Gibb, Daniel, & Co. Warehouse

1. 1852

   The land at the southwest corner of Vallejo and Front Streets — then on the edge of the water, about a block west of the present seawall — appears to have been bought by Daniel Gibb, a commission merchant from Scotland.

   National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
2. 1855

   A two-storey brick warehouse with a basement, 28 feet high on a lot 40 by 110 feet, was built as one of a matching pair with the building at the northwest corner; the designer and builder are not known. Three bays face Front Street and nine face Vallejo, the openings tall and narrow under relieving arches, with a sandstone main entrance in a Gibbs surround, granite sills, a corbelled cornice and marble street signs set into the brickwork at the corner.

   National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
3. September 1855

   The firm of Daniel Gibb & Co. moved in during the first week of September and used the building as its sales office as well as for storage — the gold-rush pattern, where goods were sold from the same room they were kept in.

   National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
4. 1861

   A city surveyor recorded it as a Class 1 brick building measuring 45 feet 10 inches by 110 feet, two storeys and a basement, with walls sixteen to twenty inches thick, a tin roof and iron coverings over the front and rear openings.

   National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
5. 1864

   Gibb's firm ended some time in 1864 after his death and his brother William's, and both warehouses were bought about then by a warehouseman, John Sanborn, whose family held this one until 1969 and still owns the twin across Vallejo Street.

   National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
6. 1901

   City directories name the building Gibbs' U.S. Bonded Warehouse from at least 1879 to 1886; by 1894 the tenant had renamed it the Vallejo Street Free Warehouse, and in 1901 it was the Vallejo Street Bonded Tea Warehouse.

   National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
7. 1906

   Built.

8. 1906

   After the fire, both warehouses were rebuilt on what was left of the original walls to very nearly their earlier appearance. The seam between the two dates of brickwork is still plain — stretchers with smooth pointing below, American bond with rough pointing above — running under the tops of the Front Street second-floor windows, dipping almost to the street signs at the corner, then rising nearly to the cornice along Vallejo. The 1855 brickwork survives for the whole first floor and nearly half the second; the replacement cornice is plainer corbelling and two upper Front Street windows were left out.

   National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
9. April 18, 1906

   The fire that followed the earthquake gutted both warehouses and brought down parts of their walls; this one kept more of its 1855 brickwork than its twin.

   National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
10. 1940

    A Sanborn map of 1913 records the building in use for wine storage and reverse directories of 1933 and 1940 give it to a seed company. About then the Trinidad Bean and Elevator Co. took it over for sorting, cleaning and storing beans grown in Colorado, and stayed until about 1972; it built or acquired a skylit mezzanine at the west end of the second floor for hand-sorting, and beams in the basement still carry its stencilled labels for lentils and garbanzos.

    National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
11. 1972

    The building was converted from warehouse to offices. The brick was sandblasted back from paint, the Front Street loading dock removed, a pair of second-floor windows recut on Front Street where they had been before 1906 — without the relieving arches or raised surrounds of the rest — one bricked-up Vallejo window reopened and another turned into a door. A ductile bridge system was built inside for seismic strength without taking out 1855 or 1906 fabric, and the mezzanine was removed.

    National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
12. 1976

    Designated San Francisco Landmark No. 91.

    National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
13. Apr 1985

    Permit 8503643 $$$ $35,500

    Construct new partitions walls for 4 offices.

14. Apr 1985

    Permit 8503644 $$$ $7,000

    Demolition remove inteirior partitions walls remove carpet.

15. May 1985

    Permit 8505104 $$$ $12,000

    Partition walls, storage rooms & studio room.

16. Jun 1990

    Permit 9011276 $$$ $1

    For final for seismic for appl 400937.

17. Sep 1990

    Permit 9018789 $$$ $58,900

    T/i to west end of existing office space, approx 840 sq ft.

18. Nov 1990

    Permit 9024299 $$$ $1

    Addition of approx 840 sq ft. on g/f for law offices.

19. Mar 1992

    Permit 9203170 $$$ $12,500

    Parapet.

20. October 10, 1997

    Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It and its twin appear to be the oldest warehouses left in San Francisco and the only ones surviving from the gold rush, when storage and selling were still done in the same building.

    National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
21. Aug 1999

    Permit 9917681 $$$ $1

    Renew expired appl #9902594.

22. Jul 2016

    Permit 201607011395 $$$ $20,000

    Soft demolition - interior only - no structural.

23. Aug 2016

    Issued Permit 201608044143 $$$ $10,000

    Selective demolition of interior existing non-structural partitions, ceilings, mezzanine and stairway. no structural, mechanical & electrical or plumbing demolition work; maher n/a. ti under separate permit. ab-017 applies.

24. Jun 2017

    Issued Permit 201706139128 $$$ $120,000

    Roof remediation. mep deferred.

25. Jul 2017

    Permit 201707202428 $$$ $20,000

    Revision to permit application 201702270176 - construction of new stairways from basement to level 2 mezzanine. installation of new partitions, flooring, interior glazing & ceilings. n/a maher ordinance.

26. Sep 2017

    Permit 201709269595 $$$ $20,000

    Mechanical work for permit application 201707202428 & 201702270176. n/a ordinance #155-13.

27. Feb 2018

    Permit 201802151365 $$$ $27,750

    Add, relocate, and removed fire sprinklers per tenant improvements. 28 add, 58 relocate, & 10 remove. ref app#201707202428. n/a for maher.

28. Feb 2018

    Permit 201802282480 $$$ $1

    Revision to app#201707202428 to correct downspout tie ins. correction notice #201841311. redsign stairs from steel to wood and extend depth of sump pit.

29. Apr 2018

    Permit 201804035344 $$$ $150,000

    Alterations to entries along vallejo street. **maher n/a**.

30. Aug 2018

    Issued Permit 201808036387 $$$ $15,000

    Replacement of the existing skylights on the non-original hip rof portion of the existing roof. the skylight will be similar in size as the existing & will have a similar height & profile. roof work under separate permit application 2017/06/13/9128. ** maher: n/a **.

31. Aug 2018

    Issued Permit 201808086845 $$$ $600

    7 evacuation signs.

32. Dec 2019

    Withdrawn Permit 201912048599 $$$ $1

    Rev to permit application 201707202428; new ada counter at existing pantry in basement level.

5 nominal $1 street-space or sidewalk permits are omitted from the timeline. 3 expired or cancelled permits are not shown. The assessor's roll gives 1906, the year the warehouse was rebuilt after the fire; it was first built in 1855 and the ground floor and nearly half the second are still that brickwork.