engine 45 became number 23, 46 became 31, 47 became 34, 48 became 37 and 49 became number 40. Since 1973, again due to city budget cuts, several companies have been deactivated. They are Engine companies 4 and 30. Truck companies 4 and 20 also have received the budget axe along with all four Salvage companies, one Battalion Chief’s district and an Assistant Chief’s Division.
Another necessary part of this engine number change process was the hand remarking of the run assignment cards in every firehouse. At this time, the bell, tape and pegging and response card system, used since 1877, was the method to respond to fire calls. The computer dispatch response did not enter the SFFD until 1978. During this changeover the crews at every firehouse worked for two hours each morning on the hand marking changes of their run cards. There were over four million hand marked crossed out and changed numbers on the Departments run cards. It took over two years to make this massive change of engine numbers. |
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Illustrations by David McMacken
San Francisco Vintage Firehouse Posters are on sale at the San Francisco Fire Department Museum Gift Shop.
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