California Electric Light Company

1. 1888

   Station B was built in 1888 to the design of Percy & Hamilton, commissioned by the California Electric Light Company as its second generating plant in the city and sited at Townsend Street and Clarence Place to draw on the water of Mission Bay for its steam boilers. The original three-storey brick building held an office and engine room on the first floor, dynamos on the second and storage on the third, with boilers and smokestack behind; its 150-foot stack was for a time the tallest in the West.

   San Francisco Planning Department, 178 Townsend Street Project: Draft Environmental Impact Report, Case No. 2005.0470E, 2007.
2. 1894

   The plant changed hands twice in the 1890s: the Edison Light & Power Company took it, most likely on buying the California Electric Light Company in 1891, and in 1894 merged with the San Francisco Gas Light Company to form the San Francisco Gas & Electric Company. A new plant went up across Townsend Street between 1903 and 1905.

   San Francisco Planning Department, 178 Townsend Street Project: Draft Environmental Impact Report, Case No. 2005.0470E, 2007.
3. 1908

   The 1906 earthquake collapsed part of the engine room at the front while the rear and the 150-foot stack came through intact. Around 1908 the damaged second and third floors were taken off and the front capped with a stepped gable parapet, the front roof rebuilt in wood framing over galvanised iron; an office was added at the south-east corner and twelve horse stalls put in at the north-west. Between 1899 and 1908 the building was recast as a single-storey high bay on light steel trusses and raised 9 feet 6 inches.

   San Francisco Planning Department, 178 Townsend Street Project: Draft Environmental Impact Report, Case No. 2005.0470E, 2007.
4. 1915

   The building worked as a feed mill from 1908 to 1927, the Producers Hay Company cutting a three-by-nine-foot window and a door of the same size into the brick in 1915 to light and air the office. It stood empty from 1928 into the early Depression years.

   San Francisco Planning Department, 178 Townsend Street Project: Draft Environmental Impact Report, Case No. 2005.0470E, 2007.
5. 1955

   The Charles J. Worth Drayage Company used the building as a general warehouse and drayage yard between 1935 and 1943, widening the office entrance to a double door with a transom in 1934. The San Francisco Warehouse Company bought it in 1955 and widened the vehicle entrance on Townsend Street from twelve feet to fourteen; warehouse use continued to 1967. After two years empty the ship repairers West Winds Inc. moved in and stayed through at least 1995.

   San Francisco Planning Department, 178 Townsend Street Project: Draft Environmental Impact Report, Case No. 2005.0470E, 2007.
6. 1990

   Identified as a contributory building when the South End Historic District was designated in 1990.

   San Francisco Department of City Planning, 166-78 Townsend Street: Draft Environmental Impact Report, Case No. 94.265E, 1995.
7. 1995

   A 1993 permit application sought to brace the parapet and take down most of the 150-foot octagonal battered brick smokestack that had stood since 1888. The bracing was approved and the removal refused; most of the stack came down in 1995 all the same.

   San Francisco Planning Department, 178 Townsend Street Project: Draft Environmental Impact Report, Case No. 2005.0470E, 2007.
8. Aug 2006

   Permit 200608290851 $$$ $7,000,000

   *site permit * - 4-story vertical addition. chagne of use to residential.

9. Apr 2008

   Permit 200804089152 $$$ $3,000

   Removal of non-historic wood frame & drywall interior non-bearing partitions per ab-0017.

10. Aug 2008

    Withdrawn Permit 200808199486 $$$ $2,000,000

    Structural permit for earthquake retrofit and for base building. vertical addition, residential conversion under seperate permit application 2006-0829-0851s.

11. Aug 2009

    Permit 200908104485 $$$ $3,000

    Comply with nov 200916162: revision to 200804089152, removal of non structural brick chimney approx. 45'-0" high. revision to app#2008.0408.9152.

12. Aug 2010

    Permit 201008309850 $$$ $15,000

    Temporary shoring of existing unreinforced masonry walls during new construction and seismic upgrade under permit application 2006.08.29.0851.

13. Nov 2010

    Permit 201011124834 $$$ $80,000

    Construction of crane support footing & erection of tower crane h.u.h. 103', rad 180', see permit 2006/08/29/0851.

14. Dec 2010

    Issued Permit 201012217062 $$$ $350,000

    Fire sprinklers. ref permit application 2006/08/29/0851.

15. Mar 2011

    Permit 201103081602 $$$ $93,750

    Installation of a new fire alarm system. permit application 2006/08/29/0851 issued (not completed) for reference.

16. 2012

    Built.

17. Jan 2012

    Issued Permit 201201122140 $$$ $3,500

    Fabricate and install evacuation plans on levels 1-7. change of use under 200608290851.

18. Jul 2012

    Permit 201207235461 $$$ $200,000

    New restaurant at ground floor. add mezzanine. underground plumbing, mechanical, and electrical. ref permit application 2011/04/08/3769. fire sprinkler under seperate.

19. Oct 2012

    Permit 201210192412 $$$ $20,000

    Install 5 ton combo hvac unit. reference permit application 2012-0723-5461.

20. Nov 2012

    Permit 201211023382 $$$ $1,600

    Mezzanine level, t. i. for fire sparinkler - adding 4 new sprinklers, rer permit application 2012.0723.5461.

21. Nov 2012

    Issued Permit 201211164433 $$$ $1,600

    Revision to permit application 2012-0723-5461 & 2012-1102-3382-t.i for fire sprinkler-adding 8 new sprinkler heads.

22. Dec 2012

    Permit 201212146208 $$$ $8,000

    Hood and duct fire system installation. 200608290851, 201207235461.

23. Jan 2013

    Permit 201301077314 $$$ $5,800

    Fire alarm for new restaurant-2 ansul, 2 make up air with duct detectors & horns & strobes. ti permit application 2012-0723-5461.

24. Jan 2013

    Permit 201301158027 $$$ $1,500

    1st floor-fire sprinkler permit-add 1 pendent & 2 upright sprinklers. ti permit application 2012-0723-5461.

25. Aug 2013

    Permit 201308285424 $$$ $750

    Rev. to permit application 201207235461- remove shown seating @ bar, add 2 handrails @ mezz. show ada seating @ tables.

26. Jun 2015

    Issued Permit 201506017638 $$$ $2,500

    Install ul 300 fire system for plenum and duct protection only. compliance with maher ordinance no 155-13 not required.

DBI holds 38 permits for this parcel, most of them tenant improvements on individual floors. The timeline shows the 24 largest by stated cost, plus the earliest on file; the DBI query in the sources below returns all 38. 2 of them are nominal $1 street-space or sidewalk permits. 6 expired or cancelled permits are not shown. The 2025 assessor's roll gives this parcel a build year of 2012, which is the conversion of the 1888 plant to housing rather than a new building.