Abner Phelps House

The Abner Phelps House at 1111 Oak Street holds the distinction of being the oldest residence in San Francisco, dating back to approximately 1850. While its exact origins remain a subject of debate among historians, one popular account suggests the structure was shipped in sections from New Orleans around Cape Horn. This effort was allegedly undertaken by Abner Phelps, a lawyer and Mexican-American War colonel, to ease the homesickness of his young bride who was reluctant to move to the West. A competing theory posits that the house was built locally by a firm called John Middleton and Sons using lumber shipped from Maine. Whatever its true origin, the home was initially situated in the center of a massive 160-acre homestead at the base of Buena Vista Hill. This property was vast enough to include a 100-foot-deep lake, which the Phelps children famously used for duck hunting and swimming. At the time, this was far beyond the reach of San Francisco's city limits, and Phelps would commute to his office on horseback, traveling along what was then little more than a dusty path that would eventually become Divisadero Street.