Alfred E. Clarke Mansion, Historic mansion in Eureka Valley, San Francisco, United States
Alfred E. Clarke Mansion is a four-story house at 250 Douglass Street with multiple towers and bands of alternating scalloped and plain shingles covering its exterior. The structure now contains 15 apartment units and a cottage, each retaining details from the original Victorian design.
This house was built in 1891 by Alfred Clarke, an Irish immigrant who gained wealth through his work with the San Francisco Police Department over three decades. The structure survived the devastating earthquake and fires of 1906, making it one of few Victorian buildings that escaped destruction.
The name comes from Alfred Clarke, an Irish immigrant who built this house in the late 1800s. Visitors can see how such grand residences reflected the prosperity and status of their owners during that era.
The mansion functions as a residential complex with multiple separate units, so the interior is not open to the public. Visitors can best appreciate the detailed exterior design and architectural features from the sidewalk.
The building briefly served as California Medical College around 1900, where Law Keem received one of the first medical degrees awarded to a Chinese person in San Francisco. This overlooked chapter in the house's past connects it to early Asian American medical education.
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