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The Fallon Building was sold by Carmel's estate in the 1930s, reportedly to fulfill a financial pledge she had made to the capital fund for the Civic Opera House. Since then, the building has aged in place, the beneficiary of "benign neglect," which has meant that virtually nothing has been changed. One storefront is absolutely unaltered since it was built in 1894, an almost unheard of historical treasure. Most commercial storefronts are modernized at no more than 10 or 15 year intervals in order to keep them fashionably current for retail purposes.
The building was fully occupied until shortly before it was acquired by the Community Center Project in 1996. In the 1970s and 80s, it was the home of many gays, including artists and theater people. (See Into the Eighties for John Wullbrandt's account of this time.) In fact, this elegant survivor had gained a place in the heart of the community. This is why the community as a whole was delighted by its choice as the new Community Center and why resistance to its demolition has been so strong.
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On June 3, 1998, the San Francisco Landmark Preservation Advisory Board voted unanimously to recommend the Fallon Building be designated an official San Francisco landmark. Final approval by the Planning Commission, Board of Supervisors, and Mayor Willie Brown followed quickly. The Community Center Board has withdrawn its opposition as the result of negotiations with Friends of 1800 and San Francisco Heritage Foundation. Recently, the California State Legislature awarded $1 million to the Community Center Project for the rehabilitation of the Fallon Building, and a ground breaking is proposed for October 20, 1999. The building has been found eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, through an Area of Potential Effect (APE) undertaken for the Central Freeway Project. In October of 1998, the Friends of 1800 Market were honored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation's GL Preservation committee during the National Preservation Conference in Savannah.
This year, the California State Legislature awarded $1 million to the Community Center Project for the rehabilitation of the Fallon Building. Vice President Al Gore has acknowledged the Fallon Building as a Save America's Treasures site, a program administered by the National Trust. Ground breaking and construction is set for October to begin renovation.
Thus, this valuable historic structure will be restored, and will remain to testify for future generations about its own colorful past and San Francisco's.
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