1881 Bush Street

1. 1895

   Built by O. W. Britt.

2. 1895

   Congregation Ohabai Shalom, formed in 1862, built its temple here in 1895 to a design by the architect Moses J. Lyon, in an eclectic style drawing on Moorish and Eastern European precedent. It is one of only three 19th-century synagogues left standing in California.

   Japantown Historic Context Statement, May 2009
3. 1934

   Bought in 1934 by the Soto Zen congregation as the synagogue's membership dwindled. The building housed the Japanese Zen community for more than forty years, and Shunryu Suzuki taught zazen here to students from outside the community in the 1960s and 1970s; the congregation withdrew in the 1970s to build new quarters nearby.

   Japantown Historic Context Statement, May 2009
4. 1950s

   Sokoji Temple in Japantown, where poets and others were introduced to Zen Buddhism in the 1950s and 1960s; the San Francisco Zen Center grew out of that meeting.

   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
5. August 20, 1964

   Photographed, showing the Zen Soto Mission.

   San Francisco Subjects Photograph Collection (SFP 162), San Francisco Public Library
6. July 1975

   Offered for sale by the Redevelopment Agency in July 1975 as the Soto Zen Mission, at a minimum bid of $39,600, with priority given to holders of Residential Certificates of Preference — property owners who had lost buildings to eminent domain.

   Japantown Historic Context Statement, May 2009
7. 1976

   Designated San Francisco Landmark No. 81, Ohabai Shalome (Bush Street Temple).

   SF Planning, landmark designation
8. January 7, 1976

   The City Planning Commission approved, 3-2, the designation of the Bush Street Temple as a city landmark (Resolution 7431), after a motion to disapprove failed 2-3.

   San Francisco City Planning Commission minutes, San Francisco Public Library (Internet Archive)
9. January 7, 1976

   The Redevelopment Agency had bought the former Congregation Ohabai Shalome temple for retention in Western Addition Project Area A-2 and had recently sold it to the Zen Center.

   San Francisco City Planning Commission minutes, San Francisco Public Library (Internet Archive)
10. Jun 2000

    Permit 200006071948 $$$ $6,500,000

    Rehabilitate existing type v-n temple replace e type v-n addt with type v1 add type i 6 story to e. temp.

11. Jun 2001

    Issued Permit M16429 $$$ $6,500,000

    Street space.

12. Sep 2001

    Permit 200109148340 $$$ $40,000

    Shore sidewalk with steel beams and lagging to excavate mat slab foundation goes with 200006071948.

13. Oct 2001

    Permit 200110221358 $$$ $1

    One-stop: mechanical & electrical. work. revision to to 20010712235 & 200006071948.

14. Nov 2001

    Permit 200111304304 $$$ $103,600

    Provide a new fire sprinkler system to existing temple & new 6 story concrete structure.

15. Jun 2002

    Permit 200206048210 $$$ $1

    Rev. appl#200107123539 delete garage exhaust fan & duct syste.

16. Jun 2002

    Permit 200206259938 $$$ $1

    Change commercial kitchen range hood grease duct from dual lined stainless steel to 16ga welded.

17. Nov 2002

    Permit 200211141373 $$$ $45,000

    Permit related to appl#200111304304 & 200107123539 add bew fire alarm system on all floors.

18. May 2003

    Permit 200305124300 $$$ $2,000

    Installation of ansul fire system in kitchen exhaust hood. p/a 200006071948.

19. Jul 2003

    Permit 200307280513 $$$ $1

    To renew app#2001/07/12/3539 for final inspection.

20. Jul 2017

    Permit 201707131768 $$$ $50,000

    Exiting rooftop to be converted to rooftop garden space, new storage shed, pergola bamboo and wood fence, partial synthetic turf, planting boxes- sprinklers for shed and emergency lighting separate permits.

21. Sep 2019

    Permit 201909262836 $$$ $5,000

    Rooftop: modify fire sprinklers system in area of work, all main piping to remain as existing, all areas outside area of work are to remain, add (1) fire sprinkler, upright. ref t.i. pa201707131768.

22. Dec 2024

    Permit 202412166918 $$$ $30,000

    Reroofing. hot works.

2 nominal $1 street-space or sidewalk permits are omitted from the timeline. 1 expired permit is not shown. The 1990 unreinforced-masonry survey dates the building to 1920; the assessor's roll gives 1895. The city's Japantown context statement gives 1881 Bush Street for the temple Congregation Ohabai Shalom built in 1895 and 1831 Bush Street for the same congregation's synagogue on the evidence of the 1893 and 1899 Sanborn maps. It does not reconcile the two numbers.