San Francisco Historical Home

Telegraph Hill Tavern and “Tea Party"
31 Alta Street, Telegraph Hill

From shipyard overlook to Prohibition era speakeasy, 31 Alta is a house with rich history, including stories of wild parties and resulting police raids. But perhaps its most impressive claim: that it’s the oldest surviving home in San Francisco.

In 1852, Captain Andrews built his home on the Eastern slope of Telegraph Hill, perched for a direct view of ships sailing into the shipyards below. The home remains virtually unchanged after over a century, during which San Francisco itself metamorphosed. Entire neighborhoods disappeared while others appeared; steep streets were graded over the hills; Coit Tower and a forest of skyscrapers grew in the distance.

A survivor of both the 1906 earthquake and subsequent great fire, 31 Alta traded hands several times prior to the 1920s but the most infamous inhabitant of throughout the last century was a reputed Russian noble, Myrtokleia Sawvelle who, according to David Myrick’s San Francisco’s Telegraph Hill, converted the brick dining room and kitchen into a “night club.” Myrick reports that printed cards were sent to a prospective clientele announcing her Telegraph Hill Tavern as having “all the atmosphere of the Montmarte with a Marine view.”

31 Alta, seen in this photo from the 1850s.

Apparently the views from the double balcony were even more striking than they are today. A photograph taken during the 1850s shows the broad, open view from Alta street before it was paved in the 1930s. Today that view is partially blocked by all the rest of the buildings now occupying the north side of Alta: modern architecture’s answer to straightforward utility. According to Myrick, Myrtolkleia (who came to be known as Myrtle) served tea at two in the afternoon, followed by dinner at six and supper after ten; while a Sunday morning brunch was offered from eleven to two.

On that eventful night in February 1927, Myrtle’s guests must have been carousing on the balconies and howling at the moon late into the night. However, the neighbors on Telegraph Hill were not putting up with it that night. The constabulary were called, and the Black Maria arrived to escort Myrtle and her party to the city jail for the rest of early morning.

Myrtle not only had considerable skill in the culinary arts and the charm to be a gracious hostess, but she was also a pro at public relations. While the press headlined the story “Wild ‘Tea Party’ Raided”, her account painted for the reporters a not unusual evening of tea and art appreciation. Apparently, Myrtle was giving a private exhibition of a new work of art by Elwood Decker described as “an esoteric blue damsel charging through a red fog.”

“We were sitting around admiring Elwood Decker’s new painting,” relates Myrtle Sawvelle’s account in the press. We weren’t even drinking anything but tea and I was making a pan full of biscuits for a little supper when the police came and made us all get in that black wagon. Some of the guests who arrived late were making quite a bit of noise but we didn’t realize that this was disturbing anybody, she said. We are going to start all over again with a tea room and this time there will be no nights in jail.”

— Myrtle Sawvelle

According to Myrick, it was not to be. Her food was exotic, her liquor was good — but her timing was poor because her teas were taking place during Prohibition. Her homemade brews landed her in jail again for 90 days, and she was promptly appointed jailhouse cook. Tackling her new job with gusto, Myrtle became the heroine of her fellow inmates. Her fellow prisoners never ate so well, in or out of jail, and it was a sad day when she was liberated. A year later, Myrtokleia retired to Carmel.

The current owner has owned the home since 2002 and placed it on the market for $3,800,000 in 2010 and again in 2011 for $1M less. The home did not sell and now seems to be used as a rental.

A few photos from when the home was on the market.

1400 Montgomery Street offers spacious hillside home

San Francisco Chronicle   July 24, 2011

By Nathan Spicer

Custom-built in 1984, this Contemporary home on the 1400 block of San Francisco's Montgomery Street is perched near the top of the Filbert Street Steps, on the steep eastern slope of the historic Telegraph Hill.  The lush plants and trees of Grace Marchant Gardens border three sides of the home, a showcase of roses, flowers, palm trees and banana trees, while Italian stone pines flank the cul-de-sac.

The main residence, 1400 Montgomery St., a three-bedroom, 5.5-bath home, stands out among the foliage in the historic area. The property includes an attached two-bedroom condominium at 1404 Montgomery. The main residence is approximately 4,500 square feet, and the condominium adds approximately 1,000 square feet - an unusually large amount of living space for the area.

The properties in the surrounding area are smaller and vary in both design and purpose.  "You have pre-earthquake, late-1800s fishermen's cottages mixed in with 1960s mid-century-designed apartment buildings," said Joseph Lucier, senior marketer for Sotheby's International Realty. "Most single-family homes on Telegraph Hill are the 2,000- to 3,000-square-foot range, and most condominiums are in the 1,000- to 2000-square-foot range."

The 1400 Montgomery St. home is notable not only for its size and location but also for its layout. The home, which has never been on the market and is being listed at $5.995 million by Sotheby's International Realty, has five levels. The first floor is introduced by a foyer, which leads to a sweeping spiral staircase with a bent-oak banister.

This structure is a staple of the architectural firm Porter and Steinwedell, which designed 1400 Montgomery. Charles Porter and Robert Steinwedell started their firm in 1953 and had studied under another famous architect, Gardner Daily, who was also renowned for incorporating a core spiral staircase.  The home "is indicative of their earlier period," architect Jerry Gere said of Porter and Steinwedell's work, especially the staircase, bay window and sliding glass doors.

A chrome-lined elevator rests on the mezzanine level, lined in distinguished red oak hardwood floors.  "You pull in the garage and walk directly out onto a mezzanine level where the elevator begins," said Joseph Lucier, an agent for Sotheby's International Realty. A door on this level leads to the three-car garage.

One of the home's five terraces is accessible through two sets of sliding glass doors on the third level. Here, the master suite with a private bath sits on the eastern side, and across the spiral staircase is a room that has a wood-burning fireplace with an antique stone mantelpiece and custom shelving on either side.

The fourth level contains a formal dining room and kitchen. The dining room has parquet oak flooring and a large picture window that overlooks the gardens and the Bay. A swinging door leads into the chef's kitchen, complete with white Corian counters and a center island with a breakfast bar, all of which are illuminated by recessed and under-cabinet lighting. The kitchen level also features a breakfast room and solarium.

On the fifth floor is the living room, which "has 10-foot ceilings, a large eastern terrace with views of downtown San Francisco, the Bay Bridge and the San Francisco Bay," Lucier said. "There's an antique, wood-burning fireplace and, of course, the all-important wet bar. It also has a western terrace with views of Coit Tower."

The attached condominium, accessible through a private covered porch and garage, contains two bedrooms, a combined living and dining room, oak flooring, a wood-burning fireplace and a private terrace. The kitchen has seashell-patterned flooring and a pantry.

From 1400 Montgomery, residents can also overlook Pier 27-29, which is where yachts for the 2013 America's Cup will dock. Coit Tower is a block away, and the waterfront is down the steps from the property.

The eastern slope is also protected from San Francisco's coarser climates.  "The eastern slope has the best weather in San Francisco because it blocks the prevailing winds from the Pacific Ocean, so it's calm," Lucier said. "It's all very sunny there. It also has a wonderful, kind of bucolic atmosphere from the surrounding gardens."

Silcox added, "It can be foggy in the Pacific Heights, and it can be eight to 10 degrees warmer on this side of Telegraph Hill.  It's an incredible place to be. I've been very fortunate to live within a block of this house for 25 years."