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Architects'
Profiles
Pacific Heights
Architects #28 - William S. Mooser |
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Just a few
individuals started dynasties of San Francisco design and
architectural accomplishment. Charles M. Rousseau (followed by sons
Charles J., Arthur and Oliver) would be one; Julius Case Mathews
(followed by sons Walter, Edgar and Arthur) would be another.
However, William Sebastian Mooser was by far the earliest, and by
1961 the firm names of William Mooser or Wm. Mooser & Son had been
respected in the local architectural community for 100 years through
the distinguished efforts of three generations of William Mooser.
William Sebastian Mooser was born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1834. He
studied architecture in his native land before arriving in San
Francisco on October 10, 1854. One of his first jobs was at the Navy
Yard designing naval structures, but he soon followed many other
fortune seekers of his generation and set out for the mines. He
later based himself in Virginia City, Nevada to practice
architecture, designing and supervising the building of at least
four substantial commercial buildings there.
 In 1858 Mooser
returned to San Francisco, at first joining pioneer architect Victor
Hoffman in practice and then opening his own office in 1861. One
early Mooser design still surviving, and therefore one of San
Francisco’s oldest buildings, is the 1864 Pioneer Woolen Mill. It is
a red-brick building with broad plank floors resting on exposed wood
columns, acutely-angled onto Polk Street near Beach. During the
Civil War the building was used to manufacture uniforms for Union
troops. It is now incorporated into the Ghirardelli Square complex
designated in 1970 as San Francisco Landmark #30. Mooser designed a
second building for the Pioneer Woolen Mills across Polk Street from
the first one. That survived for almost 100 years, but was
demolished to be replaced by the Fontana Towers at 1000 and 1050
North Point.
Most of the buildings in
Ghirardelli Square were designed between 1899 and 1918 by Mooser’s
eldest son, William H. Mooser (1868-1962), for the chocolate
manufacturer D. Ghirardelli Company. In 1962, the buildings were
saved from demolition by Lurline and William Matson Roth who hired
Wurster, Bernardi & Emmons to develop them into a retail and office
complex, for which they received a collaborative achievement award
from the American Institute of Architects in 1965.
 William S. Mooser
entered into a few other partnerships during his career in the City,
notably with English architect W. J. Cuthbertson in the early
1890's. Despite a great deal of his work being lost in the fire
which followed the 1906 earthquake, we are fortunate to be able to
admire in Pacific Heights the group of Queen Anne’s at 2811-2821
Buchanan Street, designed by Mooser in 1893, and the magnificent
home at 2702 California Street, which he designed in 1887 for
carriage maker John Dupuy. The building contract notice in the June
15, 1887 California Architect & Building News quotes a $7,500
construction cost for this house. For many years split into two
townhouses, front and rear, the house has recently been restored to
its original configuration.
 Mooser was well
respected in the local architectural community and was a founding
member of the San Francisco Architectural Society in 1861. His
eldest son, William Mooser II, joined him in practice in 1890 and
continued the name of Mooser & Son after his father died of kidney
failure on November 17, 1896. Since 1886, the Mooser family had
lived in the magnificent Casebolt House at 2727 Pierce. This house
graced the cover of the 1968 Junior League of San Francisco
publication Here Today and is San Francisco Landmark #51. It was the
original manor house of Cow Hollow, built for owner Henry Casebolt
circa 1870. Architectural information prior to 1880 is difficult to
find, and the house was landmarked without a firm of architects
being associated with it. After Henry Casebolt sold it, the house
was owned for some years by a client of Mooser’s, Capt. Thomas G.
Taylor. Although Mooser did not design the Casebolt House, his son
William Mooser II, designed the house just to the north, 2733
Pierce, in 1899 under the Mooser & Son company name.
In 1900, during the Phelan administration, William Mooser II became
the first person appointed to the position of City architect,
responsible for the plans and supervision of all City construction,
in charge of the new Building Bureau and its building inspectors,
and author of the first San Francisco building code. [Another son,
Louis H. Mooser was a prominent real estate broker and President of
the San Francisco Real Estate Board, 1919-20.]
William Mooser III (1893-1969), known as William Mooser, Jr. for
most of his life, was educated in France, graduating from the
Sorbonne in 1911 and the renowned Parisian architectural school
École des Beaux-Arts in 1922. Returning to San Francisco in 1923, he
apprenticed with MacDonald and Couchot, and later joined his father
in practice for many years. He was appointed the architect for the
Art Deco-style building that now houses the National Maritime Museum
on Beach Street at Polk. His best known work, however, is the Santa
 Barbara County
Courthouse, which has been called the most beautiful government
building in America.
Constructed
in 1926 after the June 29, 1925 Santa Barbara earthquake destroyed
much of the downtown including the 1872 courthouse on the same site,
this building is now a local, state and national historic landmark.
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