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One of many oldest houses in San Francisco simply hit the market

A growing number of people are stopping at a strange apartment painted a bold purple color on the corner of 47th Avenue and Cabrillo Street in Outer Richmond. But not all of them show up because they’re looking for a new home — they want to enter the oldest house in their San Francisco neighborhood for the first time.

And 806 47th Ave. is not just any old house.

On a Wednesday morning, I found myself outside the property staring at an aging plaque with an inscription hinting at its unusual history. Built in 1878 on its original site three blocks away on the Great Highway, it was previously part of the Golden Gate Park Life Rescue Station, a rescue service run by a crew who braved the choppy ocean waters to rescue shipwrecked sailors and fishermen or suffered drowning at Ocean Beach, Seal Rocks and Lands End. When Congress established the United States Life-Saving Service in 1871, the station was the very first in the state of California.

The stairs at 806 47th Avenue.


Johnny Racusin/Air Screen

An interior view of 806 47th Avenue in outer Richmond near Ocean Beach.

An interior view of 806 47th Avenue in outer Richmond near Ocean Beach.


Johnny Racusin/Air Screen

An interior view of 806 47th Avenue in outer Richmond near Ocean Beach.

An interior view of 806 47th Avenue in outer Richmond near Ocean Beach.


Johnny Racusin/Air Screen

A view of the kitchen at 806 47th Avenue in Outer Richmond near Ocean Beach.

A view of the kitchen at 806 47th Avenue in Outer Richmond near Ocean Beach.


Johnny Racusin/Air Screen


Some of the remodeled rooms at 806 47th Ave. (Johnny Racusin/Aerial Canvas)

“There’s a lot of curiosity about this house,” real estate agent Liz Scheidl tells me as I follow her up a speckled staircase to the front door of the home, which is constructed of reclaimed California redwood. “Now that it’s open to show every weekend, many, many people are telling me they’ve always wanted to see the inside of this house, people who are interested in coming to see what it looks like .”

She pauses and grins. “And a few people who want to buy a house, too.”

Scheidl shows me the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home, which is on the market for about $1.3 million — a far cry from the $75 original owner and former lifeguard Carvel Torlakson paid for it when he bought the property in 1923 bought and moved it to the once vacant lot where it stands today. It’s a fascinating place that still offers glimpses of its past. A broken railing lines the carpeted stairwell. An oddly small closet is tucked away in the corner of a bedroom with a sloping ceiling. Medallions adorn the corners of door frames with intricate hinges. The original floorboards and paneling remain on the upper level, and a small, sunny patio overlooks a shared backyard and garden, while Sutro Tower looms on the horizon.

The house originally served as the warden’s quarters – a modest government-appointed residence where the station’s chief ate and slept after leading the crew on miles of beach patrol and dusk-to-dawn rescue missions. Finding a forgotten seashell on a shelf in one of the upstairs rooms, I can’t help but imagine him shuffling in late at night, exhausted from hours of battling the unrelenting ocean current.

Detail views from inside 806 47th Avenue, in outer Richmond near Ocean Beach.

Detail views from inside 806 47th Avenue, in outer Richmond near Ocean Beach.


Amanda Bartlett/SFGATE

Detail views from inside 806 47th Avenue, in outer Richmond near Ocean Beach.

Detail views from inside 806 47th Avenue, in outer Richmond near Ocean Beach.


Amanda Bartlett/SFGATE

Detail views from inside 806 47th Avenue, in outer Richmond near Ocean Beach.

Detail views from inside 806 47th Avenue, in outer Richmond near Ocean Beach.


Amanda Bartlett/SFGATE

Detail views from inside 806 47th Avenue, in outer Richmond near Ocean Beach.

Detail views from inside 806 47th Avenue, in outer Richmond near Ocean Beach.


Amanda Bartlett/SFGATE


Some of the architectural details at 806 47th Ave. in Outer Richmond. (Photos by Amanda Bartlett/SFGATE)

Once established, the Golden Gate Park lifeguard station was hailed as “the most perfect example of a lifeguard station in America,” according to an article published in the Examiner in 1886, although a few others dotted the shoreline near the San Francisco Zoo. Point Bonita and Baker Beach, and they often coordinated rescue efforts.

At the time, the crew of six was divided into northern and southern beats, with three members patrolling the beach as far as Point Lobos while the rest trekked about 4 miles south of the station. Each crew member brandished hand lights to search capsized ships in the dark and small clocks locked in leather cases to record that they had walked the full length of their beat.

A plaque on the side of the house at 806 47th Ave.  commemorates its historical importance in San Francisco.

A plaque on the side of the house at 806 47th Ave. commemorates its historical importance in San Francisco.

Johnny Racusin/Air Screen

The attendant called how each rescue would be performed, and when one method didn’t work, they resorted to the next. The rescue service often relied on carts fitted with cannons that fired a projectile with a rope that spun through the air, unrolled, and landed directly behind a sinking boat for people inside to hold on to and go back to shore could, author and Historical Advisor John Martini told SFGATE. The crew also used surf boats, which were pulled by horses and lowered into the water to rescue a ship in distress. You can see one of these boats in the photo below – the keeper’s apartment is the building just behind it.

Rescuers maneuver a lifeboat on a horse-drawn carriage, circa 1900.  Such surf boats were launched to rescue ships in distress.

Rescuers maneuver a lifeboat on a horse-drawn carriage, circa 1900. Such surf boats were launched to rescue ships in distress.

OpenSFHistory/wnp70.0243

Rescues required extensive training, and rescue crew drills made Ocean Beach a popular destination for crowds hoping to see it in action. The life-saving crew members had to be prepared 24/7 for emergencies and were each paid only $40 or $50 a month — about $1,403 by today’s standards — while the attendant earned about $75, or $2,339.

Martini told SFGATE that many of the men died in rescue operations and are still buried today in the US Lifesaving Cemetery at Point Reyes National Seashore.

“It was groundbreaking, life-threatening work,” he said. “It’s pretty amazing what these guys have done.”

In 1914 the station became part of the new U.S. Coast Guard, and in the 1920s the original emergency services buildings were replaced with new structures. Torlakson, a former lifeguard, bought the caretaker’s home — he was the sole bidder — and had it shipped three blocks inland to an empty lot (the garage floor was added later). it was a common occurrence at the time. All you had to do was cover utilities such as interior plumbing before jacking up the house and placing it on a solid timber platform. Then a team of horses or mules, assisted by a steam-powered winch, would move it slowly through the city streets. The process would typically take days to complete, Martini said.

A crowd watches rescue drills at Ocean Beach, circa 1910.

A crowd watches rescue drills at Ocean Beach, circa 1910.

OpenSFHistory/wnp26.735

Meanwhile, as technology improved and new methods such as helicopters were used to conduct rescue operations, the emergency medical service became redundant and ended sometime in the 1950s. Other buildings at the station were eventually demolished, but the warden’s quarters remained in Torlakson’s family for a number of years. It was his daughter Vivian Goodwin, the former chief librarian of San Francisco, who had the plaque made for the home. According to an article published by the Western Neighborhoods Project in 2019, she lived there until her death in 2009.

“People who were born and raised in this area would come by and tell me that she was their teacher growing up,” Scheidl said. “She really loved this place and was amazed by its history.”

Records show the house was last sold in 2018 for $810,000. Check out the current listing of $1.3 million on Coldwell Banker’s website.

An aerial view shows 806 47th Ave.  in Outer Richmond near Ocean Beach.

An aerial view shows 806 47th Ave. in Outer Richmond near Ocean Beach.

Courtesy of Liz Scheidl/Coldwell Banker

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