881 Innes Avenue

1. 1870

   John Hamlin Burnell, an English immigrant born at East Hoathly, Sussex in 1849 who reached San Francisco by way of Vancouver in the late 1860s, founded the Albion Ale and Porter Brewery to make beer in the English tradition. He had found the fresh water he needed in a natural outfall at the corner of 9th (Innes) Avenue and G (Griffith) Street, bought a 75-by-100-foot lot, drove tunnels deep into the hillside to increase the output, and built above them a brewery of imported limestone and local float rock hewn from Candlestick Hill. The plant also held fermenting kettles and malt mills.

   Area B Survey context statement, 2010
2. 1890–1919

   After Burnell's death in 1890 his widow, brother and several nephews ran the brewery, until Prohibition took effect in 1919.

   Area B Survey context statement, 2010
3. 1938

   The buildings had gone to ruin by the time Adrien Voisin bought them and restored them as a residence and art studio. The brewery building and the tunnels are still standing.

   Area B Survey context statement, 2010
4. 1964

   The San Francisco Mountain Springs Water Company bought the brewery; the sculptor who had restored it kept a right of residency until 1975.

   India Basin Survey and Context Statement, adopted 2008
5. Mar 1997

   Remodel bathroom, kitchen, cabinets.

   Expired Permit 9704289 $$$ $8,800
6. Apr 1997

   Additional door repair, related to ext doors, repair in kind.

   Complete Permit 9707630 $$$ $1,500

The 1899–1900 Sanborn maps give the brewery's address as 837–39 9th Avenue South, the earlier name of Innes Avenue. The assessor dates the building 1920; the 2010 survey dates it 1870.