William Westerfeld House

Mauricio Pretto

Very beautiful house

Adam Victor

I’ve spent many nights in the 90s and 00s partying my butt off at this place. Incredibly detailed and absolutely amazing place.

NoeHill Webmaster

The Westerfeld House is San Francisco Landmark 135. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. It was designed by Henry Geilfuss and built in 1889 for banker and candy baron William Westerfeld, one of many prosperous German immigrants who built grand homes in the area around Alamo Square. This great wooden palazzo is a pure expression of the style, Stick Italian Villa, with its tower, square bay windows and strong vertical line. "Up at Fulton and Scott is a great shambling old Gothic house, a freaking decayed giant, known as The Russian Embassy" Tom Wolfe wrote in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, published in 1968. By The Summer of Love and The Autumn of Love, like many of San Francisco's grand but derelict old mansions, its roof leaked, and it was home to a commune, and it was this commune called Calliope that Wolfe visited. San Francisco tour books and tour guides, eager to exploit The City's perverse past, have decided that Charles Manson once lived here. He did live in San Francisco but not here. But Bobbie Beausoleil did live here just before he joined The Manson Family. He and his buddy Kenneth Anger, also in residence, would spend nights in the tower on the look-out for flying saucers. According to Anger he had "a couple of very good flying saucer sightings." Anger shot his movie The Invocation of My Demon Brother here. Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, used to practice witchcraft in the tower, employing a lion cub and 500 candles.

Don Lynne

The decor is beautiful. A lot of time was put into keeping this place up and restoring it.