800–804 Montgomery Street

1. 1853–1854

   Built in 1853–54 by Keyser & Brown to designs by the architect Reuben Clark for the St. Louis bank Lucas, Turner & Co., under the supervision of William Tecumseh Sherman, who had resigned his army commission to run it. It cost $53,000, on a lot bought from James Lick for $31,000; the bank moved in in the summer of 1854 and wound itself up in 1857.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
2. 1860s

   Offices in the 1860s included the newly founded Hibernia Savings and Loan Society (1860) and the offices of the Sacramento railroad, the state's first; from 1876 the Justices of the Peace sat here, the city halls having run out of room.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
3. 1900

   Built by Keyser & Brown.

4. 1906

   The third storey, damaged in the earthquake, was taken off. The ground floor was then the Eiffel Tower, a French restaurant that stayed until 1924, with lodgings above; a sausage factory and later a Chinese soy-sauce factory followed.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
5. 1930s

   Dorothea Lange kept her studio here. A society portraitist in the 1920s, she turned from that work in the Depression to photograph the strikers, displaced workers and hungry people on the streets outside, and became the principal Farm Security Administration photographer of Depression-era San Francisco.

   San Francisco New Deal Historic Context Statement, adopted 2023
6. August 16, 1964

   Photographed.

   San Francisco Subjects Photograph Collection (SFP 162), San Francisco Public Library
7. June 26, 1969

   The Bank of Lucas, Turner and Company building in the Jackson Square area was already a State Historical Landmark. The City Planning Commission approved designating the Bank of Lucas, Turner and Company building a city landmark.

   San Francisco City Planning Commission minutes, San Francisco Public Library (Internet Archive)
8. 1970

   Designated San Francisco Landmark No. 26, Bank of Lucas, Turner & Company.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
9. Oct 1987

   Permit 8714779 $$$ $7,200

   Parapet reinforcing.

10. Apr 1991

    Permit 9106841 $$$ $1,900

    Patch & repair existing drywall & ceiling.

11. Nov 1995

    Permit 9520174 $$$ $75,000

    Reinforce montgomery & jackson st walls, do plywood -2nd floor.

12. Jul 2023

    Issued Permit 202307182421 $$$ $4,500

    To comply with accessible business entramce program 51-16, abe #202306267664. replace double doors with a 36" wide door, install accessible door lever hardware, new 2" wide contrasting color striping to exterior steps.

13. Jul 2023

    Issued Permit 202307182420 $$$ $250

    To comply with accessible business entramce program 51-16, abe #2000131609. install accessible door lever hardware, new 2" wide contrasting color striping to exterior steps.

14. Jul 2023

    Issued Permit 202307182419 $$$ $2,500

    To comply with accessible business entramce program 51-16, abe #202306267665. install accessible door lever hardware, install new handrails both steps, new 2" wide contrasting color striping to exterior steps. exterior work only.

15. Aug 2023

    Issued Permit 202308144393 $$$ $1,250

    To comply with accessible business entrance program abe# 202308013106, install accessible door lever hardware, new handrails at existing steps and new 2" wide contrasting color striping to the exterior steps. fabricate & install new signage in the door window for disabled customers.

1 nominal $1 street-space or sidewalk permit is omitted from the timeline. 3 expired or cancelled permits are not shown. The building is dated 1853–1854 in its landmark designation; the assessor's roll gives 1900.