Albion Brewery

Albion Brewery is a three-story stone structure in Hunters Point featuring Norman-style castle design with carved columns and arched entries. The building contains two hand-carved stone cisterns that originally captured and stored fresh spring water for brewing operations.

John Hamlin Burnell founded the brewery in 1870 with stone cisterns designed to hold spring water for production. The building later served as a water supply facility during Prohibition and went through different uses before becoming privately owned again.

The brewery mixed British brewing methods with local California resources, shaping how people sourced and valued water in the region. Today the building tells this story through its stone structure and the way it still stands connected to the land.

The building stands as a city landmark and can be viewed from outside where the stone architecture is visible from different angles. Access conditions may vary depending on the current status of the property and any ongoing activities.

The structure began as a brewery but the quality and scale of its stone cisterns made it valuable enough to operate as a separate water supply facility. This shift reveals how precious fresh spring water was to the growing city.

Location: San Francisco

Inception: 1870

Industry: spring water, brewery

GPS coordinates: 37.73157,-122.37553

Latest update: December 12, 2025 14:22