Abner Phelps House

Perhaps the oldest home in San Francisco, the Abner Phelps House has an interesting history. The wood-frame house with dormer windows was built around 1850 on a 160-acre land tract just beyond the city limits of San Francisco at that time. A descendant claimed the house was built earlier in Louisiana, purchased by Phelps, and then taken apart and moved to San Francisco to be re-assembled for Phelps' homesick bride. Other accounts show that the house was built from raw lumber in California. A 1970s analysis of the wood revealed that the home was made of California redwood. However, the house was moved, just not as far as the family member claimed, as it was initially located near the 300 block of Divisidero St. and was moved slightly in the 1890s and early 1900s. The home is easy to miss as it is set back amid a modern San Francisco street. The private residence was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and relisted in 1979. In 1978, the house was moved 80 feet north to a spot set back from Oak St., turned 180 degrees to face Oak St., and restored. The house has been leased out as eight office spaces in recent decades.

The home that Abner Phelps had built for his new bride, Augusta Roussell of New Orleans, has occupied a spot near Divisadero St. for almost as long as San Francisco has existed. Although its exact positioning has changed a few times over the years, the house was built in 1850 or 1851, making it perhaps the oldest residence in the city, only slightly newer than the city itself. From there, the story gets a bit murky. One story has it that Phelps had the lumber brought from Maine, since the writer thought there were no sawmills in the city at that time (this was a false assumption). The other story is that Phelps bought the home in New Orleans and had it shipped in sections around the Horn to California. According to that version of the house's history, Augusta Roussell Phelps, who was Southern, was so homesick that her husband had an existing house dismantled and brought from Louisiana to remind her of home. Elements of its design are unmistakably Southern. Many Southern homes were built--as is the Phelps home--on a high foundation to allow air to circulate underneath and to protect from flooding. The house's veranda is also a characteristically Southern touch. An analysis of the home's wood in the 1970s revealed it to be California redwood, so seems it was built locally in a style that resembled homes in Louisiana. The builder is thought to have been John Middleton and Sons.

Abner Phelps, a West Point graduate, served as a Colonel in the Mexican-American War. Phelps reportedly rode a horse to work in the city; his law office was in the Montgomery Block (built in 1852), where the Transamerica Pyramid now stands. Divisidero St. was a dirt road and the western boundary of the City of San Francisco in the mid-1850s, but the city soon expanded westward (the "Western Addition"). Abner and Augusta Phelps' six children - four boys and two girls- were raised in the house. In the 1860 federal census, the 55-year-old Abner, a Vermont native, shared his home in the city limits with wife Augusta (29) and children Abner M (5), George (4), Walter (2), and Augusta (2 months). Also in the home was another relative: Edwin Phelps (25), a farmer and Vermont native. Abner's real estate was estimated to be worth $6,000, plus $500 in personal property. Abner passed away in 1873; Augusta died twenty years later. All of the children except one son, Abner M., made the house their lifelong home until their deaths in the late 1930s/early 1940s.

The house was moved slightly in the 1890s as Divisidero St. was being graded and widened; the house was at 313 Divisidero, facing the street and set back from it (see the 1893 map image). The Phelps children moved the house further back from the street around 1904 so that a store could be built along the street. At this time, the house was turned 90 degrees, from east-facing to south-facing; it was only reachable by a small alley off of Divisidero and received the address 329-1/2 Divisidero. One of the Phelps daughters had a shop in the new store building's first floor, below a meeting hall. A descendant sold the house to Charles L. Ayers, Jr., a descendant of Humphrey Ayers, an acquaintance of Abner Phelps; Ayers passed away in the 1960s.

Nowadays the home is privately owned and is not available for tours. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. In 1970, the house was a private residence owned by the Ayers estate of and was still located at 329 Divisidero. In 1975, the Preservation Group acquired the house. Although moving a structure usually detracts from its historic setting, the Phelps House was relocated in 1978 and restored by the Preservation Group; the interior became office spaces. The new location, set back from the street at 1111 Oak St., was 80 feet further north; the house was turned 180 degrees to face Oak St. and placed on a concrete foundation. New landscaping (the "Phelps Place Historic Plaza") provided an environment closer to its historic rural setting at the foot of Buena Vista Hill, where an 1870 photograph showed a large front yard. The house was re-nominated to the National Register to document the changes and was re-listed in 1979 as the footprint of the house and porch.

Baird, Joseph A., Jr. Pope, Charles S. HABS documentation, Abner Phelps House, 329 Divisidero St., San Francisco, CA. Volume CA-1904. Historic American Buildings Survey. San Francisco, CA. U.S. Department of the Interior, Western Office, 1964.

Chamings, Andrew. The many origin stories of San Francisco's oldest home, SFGate. July 13th, 2024. Accessed February 14th, 2025. https://www.sfgate.com/obscuresf/article/SF-oldest-house-for-lease-17222878.php.

Dowd, Katie. San Francisco's oldest home is renting for $12,000 a month, SFGate. December 2nd, 2015. Accessed February 13th, 2025. https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/San-Francisco-s-oldest-home-is-renting-for-6670343.php#photo-9048765.

Mead, Ralph A. NRHP nomination, Abner Phelps House, 329 Divisidero St., San Francisco, CA. National Register of Historic Places. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1970.

NoeHill. http://noehill.com/sf/landmarks/sf032.asp Retrieved 8 May 2017.

Wasserman, Fred. NRHP nomination, Abner Phelps House, 1111 Oak St., San Francisco, CA. National Register of Historic Places. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1978.

U.S. Census Bureau. Household of Abner Phelps, City of San Francisco District 11, California, dwelling 400, family 386. Washington, DC. U.S. Government, 1860.