Sacred Heart School

1. 1902

   The parish tore down Thomas J. Welsh's 1887 wood-frame church, which had served as the parish school, to make way for a new school building on Fell Street.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
2. 1906

   Sacred Heart College, burned out of its building at Eddy and Larkin Streets in the 1906 fire, put up a temporary three-storey wood-frame school behind the church on Fell Street; after the college moved on, some time after 1914, the parish school used it.

   National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
3. 1914

   The Dominican Sisters who taught the parish school came to live in the attic of the wood-frame Sacred Heart College building here, staying until the late 1910s.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
4. 1920

   In the early 1920s the parish school, run by the Dominican Sisters, had eight teachers and 502 pupils — more than the order's flagship St. Rose's Academy.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
5. 1926

   The parish's permanent school was built, a three-storey Romanesque Revival building of stuccoed reinforced concrete designed by John J. Foley, with classrooms, an assembly hall, a library and a nurse's room; the Dominican Sisters, who had taught the parish's children since 1893, ran it.

   National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
6. July 12, 1942

   A contract between the pastor and the Dominican Sisters set the terms for running the school: the pastor was its nominal head, but the Dominican principal controlled the curriculum, discipline and staffing; the sisters were paid $40 a month and did no janitorial work.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
7. 1968

   Father Eugene Boyle, pastor until 1972, turned the parish school into a community school open to non-Catholic pupils.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
8. 1969

   All of the classroom walls inside the school were taken out.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
9. 1979

   The school's former principal, turned parish social worker, set up the Community Service Project for pupils who were going hungry or poorly clothed, which also gave Western Addition families emergency food, shelter and counselling.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
10. Aug 1988

    Permit 8811938 $$$ $10,000

    Reroofing.

11. 2001

    With enrolment down to 107 pupils from kindergarten to eighth grade, most of them not Catholic, the Archdiocese considered closing the school.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
12. 2002

    More interior partition walls were added.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
13. 2003

    The Archdiocese merged Sacred Heart School with the nearby St. Dominic's School.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
14. 2005

    The Megan Furth Academy, an independent Catholic school founded by the patron of the combined St. Dominic's and Sacred Heart schools, opened on the site after he bought the closed parish complex.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
15. Jul 2006

    Permit 200607116166 $$$ $65,000

    Soft demolition of sheetrock & fixtures. removal of barrier. provide accessible stalls for each mens & women.

16. 2011

    The Megan Furth Academy merged with Mission Dolores Academy, another independent Catholic school.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
17. 2012

    The merged academy sold the school building.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
18. 2013

    The main entrance was lowered to sidewalk level for disabled access, a lift installed and the floors replaced throughout.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
19. Aug 2013

    Issued Permit 201308164574 $$$ $200,000

    Accessibility upgrade to existing 3 story school. includes reposition main entry to grade level. excavation of portion of basement crawl space to provide new lobby. addition of new elevator to serve existing stories. additon of new ramp at rear of building. new water fountains.

20. Apr 2014

    Issued Permit 201404254166 $$$ $35,000

    T.i. relocate 2 bathrooms to 1 handicap bath plus one toilet room. remodel 1st floor bath and add one ada bathroom. toilet/sink only. relocate equipment closet per 201308164574 and install fist landing in lieu of door actuator per app#201308164574. install ducting for future grease work.; compliance.

21. May 2014

    Permit 201405145723 $$$ $27,800

    New voice/alarm communication system. notification appliances and initiating devices thru-out all floor areas. install elevator recall. tie in existing waterflow and tamper switche to new panel. rf#200206260005.

22. Jun 2014

    Issued Permit 201406047502 $$$ $1

    Rev. to permit application 201308164574 remove "elevator back up generator". n/a ordinance #155-13. this was a requirement on permit #201308164574.

23. Nov 2014

    Permit 201411101140 $$$ $1

    As-builts to permit application 201405145723; delete 3 and add 2 smoke detectors on 1st and 3rd floor; remove 2 pull station from 3rd floor to reflect the job site installation; maher n/a.

24. Jul 2015

    Issued Permit 201507010423 $$$ $1,500

    Erect 1/2" waterjet cut aluminum sign over entry way. n/a ordinance #155-13.

25. September 28, 2017

    Listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Sacred Heart Parish Complex, with the church, rectory, school and convent around it.

    National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
26. 2024

    Designated San Francisco Landmark No. 316, Sacred Heart Parish Complex.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
27. 2024

    The school was found to contribute to the Hayes Valley Residential Historic District, determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places through Section 106 consultation.

    SF Planning, landmark designation

2 nominal $1 street-space or sidewalk permits are omitted from the timeline. 5 expired permits are not shown. The old wooden church is also shown standing, as a school, on an 1899 map, and the narrative never says when it came down.