37.7780, −122.4309 A locator map appears here once a Mapbox token is configured.
Know This Place

District 5 · Block 0780, Lot 013 · ZIP 94117

864 Fulton Street

Church

  • 2 stories
  • 5,497 ft2 lot area
  • 3 rooms
  • 1 bathroom
  • Wood frame
  • Zoned RM-4
  • Historic resource
  • City landmark
37.7780, −122.4309 Street View appears here once a Google Maps embed key is configured.
  1. 1880

    Built in 1880 to a design by John Wright and constructed by Wright and Sanders as St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, at the Webster Street corner in what is now the Alamo Square Historic District.

    Nina Bogdan, Russian American Historic Context Statement, San Francisco Planning Department, adopted by the Historic Preservation Commission October 15, 2025
  2. 1900

    Built.

  3. 1930

    Bought in 1930 by a breakaway Russian Orthodox congregation and consecrated as the Holy Virgin Joy of All Who Sorrow Cathedral. The pews were removed and an iconostasis installed; Victor Arnautoff painted the fresco The Entombment of Christ in the interior in 1929, Gleb Ilyin contributed murals and icons, and Feodot Zadorojny painted icons that were shipped from Harbin. Three stained-glass windows in the choir were made in 1943 by Carl Huneke of Century Stained Glass Studio. The building also housed a parochial school and a choir.

    Nina Bogdan, Russian American Historic Context Statement, San Francisco Planning Department, adopted by the Historic Preservation Commission October 15, 2025
  4. 1961

    Remained the Russian Orthodox cathedral until its congregation moved to a new cathedral at 26th Avenue and Geary Boulevard in 1961.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
  5. November 13, 1969

    Built as a Protestant Episcopal church, the wooden building became the principal San Francisco cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1930 and was still a consecrated cathedral serving the Russian community; its facade is yellow plaster over the original shingles. The City Planning Commission voted 7-0 to approve designating the Old Holy Virgin Russian Orthodox Cathedral a city landmark.

    San Francisco City Planning Commission minutes, San Francisco Public Library (Internet Archive)
  6. 1970

    Designated San Francisco Landmark No. 28, Old Holy Virgin Russian Orthodox Church.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
  7. Jun 2005
    Issued Permit M33143

    Streetspace.

2 nominal $1 street-space or sidewalk permits are omitted from the timeline. 1 expired permit is not shown. The assessor dates the building to 1900; Planning's historic resource survey records 1890. The 2025 Russian American Historic Context Statement describes this building's style as German Renaissance in its evaluation of the property and as German Gothic in the historical narrative.

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