|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Built by Carmel Fallon, granddaughter of General Joaquin Ysidro Castro, for whom Castro Street is named, this century-old building, a survivor of the quakes of 1906 and 1989, represents a rich chapter in San Francisco's history.
Carmel had been married to Army Commander Thomas Fallon, who conquered San Jose for the United States in 1846 and later became mayor of that city. But when she found her husband in bed with another woman, Carmel beat the two offenders with an iron poker, and promptly divorced him. With her six children Carmel eventually moved to San Francisco and established herself as a single business woman, demonstrating an independence that was rare for a woman of the nineteenth century.
In 1894, she commissioned this combined commercial and residential building, as her new San Francisco family home. Designed by Edward Goodrich, a San Jose architect, it is trapezoidal in shape to conform to the oddly shaped lot formed by the intersection of Waller, Octavia, and Market streets. The Fallon Building uses classic revival elements, such as the ornamentation at the cornice and main entrance. All the rooms in the two upstairs flats fan out from a central stair court. The top floor stairwell was once crowned by stained and etched glass.
|
|
|
|
|
|
At the time of the 1906 earthquake and fire, a string of similar buildings stretched from the waterfront to this location, occupying all the "gore" lots on the north side of Market. The 1906 disaster destroyed all but this one. In fact, everything east of here on Market fell victim to that catastrophe. To view two photos that dramatically reveal the devastation taken at the time of the fire and afterwards, click here.
When the smoke had cleared, the Fallon Building marked the edge of the devastation. Family lore states that Carmel herself had helped keep the flames from taking her home. She was 79 years old at the time. Although the story can not be verified, it is certainly in keeping with this woman's indomitable character.
Both Carmel and her Market Street home survived to become objects of contention. In 1911, Anita Fallon, the oldest of Carmel's children and a well-known stage actress, sued for custody of her mother, claiming that her brother was using hypnosis to control the 84 year old Carmel. That suit was withdrawn, but when Carmel finally died twelve years later, Anita filed a will naming herself as the sole beneficiary. This led to an intense family legal battle that was not fully resolved until the 1960s.
 Part 2 - The Fallon Building becomes the beneficiary of benign neglect.
|
|
|
|
