by Michael Helquist
Copyright 2007 All rights reserved, Michael Helquist
Today a neighborhood tenant might move from one level to another in an apartment building and a local homeowner might move a few blocks away into a new house, but it doesn’t happen often. The time, trouble, and expense of finding a new home, packing and moving hardly make it worthwhile to re-locate such a short distance. Earlier city residents did not appear to face the same restrictions: they would often move just a block away.
421 Central provides an example of this house-grazing in the neighborhood . The first owner and resident of 421 Lott (as the street was known until 1895 when it was named Presidio Avenue; in 1904 it became Central Avenue) lived at three other locations in the immediate neighborhood. Richard English, an Irish immigrant, became a naturalized citizen in San Francisco in 1886. English worked as a laborer and then a foreman; he lived in 1888 at the “corner of Fulton and Broderick” and in the next year at 421 Lott although the original application for water service was not filed until August 5, 1891. English lived in his newly built house until the next year when he moved to 1705 Fulton (between Central and Masonic). By 1896 he was living at 516 Central, which was later re-numbered to be 546 Central, and remained there until his death. His son lived at the tall two-flat house until the 1920s.
421 also shares a connection with the Harry W. Stokes family of Lyon Street. Of the male members of the family there was a bookkeeper, a lamp man for Edison Light & Power, a millwright for the Market Street Railway, and two dentists who practiced out of the family home. In 1898 the Harry Stokes family was living at 422 Lyon (later re-numbered 452-454 Lyon). Stokes, a secretary and treasurer for Somers & Co., briefly resided at 421 Central beginning in 1905 before moving to the Haight district three years later where he and his wife lived at least into the 1920s.
Members of the Carroll family, presented below, not only lived at 421 Central but also at 546 Central, built by Richard English, first owner of both 421 and 546 Central.
There aren’t many family businesses in San Francisco that can boast of continual operation for more than 125 years. The North Panhandle area saw the start of one of them with a few family members eventually residing at 421 Central.
Most neighbors know that our 30 square blocks was once bordered on two sides by cemeteries. Masonic Cemetery covered 30 acres just west of Masonic Avenue. The original Lone Mountain Cemetery covered approximately 170 acres before it was divided into Calvary, Odd Fellow’s and Laurel Hill cemeteries. Calvary covered the 48 acres bounded by Geary, Turk, Masonic and St. Joseph’s (next to Broderick). The Carroll family has been involved in making monuments and stone cutting since 1875; they eventually worked primarily for the Holy Cross (Calvary) Cemetery.
Michael T. Carroll first worked as a marble cutter for the John Daniel & Co. while residing at the corner of Ellis and Divisadero. Patrick Carroll, uncertain relation to Michael, was a stonecutter with another early monument firm, Larseneau & Sherin. During the 1870s and 1880s several other marble cutters and bricklayers with the common Carroll surname are listed in city directories. It is difficult to determine their relationships, even sometimes when they live at the same address. By 1891 Michael Carroll, now a foreman for yet another marble and granite works firm, the Daniel Sheerin Co., was residing at 2021 Turk between Masonic and Central. Michael’s sons, Matthew and Luke, would soon follow their father into the monument business, and they continued to live on Turk until 1905 when the family moved to 1850 Golden Gate (between Baker and Broderick). Still in close proximity to the cemetery, the Carroll family would continue to live on Golden Gate until at least 1920.
Extended families would often settle close to each other in small areas of the city; sometimes many members of the family would go into the same line of work. Researchers often find in city records a great number of individuals working in the same business with a common surname. This is certainly the case with the Carrolls for there are not only several men with the name of Carroll working as stone cutters but there are also three or more listings for “Carroll Bros.” Determing which sets of brothers are working with each other can be confusing. When later directories list the names of spouses, the trail often becomes no less murky as when there are several “Catherine Carrolls” listed.
Nevertheless, Thomas and Catherine Carroll are listed as residents of 421 Central in 1912. Thomas was working as part of one of the Carroll Bros. firms initially, but five years later he listed his profession as clerk and, in 1919, as a melter at the U.S. Mint at 5th and Mission. When the city closed most of the the cemeteries and moved the remains to Colma in 1914, it is possible that some of the family members chose other means of employment. Thomas and Catherine with their children and, in later years, their son, Thomas D., and his wife, Katherine (see what I mean?) and their children would continue to live at 421 for a total of 55 years, from 1912 through most of 1967.
Although one of the Carroll family members moved away from the monument business, descendents of the Carrolls from 1875 moved with the cemeteries to Colma.
Today at 1635 Old Mission Road in Colma there is a firm that advertises “memorials, family owned and operated since 1885, monuments, markers and vaults, complete line of granite and marble products.” The company name? Donohoe & Carroll.
It will take many more years to exceed the residency of the Carroll family at 421, but Debra and Michael Varner have a good start. They purchased the house in 1978, just 11 years following its sale by the descendents of the early Carroll family. Prior to the Varner’s purchase, the property was held by an investment firm for a year, and was then bought by Paul and Dorothy Obluda who held it until 1978.
While Debra is a San Francisco native, Michael relocated to San Francisco from South Carolina because “it was 1969 and this was the place to be.” The Varners lived in the Haight, near Buena Vista park, and in a tiny house in Dogpatch, before Debra noticed in the classifieds a listing for a Central Avenue house. From the first visit, she knew this was meant to be their house.
During the last 23 years at 421 the Varners have raised a family (their daughter, Christina) and established their careers. Debra just completed a master’s degree and is the director of client services for a local options clearing firm serving clients who trade on the Pacific Stock Exchange. Michael is an architect working at the San Francisco airport.
Both Michael and Debra have worked with NOPNA over the years, distributing newsletters regularly and serving on the board of directors (Debra is currently NOPNA’s vice-president). Michael has also worked extensively with SAFE, and Debra has devoted many hours to the League of Women Voters.
Few buildings in the neighborhood can rival 421 Central for its exterior appearance. A striking but harmonious four-color mix -- deep teal backgound, window trim a dark red-brown, framing a creamy tan, and a strong purple for stair railings and posts -- makes it clear that these home-owners have an appreciation for color. Michael and Debra Varner not only chose the colors but finished the painting after their contractor’s appearances became few and far between.
The ornately textured and painted arch over the front entry should be seen up close. The teal background highlights the leafy flourishes of creamy tan and the darker brown and deeper red offer gold leaf trim. In the upper left hand corner of the arch is plaster scrollwork forming the letters “MD” (for Michael and Debra). According to Debra, the purple egg flecked with gold trim at the top of the arch is the symbol used in spiritual journeying as the egg holds the golden cauldron of life within. Additional plasterwork on the second level features flowing ribbons and what appear to be large open poinsettia blossoms. The house has a garage and storage area, a main living floor above the garage, an upstairs bedroom level, and an attic under the gable roof.
From the first enthusiastic greeting by the Varners’ two dogs, Levi, a Weimeraner/Shar Pei mix, and Primo the Pug, a visitor finds a welcoming and comfortable home. The entry way immediately yields a view of the kitchen and dining room straight ahead, the front room off to the immediate left and a little further the original dining room which now serves as the downstairs living room. The Varners have decorated each room to reflect their many interests, from a burst of red walls in the kitchen to custom made furniture, photos and watercolors, and found objects from their travels to Asia and South America, to spiritual icons of various shapes, sizes, and meanings.
Michael and Debra have undertaken all the remodeling indoors themselves, including some re-working of just finished plastering after the 1989 quake. They transformed an old pantry into the current dining room with views of the deck and back yard from the many windows. Both front rooms have original fireplaces, mantles, and mottled brown and green tiles. These rooms can now be closed off with a large folding glass-paneled door that replaces what was originally a traditional sliding pocket door.
To the immediate right at the entry is a handsome wooden staircase with oak rail and newel post. On the second level is the original master bedroom, now a lounge and TV room to one side and a working office to the other. There is also access to the current master bedroom and bath plus a stairway to the attic remodeled into another bedroom.
Debra reports that theirs is “a great spirit house” attracting not only present-day seekers of inner peace but also other presences, perhaps those of former residents. These other spirits have never been threatening, and one has earned the nickname “Chauncey.” (For a point of reference, the residents of at least half of the buildings profiled in this series have mentioned similar presences in their houses as well).
San Francisco Block Books, Sanborn Maps, Great Index to Register, city directories, real estate records, San Francisco Water Department records, North Panhandle News.