The Black House was a building that formerly stood at 6114 California St. 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 California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The house was used by Anton LaVey as the headquarters of his Church of Satan from 1966 until his death in 1997. LaVey conducted Satanic

seminar A seminar is a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some parti ...

s and

rituals A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, ...

at the house; one of the most notorious such rituals was the Satanic

baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

of his daughter

Zeena Schreck Zeena Galatea Schreck (née LaVey), known professionally by her Mononymous person, mononymous artist name ZEENA, is a Berlin-based American visual and musical artist, author and the spiritual leader of the Sethian Liberation Movement (SLM), which ...

in 1967, punctuated by LaVey speaking the words "Hail Zeena!

Hail Satan ''Hail Satan'', sometimes Latinized as ''Ave Satanas'' or ''Ave Satana'', is an exclamation used by some Satanists to invoke the name of Satan in contexts ranging from sincere expression to comedy or satire. The Satanic Temple uses the phrase ...

!" over the nude body of a female acting as the 'Satanic Altar'. Public ceremonies were performed at the house until 1972. LaVey lost ownership of the house in 1991 as the result of a court settlement resulting from his separation from

Diane Hegarty Diane Hegarty ( 1942 – July , 2022), was an American religious leader who, along with longtime partner Anton LaVey, co-founded the Church of Satan. Biography Hegarty, also known as Diane LaVey and Diana Hall, was born July 10, 1942. As well ...

, but LaVey was allowed to reside at the Black House until his death. Following LaVey's death, members of the Church of Satan unsuccessfully attempted to raise funds to repurchase the house, and it was demolished on October 17, 2001. A duplex now stands in its place. Though the building is sometimes referred to as a mansion, photographs of the building taken just before its destruction show that it was a moderately sized single-family home, considerably smaller than the two apartment buildings on either side of the property. According to public records, it was listed at and constructed in the year 1905.

In popular culture

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

collective

Ulver Ulver (Norwegian for "wolves") is a Norwegian experimental electronica band founded in 1993, by vocalist Kristoffer Rygg. Their early works, such as debut album '' Bergtatt'', were categorised as folklore-influenced black metal, but the band h ...

referenced Black House and its destruction in the song "1969" from their 2017 album The Assassination of Julius Caesar with the lyrics "There used to be a house at 6114 California St."

References

External links

A letter
penned by

Blanche Barton Blanche Barton (born Sharon Leigh ; October 1, 1961) is an American religious leader who is Magistra Templi Rex within the Church of Satan, and is addressed by Satanists as Magistra Barton. Biography Barton was raised in San Diego, Californ ...

in 1999 soliciting donations from Satanists to save the house
A 1999 article
describing the legal battles over the house between LaVey's survivors. {{LaVeyan Satanism 1905 establishments in California 2001 disestablishments in California Buildings and structures completed in 1929 Buildings and structures demolished in 2001 Demolished buildings and structures in San Francisco Religious buildings and structures in San Francisco Church of Satan Places of Satanism

In popular culture

See also

References

External links