House at 1254--1256 Montgomery Street
historic place
The House at 1254-1256 Montgomery Street in San Francisco is a historic place on Telegraph Hill. This Italianate residence was constructed around 1865, on a site previously occupied by Hudson's Windmill, which burned in an 1861 fire. Initially a one-story rooming house, a second story was added by the 1890s. The building later converted to six railroad flats. The house is notable for surviving the 1906 San Francisco fire. A tenant, Giovanni Doneri, with his son and neighbors, cooled the walls with wine from the basement to save it. In 1939, Montgomery Street in front of the building was lowered by twelve feet. This site was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 31, 1979. It represents an important part of Telegraph Hill's architectural and historical past.