The 0-100 block of Hartford St is almost solely the work of “master builder” Fernando Nelson, who famously built thousands of homes in SF over the course of his half-century career, and acted as one-man savings and loan to many of his customers.

Hartford St North is an example of blue-collar Victorians in the “streetcar suburbs” growing in San Francisco at the turn of the century. These houses are the transition period between the vernacular, unprofessional infill housing in chaotically inclusive urban spaces, and the commissioned exclusive automobile-reliant suburbs of the 1920s and later. As non-status buildings - specifically meant to be owned by blue-collar workers and not just rented to them - the buildings on Hartford St are a rare survival, and illustrate the incredible quality of life available to migrants willing to make the trip West.

Block history

Hartford St North was originally listed as “Mission block 114”, and only much later (when the City consolidated the previous different survey block numbers) became “Block 3582” as it’s known today.

This was the last block in the area to be developed, due to the conflicting land claims, and the protracted probate battle (and intra-family strife) in the J.P. Treadwell estate.

Additionally, Hartford St in its entirety was renumbered some time between 1900 and 1901; Hartford St Central was originally 1-50, and Hartford South was 51-100.

When the third block was cut and it got closer to Market St, the blocks were renumbered to match the rest of the City’s numbering convention, which is to say the house numbers increase by about 100 each block you get further away from Market. Hartford North became 0-99, Hartford Central became 100-199, and Hartford South became 200-299.

Andrew Christensen swoops in

(NB: all of this could probably be resolved by looking at the block book, I just haven’t had time to do so.)

It looks like Andrew Christensen was the first person to buy a lot on the newly-subdivided Mission 114 block per this SFCall notice from 9th June 1900. If that’s the first house, then he must’ve started building nearly immediately since our “first building on Hartford St” photo is dated 28 June 1900.

The San Francisco Call for 9th June, 1900

John T. Harmes and Thalia Treadwell to Andrew Christensen, lot on E line of Hartford street, 137;4 S of Seventeenth, S 26:2 by E 125; $10.

It looks like his brother bought the adjacent lot a month later.

Thalia Treadwell (single) to Jens Chr Christensen, lot on E line of Hartford street, 163:6 S of Seventeenth, S26:2 by E 123; $10.

The San Francisco Call for 8th July, 1900

The first builder contract I found shows Andrew Christensen commissioning a building on the lot that became 27/29/31 Hartford St, through Cotter and Jones (contractors), and W. McMillen (architect), and not through Fernando Nelson.

The San Francisco Call for 20th June, 1900

Interestingly, although Christensen’s contract lists a two-story building, the first one to go in was the three-story building that we see already mostly framed out by June 28th. This lot, reading out the surveyor numbers, corresponds to parcel 3582/035, or 27/29/31 Hartford. Andrew’s brother’s building next door must have been next to go up. I’m not sure if I just missed the listing, or if publicizing builders contracts were just optional.

Regardless of what happened, and perhaps puzzlingly, both the three-story flats at 27/29/31, and the two-story flats at 33/35 have the same layouts, and all of the same trimmings and mouldings as other Nelsons on the block. Did Christensen fire his contractor and hire Nelson at a savings? Or were there just limited resources for interior decoration in 1900/1901?

Nelson’s purchases

At any rate, Fernando Nelson bought the Hartford chunk of the Treadwell block in November 1900, and it was a big enough deal to be in the newspaper two days running.

San Francisco Call, Volume 87, Number 158, 5 November 1900

He later bought up the other side of the block from 18th and Noe north:

San Francisco Call, Volume 87, Number 24, 24 December 1900

He gets the lot at the NW corner of 18th and Noe.

alt text

San Francisco Call, Volume 87, Number 154, 3 May 1901

Nelson then (grudgingly?) buys the lot for the apartment building at the SE corner of 17th and Hartford, which becomes the weirdly boxed out condo building. alt text San Francisco Call, Volume 87, Number 57, 26 January 1902

West ___ East
nw-corner-apt   ne-corner-apt
    1, 5, 17
20   19
24   25
28   27, 29, 31
32   33, 35
36   37, 39
42   41, 43
44, 46   45
48   49
52   53
56   57-zen-center
60   61
64   65
70, 72, 74   71, 73, 75
sw-corner-apt   se-corner-apt

https://opensfhistory.org/Display/wnp13.006b.jpg looking ne from 18th st, circa 1907 https://opensfhistory.org/Display/wnp25.10866.jpg east side, looking south to se-corner-apt, 1970s