by Frank Dunnigan

Large cities have a tremendous need for a wide variety of health care services. Over the years, San Francisco has been home to numerous hospitals that have served the changing needs of residents. It’s often difficult to trace the origins of some of these institutions in an era that has seen so many mergers, consolidations, name changes, and outright closures. A number of buildings throughout many city neighborhoods have a back story to them that includes prior use as a hospital facility—leading to questions such as, “Didn’t that place used to be…?” This month, we take a look at some large and small institutions, both past and present.

Franklin Hospital, 1920. (wnp15.1336; photo by Moulin / Courtesy of a Private Collector)

GERMAN HOSPITAL—Founded in 1858, this institution was renamed Franklin Hospital amidst the anti-German sentiments of World War I. It became Ralph K. Davies Medical Center in 1968, named for a generous donor (and husband of Louise M. Davies for whom the Symphony Hall, opened in 1980, is named). It was at that same time that a modern concrete and steel hospital building replaced the structure shown here from the 1920s. Since 1998, Ralph K. Davies Hospital has been part of California Pacific Medical Center and is now known as CPMC—DAVIES CAMPUS.

Lyon near Geary, looking east at Kaiser Hospital under construction, 1952. (wnp14.10870; courtesy of a Private Collector)

KAISER FOUNDATION HOSPITAL—San Francisco’s first Kaiser Hospital was a 35-bed facility on Potrero Hill that opened in 1948. In 1954, the hospital moved to new quarters on Geary Boulevard (shown here under construction in 1952) at the site of the old Calvary Cemetery that had previously been removed. Kaiser facilities and offices now dominate both sides of Geary Boulevard in this area. Today, the hospital’s locations include GEARY, FRENCH, and its newest campus—MISSION BAY.

View east on Post across Divisadero, circa 1959. (wnp100.00103; Morton-Waters Co., SCRAP Negative Collection / Courtesy of SCRAP)

MOUNT ZION HOSPITAL—Mount Zion Hospital was originally planned in 1887 by members of three San Francisco Jewish congregations (Sherith-Israel, Emanu-El, and Beth Israel), and opened its doors on Sutter Street in the Western Addition ten years later. The new institution specifically stated its purpose as “aiding the indigent sick without regard to race or creed, to be supported by the Jewish community.” The hospital modernized and expanded its facilities many times over the years (shown here circa 1959 when conversion from birdcage traffic signals to more modern red/yellow/green lighted models was also underway), and was long regarded as the hospital of choice by many in the local Jewish community. In 1990, Mount Zion became part of the University of California, San Francisco and is now known as UCSF-Mount Zion.

Van Ness & Broadway, circa 1927. (wnp37.01918; Marilyn Blaisdell Collection / Courtesy of a Private Collector)

NOTRE DAME HOSPITAL—Previously the Dante Sanitarium with outreach to the Italian community, then Adler’s Sanatorium, shown here circa 1927, and later, Notre Dame Hospital, this institution was located at Van Ness Avenue and Broadway. During World War II, Letterman Army Hospital at the Presidio acquired use of the property as an annex. Subsequent to this photo, a fourth story was added, plus a fifth story solarium—additions that remain in place today, though the window ornamentation and balconies shown here have been removed. By the 1950s, the building had become a long-term nursing care facility, again known as Notre Dame Hospital. By the mid-1970s, it had become a senior residential facility known as the Notre Dame Apartments, and just after the turn of the millennium, it received significant upgrades and is now home to more than 250 senior residents.

Buchanan and Sacramento, 1972. (wnp27.4914; photo by William Todd / Courtesy of a Private Collector)

PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL—This hospital, located in the Pacific Heights neighborhood, traces its origin to Lane Hospital, founded in 1895 for Cooper Medical College, an institution established in 1882. Cooper became Stanford University’s Medical School in 1908 and it relocated to the main Stanford campus in Palo Alto in 1959. The hospital facility was renamed Presbyterian Hospital, which later built a modern structure on Buchanan Street, shown here under construction in 1972. The institution was later renamed Pacific-Presbyterian Medical Center and following a 1990s merger with Children’s Hospital, that newly-merged entity became California Pacific Medical Center, with the former Children’s Hospital on California Street known as the CPMC-California Campus and the former Presbyterian site, shown here, known as the CPMC-Pacific Campus. Following the opening of the CPMC-Van Ness campus, the 2333 Buchanan Street facility was renamed “CPMC Pacific Heights Outpatient Center” and no longer offers inpatient care and services.

View west on Page crossing Masonic, circa 1940. (wnp27.3879; courtesy of a Private Collector)

PARK SANITARIUM—Shown here circa 1940, the site was described in a 1924 hospital brochure as: “PARK SANITARIUM—Corner Masonic Avenue & Page Street—For the care and treatment of Nervous and Mental Diseases, Selected Alcoholic and Drug Addiction Cases.” The building later became a residential hotel, and by October 2017, it had been converted into 16 housing units for developmentally disabled adults.

Southern Pacific Hospital, circa 1940. (wnp37.02742; Marilyn Blaisdell Collection / Courtesy of a Private Collector)

SOUTHERN PACIFIC HOSPITAL—Opened in 1909 to replace an earlier facility lost in 1906, the Southern Pacific Railroad operated the hospital as an employer-sponsored health care center for its employees and their families. The new structure was located at Fell and Baker Streets in the quiet residential neighborhood north of the Golden Gate Park Panhandle. Changing health care business practices and a significant decline in railroad operations brought about changes in the late 1960s and the building was eventually sold to a new group and renamed Harkness Hospital. New laws on earthquake safety for hospitals helped bring about the end of its days by 1974. After nearly a decade of vacancy, a lengthy gut and rebuilding project was undertaken, and the structure is now a senior living facility known as Mercy Terrace, with 158 apartments completed in 1982-83, and its main entrance relocated to Masonic Avenue at right. In acknowledgement of its long history, the structure has been designated San Francisco Landmark #192. Read more about this building in Woody LaBounty’s 2020 article for SF Heritage.

Corona Heights north slope, St Joseph’s Hospital on Buena Vista Park in background, May 18, 1936. (wnp36.04246; photo by Horace Chaffee, SF Department of Public Works / Courtesy of a Private Collector)

ST. JOSEPH’S HOSPITAL—The hospital was established in 1889 on Buena Vista Avenue East and was run by the Franciscan Sisters, a group of Catholic nuns originally from the Midwest. The original wooden structure survived the 1906 earthquake and fire, but was replaced in 1928 with a new concrete and steel building designed by the architectural firm of Bakewell and Brown, whose work also included the City of Paris Department Store (1909), San Francisco City Hall (1915), San Francisco Art Institute (1925), Temple Emanu-El (1926), the PG&E Building (1926), War Memorial Opera House (1932), Federal Office Building (1936), Transbay Terminal (1939), and more. The hospital also operated a School of Nursing at the site. Shown here in 1936, St. Joseph’s was decommissioned in 1979 and later converted to residential condominiums, with preservation of the building’s exterior Spanish Renaissance Revival architecture.

St. Luke’s Hospital, circa 1920. (wnp70.1198; Marilyn Blaisdell Collection / Courtesy of Molly Blaisdell)

ST. LUKE’S HOSPITAL—Opened in 1871 near Esmeralda and Prospect Avenues in the Bernal Heights area, the institution was founded by the Episcopal Church, but was not restricted by religion, nationality, or race. Expanded into new facilities on Valencia Street in 1874, there were ongoing improvements, including a significant expansion just prior to World War I and a new building in the 1970s. Threatened with the possibility of closure in 2007, the site was acquired and a new 120-bed facility—California Pacific Medical Center Mission Bernal Campus—opened in 2018. Read more about the history of St. Luke’s in Woody LaBounty’s 2018 article.

SF General Hospital, circa 1960. (wnp70.0363; Marilyn Blaisdell Collection / Courtesy of Molly Blaisdell)

SAN FRANCISCO GENERAL HOSPITAL—Tracing its origins back to the 1850s, San Francisco General Hospital established a 400-bed facility on Potrero Avenue in 1872. Major expansions have occurred periodically over the years, including the most recent one in 2016 when the hospital acknowledged a $75 million gift from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, by renaming the facility in their honor. With nearly 3,500 city workers on staff, plus another 1,500 employees from UCSF School of Medicine, the hospital (shown here circa 1960) is the designated Level-1 Trauma Center for the 1.5 million residents of San Francisco and Northern San Mateo County.