Swedish American Hall

1. 1901

   The lot belonged to Elise A. Drexler, widow of the millionaire Lomis P. Drexler and a developer who barred liquor sales on her properties; it held a two-storey flats building and a vacant strip.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
2. July 26, 1906

   The Swedish Society of San Francisco, whose Scandia Hall on City Hall Avenue had burned with its library and records in the 1906 fire, bought this fifty-foot lot for $12,000; the two-storey flats on it proved unfit to adapt and were sold and moved away.

   National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
3. 1907

   Built under a contract of 4 May 1907 for $35,000 by a consortium of Swedish contractors — Andrew Olson, Carlson & Swanson, and Victor Stanquist — to a design by the Swedish immigrant architect August Nordin, and financed by a $40,000 loan from Eric O. Lindholm, a Swedish immigrant gold miner and banker, whom a contemporary Vestkusten article names as E. Lindblom. One of its two retail spaces was leased to the Swedish-American Mercantile Company, a dealer in imported wines and liquors and a delicatessen selling Scandinavian and German specialties.

   Duboce Triangle Historic Context Statement, adopted 2022
4. 1907

   Built as the Swedish-American Hall, home of the Swedish Society — founded in 1873 as the Original Orpheus Singing Club, then the Singing Society Svea, then the Svenska Sallakapet — and still the San Francisco Swedish Society's headquarters. The hall's address is given as both 2174 and 2168 Market Street.

   Market & Octavia Historic Context Statement, adopted 2007
5. 1907

   The Odd Fellows' Odin Lodge No. 393 and its women's auxiliary Freja Rebekah Lodge No. 284 were the first to take rooms, and almost every room was let before the hall was finished.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
6. 1907

   Swedish American Hall, designed by John Carl Hladik with August Nordin.

   Architecture, Planning & Preservation Professionals: A Collection of Biographies, adopted 2021
7. May 1907

   Building permit no. 9876 was filed for a three-storey-plus-mezzanine wood-frame hall with concrete foundation and brick chimneys, for the Swedish Society, to August Nordin's plans.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
8. July 27, 1907

   A copper box holding the society's by-laws, its membership list, local newspapers and the Swedish paper Vestkusten was sealed into the cornerstone.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
9. September 18, 1907

   An application was made to the Hall Committee to fit out the basement as a first-class saloon and billiard parlour, which opened as the Cafe Du Nord.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
10. December 1907

    The finished hall cost $42,720 on top of the price of the lot, about twice the $21,285 the society had in hand.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
11. December 1907

    When the hall opened it had two storefronts, 2168 Market to the east and 2172 Market to the west, a lodge-room entrance at 2174, and the basement Cafe Du Nord at 2170.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
12. December 22, 1907

    The cornerstone was laid on 27 July 1907, after a procession of the local Swedish societies and the United Swedish Singers of the Pacific Coast, and the hall was dedicated on 22 December with the first honorary membership of the Swedish Society going to Erik O. Lindblom, the Nome gold-rush miner whose loan had paid for it.

    National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
13. 1908

    Balder Lodge No. 393 of the Free and Accepted Masons, founded that year, appears to have met in the Balder lodge room.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
14. 1908

    A shoe store, later called Svea Shoes, opened in the west storefront early in the year, and lasted until the early 1930s.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
15. September 1908

    Cafe Du Nord opened in the basement by September 1908 as a saloon and billiard parlour with a reading room, serving herring breakfasts, with a Swedish wine and spirits merchant in the storefront beside it; it has run ever since.

    National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
16. 1915

    The hall was the meeting place for organising the Swedish Pavilion at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, which its own architect August Nordin supervised on site, and received singing groups and Swedish visitors to the fair all year.

    National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
17. 1927

    Prince Wilhelm of Sweden visited the hall.

    National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
18. 1933

    A sign was put up at the Cafe Du Nord entrance; it is probably the neon sign still there.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
19. 1938

    A large fire escape, required by the Fire Prevention Bureau, was put on the Market Street front — the first change to the facade.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
20. 1954

    A fire burned between the blind walls near the foundation at 2168 Market, and the damage was repaired.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
21. 1955

    Both storefronts were altered for the first time, their wooden window framing replaced with metal supports.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
22. 1958

    Prince Bertil of Sweden visited the hall.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
23. 1960

    Prince Bertil of Sweden visited the hall again.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
24. 1961

    The Swedish prime minister Tage Erlander visited the hall.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
25. 1967

    Crown Prince Carl Gustaf, later King Carl XVI Gustaf, visited the hall, one of a line of Swedish royal and political visitors that began with Prince Wilhelm.

    National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
26. 1969

    A six-foot fixed canvas-and-steel canopy was hung over the Cafe Du Nord entrance, and partitions went into the basement.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
27. 1978

    By June 1978 the stepped parapets at the east and west ends of the roofline had been replaced with a plain sloped roofline, and the storefronts had been altered.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
28. 1983

    The Swedish American Hall, where the first public event for Asian American lesbians was organised in 1983; it also hosted a chapter meeting of an AIDS mobilisation group and celebration services for a Castro ministry. A designated San Francisco landmark (No. 267).

    Donna J. Graves and Shayne E. Watson, Citywide Historic Context Statement for LGBTQ History in San Francisco, San Francisco Planning Department, adopted by the Historic Preservation Commission November 18, 2015
29. 1991

    Cafe Du Nord was revived as a live-music club, and ran shows until 2014.

    National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
30. Dec 1992

    Permit 9221170 $$$ $500

    Replace door with new 1-hr fire rated door.

31. 1996

    With only a few members left, the Swedish Society reorganised under new bylaws and ended its sick and burial benefits. Around the same time it put a reception area and office into the 2172 storefront.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
32. 2001

    Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden visited the hall.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
33. Jan 2003

    Issued Permit 200301275983 $$$ $250,000

    Historic rated building - 1st floor remodel: new front door, new window only.

34. Sep 2003

    Issued Permit 200309094283 $$$ $21,000

    Install new fire alarm system for 1/fl., monitor new fire pump.

35. Nov 2006

    Issued Permit 200611087219 $$$ $600,000

    Construct 5-stop elevator serving all floors within exist building envelope, include relocate restrooms in basement level night club (ref. pre-application determination dated 8/16/05).

36. Jun 2008

    Issued Permit 200806023434 $$$ $28,000

    Alteration to existing ground floor space, including new storefront and bathroom.

37. Jun 2008

    Permit 200806043644 $$$ $28,000

    Replace existing hood (10'-0") to 11'-0" hood system & make up air system. mechanical only. hood fire system by others.

38. Aug 2008

    Permit 200808219756 $$$ $12,500

    New small restaurant counter and prep area with new service area flooring. ref app 200806023434.

39. 2012

    The timber trusses over Freja Hall, the main assembly room, were seismically strengthened in a voluntary upgrade.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
40. Oct 2012

    Permit 201210262867 $$$ $85,000

    Voluntary upgrade of existing trusses. sffd truss sign required.

41. Sep 2013

    Permit 201309166953 $$$ $731,000

    To renew app# 200611087219 for commencement of work not started under approved permit app# 200611087219.

42. Nov 2013

    Permit 201311222585 $$$ $4,000

    Revision to app#201309166953 & 200611087219: barrier removal modify as approved non ada elevator to ada elevator, modify entry and orientation of approved toilets. adding addition toilet stalls.

43. Dec 2013

    Permit 201312315432 $$$ $40,000

    Remodel existing restaurant spaces at ground floor level. remove common wall. combine spaces together. refurbish equipment and finishes. new layout for restaurant b. compliance with ordinance #155-13 not required "b" occupancy.

44. Dec 2013

    Permit 201312315436 $$$ $20,000

    Scope of work at 2170 market st. @ basement. remodel ext restaurant and bar at basement level. refurbish equip. upgrade finishes at kitchen area and bar and common area. no change to existing occupant load at basement level (153 persons).

45. Dec 2013

    Permit 201312315434 $$$ $30,000

    Remodel existing banquet events kithen at 2nd floor mezz. level (replace type i hood); remodel existing bar area @ 2nd floor level, remodel existing office at 2nd floor level. hood and duct fire suppression system under sep.mep mechanical. under sep permit. m/a maher ordinance #155-13.

46. 2014

    An accessible elevator was added, Cafe Du Nord remodelled and two storefronts joined into one restaurant in a rehabilitation reviewed against the Secretary of the Interior's Standards.

    National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
47. Aug 2014

    Permit 201408113499 $$$ $80,000

    Install new mechanical and lighting for t.i. bars and restaurant on basement and 1st floor. ref. appl. #2013.1231.5432. maher n/a.

48. Oct 2014

    Permit 201410239749 $$$ $28,000

    Install fire sprinkler head for basement level off existing 3" riser. ref permit application 201312315436 - modification to an existing sprinkler system.

49. Jan 2015

    Permit 201501054936 $$$ $18,000

    Install new mechanical systems for banquet rooms on 2nd fl.

50. April 28, 2015

    Designated San Francisco Landmark No. 267, Swedish American Hall.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
51. Jun 2016

    Permit 201606150016 $$$ $30,000

    At&t: telecom modification: r&r 4existing antennas with 4new antennas, relocating existing antennas, r&r 4existing tmas with 2new qtmas; install 3new rrus-32, r&r existing rrus-11 with new rrus-32; r&r 2existing rrus-11 with 2new rrus-32; relocate 3existing rrus-11; install new dus & new xmu; relocate 2existing tma.

52. Sep 2017

    Permit 201709259490 $$$ $55,000

    Modify at&t, r&r existing antenna with new antenna, install (2) new antennas on existing flag poles, install (9) new rrus, remove unused equip. install other small equip. paint antennas to match.

53. Aug 2019

    Permit 201908219423 $$$ $50,000

    Replacing existing non-historical main doors and supporting framework at 2174 entry; remove & replace non-historic glass window facing market with leaded glass windows to match the balance of the leaded glass facing market street.

54. September 30, 2019

    Listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the most significant surviving building of San Francisco's Swedish community and as an Arts and Crafts work of August Nordin, still owned by the Swedish Society that built it.

    National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
55. Aug 2020

    Permit 202008242509 $$$ $27,000

    At&t modification: swap (3) existing antennas, paint to match; remove (6) existing rrus; install (6) new rrus; swap existing condenser on roof; swap existing hvac in 3rd floor equipment room; install (12) new batteries.

56. Sep 2021

    Permit 202109077863 $$$ $25,000

    Remove of 2015 leasehold imrpovements, new toilet room and modify occuant load calculations. - remove partition walls, create stage and greeen room, open space per previous to 2015 tenant improvement.

57. Aug 2022

    Permit 202208261413 $$$ $42,000

    Att: remove (2) existing antennas; install (4)new antennas; remove existing cabinet with batteries; install new cabinet with batteries.

58. May 2025

    Withdrawn Permit 202505196791 $$$ $30,000

    Change the layout at 2 existing bars.

DBI holds 69 permits for this parcel, most of them tenant improvements on individual floors. The timeline shows the 24 largest by stated cost, plus the earliest on file; the DBI query in the sources below returns all 69. 6 of them are nominal $1 street-space or sidewalk permits. 2 expired or cancelled permits are not shown. The 1906 purchase of the lot is dated both 26 July and September 1906.