Listed for sale by cooperating broker Compass, 2121 Lyon Street is offered at $4,249,000. Contact me today for additional information and to arrange a private tour.

An Italian village church sketched by Bruce Porter was referenced in the architectural design of the Swedenborgian Church at 2107 Lyon Street, drafted by the firm of Arthur Page Brown. Image: atlasobscura.com

This story begins in the 1810s, when Rev. Thomas Worcester helped organize the Boston Society of the New Jerusalem based on the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Nearly a hundred such churches existed throughout the country, including in California, by 1850. He ordained his son, Rev. Joseph Worcester, who arrived in San Francisco in 1867 and led a growing Swedenborgian congregation in worship at the Druids Hall near Union Square. Eventually, the younger reverend would purchase a permanent site for the church at the corner of Lyon and Washington streets in Pacific Heights.

To design the structure, Rev. Worcester enlisted the firm of architect Arthur Page Brown, where Bernard Maybeck and Albert Cicero Schweinfurth were draftsmen. Brown had designed the Ferry Building just years earlier. Maybeck would go on to become one of the Bay Area’s most celebrated architects, responsible for San Francisco landmarks including the Palace of Fine Arts and Temple Emanu-El. Schweinfurth later established his own architectural practice under the patronage of William Randolf Hearst. Artists William Keith and Bruce Porter contributed to the church’s final rendering as well as its furnishings and stained glass windows.

The interior of the Swedenborgian Church in San Francisco is inspired by the wonders of the natural world, incorporating bark-covered beams and scenic landscape paintings. Circa 1895. Image: foundsf.org

Construction commenced in 1894 and the first service was held 17 March 1895. Today, the Swedenborgian Church of San Francisco is still active. It is the first and only house of worship in San Francisco to be granted National Historic Landmark status, recognized as one of the most influential and best surviving examples of the First Bay Tradition style, an early expression of the Arts & Crafts movement on the west coast.

At the same time the church was being built, a parsonage was rising next door at 2121 Lyon Street. Designed by Brown in a complementary style, the dignified three-story house was never inhabited by the reverend who preferred his simple shingled home at 1030 Vallejo Street atop Russian Hill. Thrice-widowed parishioner Gertrude Bowers who had ordered its construction never lived there either. In fact, just six years after its completion, the census places her in San Bernardino County. In 1900, Rev. Worcester sold the property to friend and church member William Keith. He, too, never moved in.

Details about Gertrude Bowers’ life are scant, however an obituary claims ancestry to William Bradford, a founder and governor of Plymouth Colony. He proclaimed the first Thanksgiving in 1621, and his writings Of Plymouth Plantation is a literary classic. Five years before her death, Gertrude married a fourth time to Col. Charles Burton “Buck” Saunders who was 23 years her junior, a World Championship sharpshooter, and had performed in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show alongside Annie Oakley. The couple traveled the world and added to his gun collection, now kept in its entirety at the Saunders Museum in Berryville, Arkansas.

William Keith, often called “Dean of California Artists” and “California’s Old Master”, resided in Berkeley, California from the mid-1880s until his death in 1911. He did, however, commute daily by ferry to his San Francisco studio where hundreds — if not thousands — of his works were destroyed in the great earthquake and conflagration of 1906. Within his inner circle, John Muir (also a close friend of Rev. Worcester) was a lifelong friend whom he met in Yosemite Valley in 1872. William’s second wife, Mary McHenry, was the first woman to graduate from Hastings Law School and a leading suffragist.

If Walls Could Talk

While 2121 Lyon Street was not occupied by either of its early owners, it certainly was not sitting empty. San Francisco city directories, census reports, newspapers, and genealogical records reveal a timeline and the stories of those people who lived there.

In 1897, Lieut. Selim Edwin Woodworth II, wife Carrie Caroline Wethered, and their children are documented living in the home. Selim, an accomplished seaman in his own right, came from a prominent political family. His father was a senator in California’s first legislature, President of the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance, and original member of the Society of California Pioneers. He built the first house in San Francisco situated on a water lot, and was the first recorded resident of Red Rock Island. Mary Ellen Pleasant worked for the Woodworth family in the 1860s, later receiving their support in a landmark win for anti-segregation. Carrie’s father, James S. Wethered, was a member of the second state assembly. Also, he won a duel in 1852.

Allison Howard Turner, wife Mary Ellen “Nellie” Mann, and their children were residing there by 1899. Allison was vice president of Hastings Clothing Company, a menswear retailer. Following the 1906 earthquake, the store was reconstructed of concrete and steel at 180 Post Street (the building still stands today). Nellie was the sole surviving child of Mary Euphemia “Ella” Mann (née Shed), who would become widowed in 1901 and subsequently move into 2121 Lyon Street with her daughter and son-in-law. The family’s next residence, 2190 Vallejo Street, was built by notable architect Edgar A. Mathews in 1904; it’s unclear if it was built for the Turners. All three generations were living there by 1908, at which time Allison had been promoted to president.

The 1909 city directory places Isabel Amelia Baldwin (née Wheaton), daughter Grace Baldwin, and son Lloyd Baldwin Jr. in the house. This was a momentous year for the Baldwin family: Grace married James Russell Selfridge at the home in April, Lloyd married Edith Berry in May and relocated to 2202 Steiner Street, and widowed matriarch Isabel was a California delegate to The National Woman Suffrage Convention in Seattle that July. Isabel purchased 2121 Lyon Street from William Keith in 1910, and her daughter and son-in-law stayed there with her until at least 1917. Interestingly, James’ brother is Lieut. Thomas Etholen Selfridge, an aviation pioneer and the first fatality in a powered aircraft — one piloted by Orville Wright. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Motivated by a desire to downsize, perhaps, Isabel Baldwin sold the home to Herbert Eloesser and his wife Caroline Helena Fraustadt in 1921. The couple’s common great-grandfather, Leonard D. Heynemann, was a successful merchant specializing in silk, linen, velvet, gloves, carpets and blankets. It would remain the family business for nearly a century, evolving into Eloesser-Heynemann Co. and becoming famous for “Can’t Bust ‘Em” work clothes — a formidable competitor to Levi Strauss. Herbert became president of the company upon his father’s death in 1933, and in 1946 it was acquired by H.D. Lee Company.

It was around this time that Herbert’s brother, Dr. Leo Eloesser, retired as an accomplished thoracic surgeon having pioneered rural and wartime health care around the world. A friend of Diego Rivera, Leo was introduced to Frida Kahlo and became her personal physician and close friend for over 20 years. His portrait, painted by Kahlo in 1931 at his home on Russian Hill, today hangs permanently at San Francisco General Hospital where he served for 36 years. A self-portrait painted by Kahlo in 1940 is dedicated to him.

The home at 2121 Lyon Street passed to Herbert and Caroline’s three children, resting finally with their youngest, Nina Helen Eloesser. Upon her passing in December 2010, it was deeded to the Swedenborgian Church — an amazing full circle return.

In 2011, the renowned Architectural Resources Group completed an historic structures report on the property. An extensive renovation based upon those findings and recommendations began the following year. The structural repair and modernization effort included the creation of a new kitchen, exterior restoration, and new bathrooms as well as upgraded electrical, plumbing and heating systems. The 5-bedroom and 3.5-bathroom house with approximately 4,010 square feet of living area was again refreshed this year in preparation for sale.