ALBERT PISSIS
Architect
(1852-1914)

Albert Pissis was born in Guaymas, Mexico in 1852, the son of Dr. Joseph Etienne Pissis, a Paris-educated physician, and Juana B. Pissis.  His family came to San Francisco when Albert was only six years old and he grew up in the family home at 825 Mission.  After graduating from local schools, Pissis joined the office of architect William Mooser, Sr. in 1871 as a draftsman.  Mooser was a founder of the San Francisco Architectural Society in 1861 and he encouraged Pissis to obtain formal architectural training.  So in 1872 Pissis became the first Bay Area student to be admitted to the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, accepted in the atelier of Julien Guadet.

 After leaving the École in 1874, Pissis traveled and studied architecture in Europe, eventually returning to San Francisco and rejoining Mooser at his office at 302 Montgomery as a qualified architect.   By 1881 he was ready to open his own practice.  In 1885 Pissis took on English architect William P. Moore (1847-1902) as a partner.  Moore had arrived in San Francisco in 1880.  Both Pissis and Moore were very active in the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Pissis as Vice-President in 1884 and then President in 1886, and Moore as Vice-President 1887-89 and 1895-96.  Pissis was also elected as a Fellow of the AIA in 1886.

Hibernia Bank Building decorated for the arrival of the Great White Fleet in San Francisco May 6,1908

The Pissis & Moore partnership lasted through 1897.  During this time Pissis designed two of his most notable structures, starting with the Hibernia Bank building (1 Jones at McAllister, built in 1892 and enlarged along Jones in 1908), admired by Willis Polk and others at the time as the most beautiful building in the city, and now San Francisco Landmark #130.  The Emporium followed (835 Market, constructed in 1896, and rebuilt in 1908 after the facade survived the 1906 fire).

Pissis moved his mother to 1709 California in the late 1880's, after his father had died.  That house, and other important houses he designed, such as 2209 Laguna and 1916 Sacramento, have since been replaced by other buildings, but a few Pissis & Moore residences survive, such as in:

940 Grove, opposite Alamo Square	940 Grove and houses on Steiner at dusk

Flood Building (1900's postcard)

Pissis designed the portals and entrance gates of the new subdivision in Presidio Terrace for developer Antoine Borel, and a new synagogue at California and Webster for Congregation Sherith Israel, both in 1904.

After the 1906 earthquake his classical training and experience meant that Pissis was much in demand.  He became President again of the San Francisco chapter of the AIA for the rebuilding years of 1907-09.  He re-opened his office on the top floor of the Flood Building (870 Market at Powell, which he had designed in 1904, completed after the 1906 fire, and is now San Francisco Landmark #154).  He obtained commissions for several commercial and public structures, including the Borel Building (440 Montgomery, 1908, San Francisco Landmark #109), the Mechanics Institute (57-65 Post, 1909, San Francisco Landmark #134) and the Health Sciences (Lane) Library (2395 Sacramento, 1912, San Francisco Landmark #115).  Both the Mechanics Institute and the Lane Library have murals by artist Arthur F. Mathews, brother of architect Edgar A. Mathews.