Stadtmuller House

The original owner of this historic home, Frederick D. Stadtmuller, was a German immigrant who made a fortune selling to Nevada miners before he moved to San Francisco around 1879. This home was constructed in 1880 and was designed by architect P. R. Schmidt. Frederick died in 1893 but his widow and some of his six children continued to live here for decades. The house stayed in the family until 1953 when it was converted into a boarding house. After a decade or so the property was restored back to a Victorian-era single-family home. A new owner established law offices in the mansion by the mid-1970s; this use continues into the present day. The restored Italianate style mansion became a city landmark in 1970 and a National Register of Historic Places listing six years later for its architectural significance.

Frederick (Friedrich) Daniel Stadtmuller was born in Bavaria, Germany in 1833. He lived in Silver City, Nevada where he sold goods and liquor to miners. He established a chain of four retail stores under the name Stadtmuller & Co. and also was in the lumber business. He and his wife, Anna (Kamm) raised a family of three boys and three girls. Their eldest child, Frederick D. Jr. was born in 1871 in Carson City, Nevada. Their fourth surviving child was born in 1879 in Carson City. The two youngest children - both daughters - were born in San Francisco in 1883 and 1886. The family moved to San Francisco in 1879 and their new home on Eddy St. was completed around 1880. The wooden, two-story dwelling was Italianate style with a porticoed front entrance and elaborately trimmed bay front windows on the first and second stories. In San Francisco, Frederick D. became associated with a firm dealing in California wines and brandies, Walter Schilling Co. By 1890, Frederick D. was working as the superintendent of the German Hospital on Noe St. between Fourteenth and Ridley.

One evening in March of 1891, the Stadtmullers returned to the home and found that it had been burglarized. The thieves had climbed atop the flat roof of the front porch, climbed through a second-story window, and got away with several hundred dollars' worth of jewelry. Frederick D., Sr. died in San Francisco in 1893 at age 59. He was buried in Carson City, Nevada. In 1900, Frederick D. Jr. gifted his mother, Anna with the Eddy St. house lot; the 40 ft. by 120 ft. lot on the south side of the street was described as circa 162 feet east of Franklin St. By 1904, Anna Stadtmuller also had a "country residence" at West End in San Rafael. When the April 1906 earthquake struck San Francisco, almost one-half of the city was destroyed by the quake or the fires that raged for three days. Dynamite was used to destroy some of the buildings that were standing in unburnt areas, to stop the spread of the fires. This tactic worked along Van Ness Ave. near Eddy St., and the Stadtmuller House, as well as other nearby buildings to the west of Van Ness, were saved. Anna Stadtmuller was active in women's clubs and social causes; she was a member of the German Ladies' General Benevolent Society. The Laurel Hill Club's forty members met at her home twice in September 1906.

The three sons of Frederick D. Sr. attended college and/or started careers around the turn of the twentieth century. Edwin William Stadtmuller graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1898 and was a member of the Alpha Beta Chapter of Sigma Chi Fraternity. He resided at 819 Eddy and worked as a salesman for Wellman, Peck & Company, according to a 1902 fraternity directory. In 1901, Edwin married Elisabeth B. Wade of San Francisco; the groom was 21 years old, and the bride was 18. Daniel Ward Stadtmuller graduated from Stanford U. and worked as a civil engineer. He moved to Marin around 1903 and married Rowena Merritt in June 1905, Rowena also was a graduate of Stanford and was the daughter of a late Yolo County pioneer, A. A. Merritt. Frederick Stadtmuller Jr. was living in Reno, Nevada when he married Clara Mabel Field of Reno at the age of 21; this wedding also was in June 1905 in San Francisco. Frederick Jr. died in 1934 in Reno at age 63.

At least one of the three Stadtmuller daughters, Miss Ellen S. Stadtmuller, lived at the family home of 819 Eddy in 1899. She worked as an assistant for the University of California Medical School by 1899 and into the 1910s; her specialty was pediatrics. Dr. Stadtmuller was an instructor for the school by the mid-1920s. By 1936, Dr. Stadtmuller had been a member of the California State Board of Health for sixteen years and served as the state chairman of physical health for the California Congress of Parents and Teachers.

The family sold the house in 1953, and it became a rooming house. Mr. and Mrs. Peter R. Loeb purchased the mansion in 1963 and restored the interior to a Victorian style single-family home. The former basement of the mansion was later converted into a garage. Attorney Michael Stepanium owned the Stadtmuller House in 1975 when it was studied for listing in the National Register. By that time, it was being used as his law offices. By 2025, attorneys Carlos Jato and Peter Goodman had offices in the building.

Ancestry Seeker. Memorial for Fredrich Daniel Stadtmuller (1833-1893), Find a Grave. September 29th, 2007. Accessed March 15th, 2025. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/21830061/friedrich_daniel-stadtmuller.

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Noe Hill. San Francisco Landmark #35 Stadtmuller House. Accessed May 07, 2017. http://noehill.com/sf/landmarks/sf035.asp.

Sigma Chi Fraternity. Residence Directory of the Sigma Chi Fraternity... Historical Sketch of the Fraternity Since 1890. Chicago, IL. The Sigma Chi Fraternity, 1902.

State Bar of California. Peter Goodman #65975, Attorney Profile. January 1st, 2025. Accessed March 14th, 2025. https://apps.calbar.ca.gov/attorney/Licensee/Detail/65975.

State Bar of California. Carlos Jato #282710, Attorney Profile. January 1st, 2025. Accessed March 14th, 2025. https://apps.calbar.ca.gov/attorney/Licensee/Detail/282710.

University of California. Medical Department, University of California Thirty-Seventh Annual Announcement, 1899-1900. San Francisco, CA. University of California. 1899.

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University of California. University of California Bulletin, Register of the Academic Year 1925-1926, Volume I. Volume XX No. 6. Berkeley, CA. University of California Press, 1926.