Partial North Elevation
Polk - Williams House in San Francisco, California

Willis Jefferson Polk, a prominent and rather colorful San Francisco architect, designed and built this rambling Shingle Style double house under a single roof in 1892.  Mrs. Virgil Williams, who commissioned the design, was a painter whose husband had founded the California Institute of Design.  She is said to have given Polk the eastern third of the lot to build his own house and studio in exchange for his professional services.  This photo shows the Williams side of the structure.  Polk later would pioneer glass curtain wall construction in his 1917 Hallidie Building in downtown San Francisco.  Photograph taken in 1999 by Howard J. Partridge.

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