The Albion Brewery, also known as Albion Ale And Porter Brewing Company and the Albion Castle, is a defunct brewery in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, California in operation from 1875 until approximately 1919. The site of the former brewery is also the location of the Hunters Point Springs, at 881 Innes Avenue. This building and site is a San Francisco Designated Landmark, listed on April 5, 1974. The building is now privately owned and has hosted events.

History

Ruins of the Albion Ale and Porter Brewery

Albion Ale And Porter Brewing Company

The name "Albion" is an ancient name for Britain, which was also used by

Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 (t ...

when he arrived in nearby

Point Reyes Point Reyes (, meaning "Point of the Kings") is a prominent cape and popular Northern California tourist destination on the Pacific coast. Located in Marin County, it is approximately west-northwest of San Francisco. The term is often applied ...

(then known as

Nova Albion New Albion, also known as ''Nova Albion'' (in reference to Albion, an archaic name for Britain), was the name of the continental area north of Mexico claimed by Francis Drake, Sir Francis Drake for Kingdom of England, England when he landed on ...

). John Hamlin Burnell (c. 1828 –1890) had immigrated in 1849 to San Francisco, from East Hoathly,

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

, England. Burnell purchased the property because of the spring water aquifer; there were only two natural occurring aquifer in the San Francisco-area (according to a 1878 publication). The building was built in 1870 as the site for his brewery, on Hunter’s Point Ridge near Innes Avenue and Griffith Street. An

Ohlone The Ohlone, formerly known as Costanoans (from Spanish meaning 'coast dweller'), are a Native American people of the Northern California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the late 18th century, the Ohlone inhabited the ...

settlement may have been in this location at one time. He built the building and hand carved the two 200-foot caverns. In 1875, Burnell returned to England to marry Fanny Constable and bring her back to San Francisco. To create the beer, Burnell imported the

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...

and

malt Malt is germinated cereal grain that has been dried in a process known as " malting". The grain is made to germinate by soaking in water and is then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air. Malted grain is used to make beer, wh ...

from England. The

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

wrote in 1887 that the Albion beer was equal to

Guinness Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in ove ...

in taste, however much cheaper. He died in 1890, then the brewery was operated by his wife and later his brother Frederick Burnell. The brewery closed in 1919, due to the death of Fanny Burnell and the beginning of the

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

Albion Water Company and private residence

The building reopened in 1928 as the Albion Water Company under the leadership of Leonard Mees, selling bottled spring water in a space next door. Over time the building starts to need repairs. In 1933, sculptor

Adrien Voisin Adrien Alexandre Voisin (1890–1979), was an American sculptor. He was known for his bronze work, and had been one of the lead architectural sculptors at Hearst Castle. Early life and education Adrien Alexandre Voisin was born on May 8, 1979 i ...

purchased the building to use as his home and art studio, over the span of almost 20 years he worked to restore it. Voisin added to the structure more living spaces, some of which had a touch of art deco-styling.

San Francisco Mountain Springs Water Company

In 1964, the property was purchased by the San Francisco Mountain Springs Water Company in order to use the springs. The San Francisco Mountain Springs Water Company supplied the city with jugs of water for water coolers. After the sale, Voisin was allowed to remain living on the property. From 1998 to 2005, Eric Higgs, an artist and co-founder of citysearch.com had purchased the home. The building has changed hands many times. The Albion Brewery building has been rumored to be haunted by a ghost in the form of a young, dark-haired woman; and was the filming location in 2019 for the television show Ghost Adventure.

Architecture

The main building, a Norman-style stone castle sits above two 200-foot

cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...

caverns, capturing and holding up to 10,000 gallons spring water, from the Hunters Point Springs a naturally occurring aquifer. There are conflicting stories on how the main building was constructed. One theory is he used English stone masons and nearby "float rock" from Bayview Hill; another is that he used the limestone ballast found in English and French ships which was later replaced. The beer factory stood in front of the tower, however that has long since collapsed (possibly as early as in 1906). The main building is a slender, four story tower with a kitchen, living room, dining room, and each floor contains an extra room that could be used for either a bedroom or a sitting area. The top of the tower has views of

India Basin India Basin is neighborhood in the southeastern part of San Francisco, California, considered to be part of the larger Bayview–Hunters Point neighborhood. History The history of India Basin is a curious combination of industry and open space, b ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albion Brewery San Francisco Designated Landmarks 1870s architecture in the United States Houses in San Francisco 1875 establishments in California American companies established in 1875 American companies disestablished in 1919 Beer brewing companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Defunct brewery companies of the United States History of San Francisco Bayview–Hunters Point, San Francisco