A building transformed, inside and out

By BRIDGET MALEY

San Francisco’s annual Decorator Showcase returns to Pacific Heights again this year, opening on April 26 at 2935 Pacific Avenue and continuing through May 26.

Originally built as three flats in the Tudor Revival style, 2935 Pacific was transformed in 2009 into a classically inspired manse. It had been constructed in 1902 as an investment property for a wealthy widow, situated on a block that includes single-family homes, apartment buildings, a hotel and, for decades, a public school. 

When 2935 Pacific was built early in the 20th century, this section of Pacific Heights was still sparsely populated. The cable car lines installed on both Pacific and Jackson avenues in the 1890s spurred some residential development, which expanded significantly after the 1906 earthquake.

Designed by eccentric Scottish-born architect Thomas Paterson Ross (1873-1957) for Carrie Gummer, the building at 2935 Pacific was one of many multi-family buildings designed by Ross in San Francisco. Ross’s family had immigrated to the United States in the mid-1880s. By 1890, he was working for San Francisco architect John Gash. His architectural training came in the form of apprenticeships in several San Francisco architectural offices before he established his own practice in the mid-1890s. 

Ross was a prolific San Francisco designer, often partnering with engineer A.W. Burgren. Ross’s significant works include the exotic Sing Fat and Sing Chong Buildings on either side of California Street at Grant Avenue, which inspired other post-1906 earthquake Pagoda style buildings in Chinatown. In 1904, Ross completed the Albert Pike Memorial Scottish Rite Temple at Geary and Fillmore, which was damaged in the 1906 earthquake. The building was repaired and much later, in the 1970s, became the home of Jim Jones’s infamous Peoples Temple, only to be damaged again in the 1989 earthquake, and finally torn down. 

Ross designed another fraternal lodge, the eclectic, mosque-inspired pile for the Shriners at 650 Geary Street, near Union Square, which remains today as the Alcazar Theater. He placed a cheeky inscription above the entry of the building that reads, in Arabic: “Great is Allah and Great is Ross the Architect.” 

Ross was also known for his elaborate apartment buildings, often built into the hillsides of San Francisco. They were early examples of co-op apartments, and include the Spanish Revival style Greenwich Terraces on Russian Hill. 

Ross’s client for the smaller-scale Tudor Revival three-flat building at 2935 Pacific was Carrie Benjamin Gummer, a native of Philadelphia. Widowed in 1882, Mrs. Gummer never remarried. Her husband, Charles Joseph Gummer, was born in the Sandwich Islands in 1846. His father, Joseph Channing Gummer, a wine merchant, left England around 1838, stopping in Australia, New Zealand and the Sandwich Islands before landing in San Francisco. Joseph Gummer died in 1853. The 1860 census recorded Gummer’s wife, Sarah, and her six children, including 13-year-old Charles, as residents of San Francisco. 

Charles Gummer became a successful banker. He married Carrie Benjamin, a teacher and school principal, in 1873. Rev. John Hemphill of Calvary Presbyterian Church performed the ceremony. Miss Benjamin had been listed in San Francisco city directories as early as 1863; it is unclear when or how she arrived in San Francisco. After their marriage, the couple lived in a fashionable house just off Van Ness Avenue on Bush Street. Unfortunately, according to the 1880 census, they lost a child. Then, tragically, in 1882, Charles died, unexpectedly leaving Carrie a widow. Charles’s dramatic death, apparently of an accidental gunshot wound he suffered while cleaning his gun, was reported in the press. Carrie Gummer inherited his entire estate, which was valued at $30,000, or nearly a million dollars today. 

Carrie Gummer never lived in the investment flats she built on Pacific Avenue. The first few renters in the three-flat building were bachelor businessmen including Clifford Conly, an insurance broker, and several widows, among them Mary Bailey. By the late 1930s, the building had been purchased by Lyman Potter, a real estate appraiser. The Potter family continued to occupy the building, while renting the other two flats, through the late 1960s. 

Between 2007 and 2009, the building was completely transformed by architect Louis Felthouse and designer Matthew MacCaul Turner. The new classically inspired facade was sheathed in imported French limestone, with detailing such as quoining and a simple cornice at the roofline. The entry hall, with marble and limestone floors and classical detailing, echoes the exterior features. Rooms with dark wood paneling recall the former Tudor elements of Mrs. Gummer’s flats. However, the interior features all date to 2009, including the dramatic interior staircase and decorative carved wood fireplaces. A rooftop view terrace topped Felthouse’s remodel. 

This year’s Decorator Showcase — an annual fundraiser for University High School — shines a spotlight on a historic building transformed into a modern home now outfitted by some of the Bay Area’s most innovative designers. 

Read more about the 2025 Decorator Showcase here.

More by architectural historian Bridget Maley