Exceptional San Francisco Home

As one of the farthest neighborhoods from San Francisco’s downtown core, the Richmond District remained a vacant expanse of sand dunes for decades after the city was established. For a time it was part of the Mexican Rancho Punta de los Lobos, then under American rule, became home to squatters and ranchers, many of whom had come to San Francisco for the Gold Rush but failed to strike it rich. In the 1860s, a toll road was built along the present route of Geary Boulevard, allowing Richmond District ranchers to take their produce to market and city folk to spend the day at Ocean Beach. Around the same time, the city street grid expanded into the avenues, streetcars rumbled into the neighborhood, and major streets like Geary and Arguello boulevards were paved. The 1906 Earthquake flushed refugees from destroyed areas of the city into the outer neighborhoods, where many decided to settle permanently. The growing popularity of the private automobile then allowed people to live farther from downtown and residential development continued to spread westward. During the 1920s, block upon block of houses sprang into existence seemingly overnight. Prosperity in the decade following World War I spurred this development, which was largely speculative; consisting of small groups of houses with similar forms and designs that were erected and quickly sold to San Franciscans who wanted the latest in modern suburban housing. This 1920s building boom, which settled down as the Great Depression loomed, resulted in the construction of 842 35th Avenue.

Construction of the house at 842 35th Avenue was noticed in Building & Engineering News on 12 April 1924. Bryan Feerick, an Irish carpenter and house-builder, owned the subject property and the four neighboring properties to the north. He prepared the plans for the houses himself and built them for a cost of $5,000 each. This was obviously a speculative venture, corresponding directly to development trends that resulted in avenue upon avenue of Richmond District homes.

The house was purchased from Feerick by Julius and Carolyn (Carrie) Posner. Julius was born in Red Bluff, California in 1875 and worked as a salesman for Michalitschke Brothers, who dealt in wholesale cigars. He and Carrie had a son named Russell, who was born the same year the house was built. Julius was hit and killed by a streetcar in 1934. Carrie and Russell continued to live in the house and the 1940 census indicates that Carrie's widowed mother, Sarah Brunner, came to live with them. In 1950, the three still lived at 842 35th Avenue. Russell, by then 24, had studied history at U.C. Berkeley and become a history teacher at San Francisco City College. Carrie died in 1954, but Russell continued to own and live in the house into the 1980s and likely longer. He married, had a daughter named Hilary in 1966, then divorced in 1969. He never remarried, but was with a committed partner, Ann Wiesinger, from 1969 until his death in 1996. His obituary noted that he taught at City College for 50 years and that he was one of the school's most popular teachers, often lecturing to standing-room-only classes.

The building's architecture is Edwardian, which was popular in the 1910s and into the early 1920s. The Edwardian style referred to King Edward VII and the architecture produced during his reign in Britain, which eventually became fashionable in the States. It was characterized by relatively flat rectilinear facades, smooth stucco cladding, and Classical elements, like the moldings, brackets, and ornamental modillions at the roofline of 842 35th Avenue.

The front facade of 842 35th Avenue adopts a common organization seen throughout the Richmond District; that of a street-level garage (considered the basement) with an entry to one side that ascends to a first-story entry vestibule. Bay windows then dominate one or more upper stories. The single-car garage opening at 842 35th Avenue is recessed to accommodate both the wood awning garage door and a tradesman's entrance on the right side wall. This door allowed workmen and household servants to access the basement level and utilitarian areas of the property, as well as the rear yard, without traipsing through the living areas. To the right of the garage, the dramatically tall entry opening is topped by a label molding or drip molding with a cartouch ornament at the center. Within the entry vestibule, steps made of terrazzo – an extremely popular material meant to mimic more expensive stone – lead up to the front door, fully glazed with beveled glass. A three-part window is located at the center of the first story, its triple segmental arch openings crowned with fanlights and surrounded by molded trim. Heavy moldings also define each story level, and at the upper story, a wide square bay window is supported by Classical scroll brackets. Another three-part window; this with a rectangular opening and decorative muntins in the upper middle sash, is located on the bay. A double-hung window with divided lites in the upper sash is located above the entry. The roofline is capped by a projecting cornice supported by decorative modillions.

Russell M. Posner, who spent his entire life at 842 35th Avenue.
(U.C. Berkeley yearbook, via Ancestry.com)