Sacred Heart Rectory

1. 1887

   Thomas J. Welsh's first Sacred Heart Church, a two-storey wood-frame Romanesque building for 700 people with the sanctuary upstairs and a Sunday school of eight classrooms below, was built on this site; it was moved to the back of the lot in 1889 to clear the ground for the brick church, and served as the parish school once that was finished.

   National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
2. 1891

   The rectory was built around 1891 as a two-storey wood-frame house faced in brick on the front, designed and built by the contractor Hugh Keenan, for the four to six priests of the parish.

   National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
3. 1893

   The pastor put up a makeshift twelve-room house for the Dominican Sisters, who had just come to teach the parish school, on the parish property behind the rectory.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
4. 1898

   Sacred Heart Church, designed by architect Thomas J. Welsh, principal architect to the Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco.

   Architecture, Planning & Preservation Professionals: A Collection of Biographies, adopted 2021
5. October 1906

   A fire months after the earthquake seriously damaged the rectory, and Welsh & Carey rebuilt and enlarged it over the following year, adding the third storey and new brick facing: forty rooms, with two meeting halls in the basement seating about 250.

   National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
6. 1907

   Built by Hugh Keenan.

7. 1915

   A wood-frame bridge was built from the rectory's third storey to the choir loft of the church next door, letting the priests reach the sanctuary for early mass under cover.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
8. 1917

   The rectory's interior was renovated and rearranged.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
9. 1924

   At some point between 1924 and 1954 the front entrance was recessed and given a stucco surround, the transom above it removed or covered, and the hood over the second-storey three-part window taken off.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
10. 1950

    Some time after 1950 a garage door was cut into the south end of the basement storey on the street front, and the main entrance's door and sidelights were replaced.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
11. 1968

    Father Eugene Boyle, pastor until 1972, held the meetings of his St. Patrick's College seminar on social concerns in the rectory; the seminar's first class had written 'San Francisco: A City in Crisis', the 600-page race-relations study known as the 'Little Kerner Report'.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
12. Nov 1986

    Permit 8615042 $$$ $6,500

    Sprinkle ground floor of rectory.

13. 1989

    The large basement hall was remodelled in stages, through the late 1990s, for a tenant's child-care centre.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
14. Aug 1997

    Permit 9716367 $$$ $1,731

    Installation of fire control panals smoke detector.

15. 2011

    The rectory was seismically upgraded and its entry lobby rehabilitated.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
16. Feb 2011

    Permit 201102099946 $$$ $70,000

    Voluntary partial seismic strengthening & foundation upgrades include removal & replacement of sheetrock, pipes, wiring, doors & windows and other appurtenances at 1st floor. repair as require damaged tile cabinets & fixtures. no exterior work. field verify sprinkler/fa coverage.

17. May 2011

    Permit 201105266905 $$$ $1

    Voluntary seismic upgrade, revision 2011-02-09-9946, reduce scope of work at foundation. revise shearwall locations per plan.

18. Jul 2011

    Permit 201107019391 $$$ $5,000

    Reinstall existing fire alarm system devices removed for seismic upgrade app#201102099946. fire alarm system as builts to app#9716367 for main 2nd level and 3rd floor. relocate existing devices, install 9 smoke detectors, 9 horn/strobes, 1 strobe, 1 horn, 1 sync mod for lower (1st) level.

19. 2012

    The rectory was sold, with the convent on Oak Street, by the academy that had owned the parish buildings since 2005.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
20. 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
21. 2024

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

    SF Planning, landmark designation
22. 2024

    The rectory 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
23. Oct 2025

    Filed Permit 202510298410 $$$ $65,000

    2nd floor: remodel three bathrooms. 2 @ 6'6 x 6'1, 1 @ 9'x 10' 4'2.

24. Nov 2025

    Issued Permit 202511129354 $$$ $39,800

    Reroofing: remove the existing roofing down to the sheathing board and the surface will be cleaned, install one ply of app base membrane and install a second ply of certainteed gts modified bituman membrane, we ill replace all the roof flashings and vents (hot works).

6 expired or cancelled permits are omitted. The 1898 entry for Sacred Heart Church describes the church next door at 554 Fillmore Street; this parcel carries the rectory. The rectory is credited both to the contractor Hugh Keenan (as built about 1891) and to Thomas J. Welsh. The connector is dated both to about 1915 and to some time between 1913 and 1920.