NW corner Jackson St. and Dupont St. | map |
Opened: June 1865 on the ground floor of the Globe Hotel building. In this c.1875 Carleton Watkins stereo card it's Jackson St. on the left and Dupont on the right. This image of card #3756 appears on a page of New Series Views on the site CarletonWatkins.org. Also see card #3755. Nick Wright notes that there's a Carleton Watkins Facebook group.
Architect: It's unknown who did the theatre conversion. The hotel building was constructed in 1860, a design by Victor Hoffman. See an 1896 San Francisco Call article lower on the page for several stories about the building's original owner.
The building has a page on the
Pacific Coast Architecture Database. Quoting "California's Architectural Frontier: Style and Tradition in the Nineteenth Century" by Harold Kirker they comment:
"The Globe Hotel had the appearance of an Italian Renaissance palazzo, years before the building type became used more commonly by Beaux-Arts-trained architects after 1880. Architectural historian Kirker praised the 'beautiful proportions and superb stuccowork' of the Globe Hotel. He continued: 'The capricious ornamentation of the window frames in the second and third stories recalls Viennese palace architecture and hints that Hoffman may have emigrated from the old Hapsburg empire. The extraordinary quality of the stuccowork suggests the talents of two little-known pioneer architectural plasterers, Carpeaux and Pepin, the latter of whom is said to have won a first prize at the University of Paris for excellence in design and execution of his art.'"
Doug Chan offers a detailed history of the hotel in his Tumblr article "
The Globe Hotel: Old Chinatown's Decadent Landmark," part of his "
Streetscape & Memory: Chinese Urban Pioneer Images" series. He comments:
"Long
forgotten now, the Globe Hotel occupied a prominent, if not notorious
place in the history of San Francisco Chinatown’s existence. Situated on
the northwest corner of the intersection of Dupont (now Grant Ave.) and
Jackson streets, the hotel’s distinctive facades appeared in numerous
photos around the intersection and in westerly and easterly views of
Jackson Street prior to 1906...
"Although long gone from Chinatown, the story of the Globe Hotel remains a noteworthy chapter in the social history of San Francisco, encapsulating not only a period of architectural distinction but also its re-purposing to serve the needs of San Francisco’s Chinese bachelor community, and its ultimate fate as a sad focal point for the city’s first major public health crisis of the 20th century."
The theatre arrives in 1865:
An item in the June 23, 1865 issue of the S.F. Examiner that was located by Art Siegel.
The venue at the Globe was mentioned in
this item Mark Reed located in the Daily Alta California. It appeared on
November 21, 1867:
"NEW
TEMPLE OF THE DRAMA. - The Chinese have lately had two theatres in full
blast in this city, the old one at the Globe building, on the corner of
Jackson and Dupont streets, and the remodeled Union Theatre, on
Commercial street, where the last arrived troupe -- a high-toned one --
made its first appearance.
"They
now propose to have a first-class one erected immediately on Jackson
street, between Kearny and Dupont, on the lots now being cleared for
that purpose by John Apel. The structure is to be of brick, two stories
in height and have a frontage of about 50 feet..."
The new theatre that Apel was to build on Jackson became the
Royal Chinese, later called the "Old" Chinese Theatre.
In "Celestial Drama in the Golden Hills: The Chinese Theatre in California 1849-1869" (California Historical Society Quarterly, June 1944, v. 23 #2) author Lois Rodecape mentions the operation in the Globe Hotel building:
"...
During the middle sixties there were two Chinese theatres in more or
less permanent operation in San Francisco: one located on Dupont Street [the Son Son Fong], the other a few blocks away on Jackson [the Royal / Old Chinese].
Occasionally a Chinese company still found its way briefly into an
Occidental playhouse. Thus, in March 1865, a group of actors, jugglers,
and acrobats was billed at the 'New Idea' Theatre -- the old Union in
new disguise -- where they appeared for a week or two. In June of 1865, a
theatre was fitted up on the first floor of the Globe Hotel at Dupont
and Jackson Streets.
"The
fall of 1867 marked the beginning of a first period of recognized
prosperity for the Chinese drama. After a newly imported troupe took
over the old Union Theatre, some interested reporter dug up, along with
information about the major San Francisco houses, some figures on
receipts of "the Chinese Theatre." According to his tantalizingly vague
report, the Chinese drama grossed $5,365 in September, $9,102 in
October, $6,199 in November, and $4,016 in December. We may interpret
this at will, bearing in mind that there were at this time players at
the Globe Hotel, and two other theatres listed in the city
directory, in addition to the new Union Theatre company, to which the
statistics probably apply.
"More
definite was the announcement, in November, that a new theatre was to
be built for the successful Union Theatre players. One John Apel, owner
of a lot on the north side of Jackson Street, between Dupont and Kearny,
had been persuaded by Chinese financiers to erect a two-story brick
building at a cost of $40,000 for the specific use of the Union Theatre
company." [See the page on the Royal / Old Chinese Theatre.]
Thanks
to Mark Reed for locating the article. A slight quibble. In the 1867
city directory there was only ONE Chinese venue listed in addition to the Globe. The other listed as "Chinese Theatre" was on the east side of Dupont
between Clay and Washington. The old Union Theatre was listed, but as the "New Idea," not as a Chinese venue.
The 1870 theatre feud: See the Royal Chinese
page for accounts of a February 1870 feud between that theatre and one
of the Dupont St. theatres that had recently been reopened by members of
the See Yup Company. It's unknown if it was this theatre or the Son Son Fong on Dupont between Clay and Washington.
Closing: The date it ceased being a theatre is unknown. The theatre isn't listed in the 1871 city directory. The building was around until 1906.
An image from another c.1875 Carleton Watkins stereo card. It's in the
California State Library collection, their #
015589580205115.
The Globe Hotel building is on the right in this 1880s view by an unknown photographer. We're looking west up Jackson from Dupont St. The lettering on the streetlight says "Dupont St.," here seen in reverse. That's a beer sign on the corner of the building. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating the image in the
Open San Francisco History Project collection.
Looking east along the north side of the 700 block of Jackson in an undated shot by an unknown photographer.
The hotel is this side of the intersection with Dupont St., with a
horse-drawn wagon out front. Thanks to Doug Chan for locating the photo
in a private collection. He shared it in a
Facebook post.
Another shot by an unknown photographer looking toward Dupont that was located by Doug Chan. He shared this one, from the Granger collection, in a post on the
San Francisco History to the 1920s private Facebook group.
The theatre was long gone but the Globe Hotel building is seen in this detail from image 29 of volume 1 of the
1887 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map that's in the Library of Congress collection. A Chinese school was using part of the building. That's Dupont St. along the bottom of the image. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this.
An illustration of the Globe that appeared with an August 26, 1896 article in the San Francisco Call about a threatened demolition due to unsanitary conditions. It's on the
California Digital Newspaper Collection website. The story:
Thanks to Doug Chan for locating the article.
A later look at the Globe building. It's a detail from image 44 of volume 1 of the
1899 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map that's in the Library of Congress collection. That's Jackson on the left of the image.
A 1903 photo of the hotel from the
San Francisco Public Library collection. It's in their J. M. Williamson M.D. Board of Health Photograph Album of Chinatown. Thanks to Doug Chan for locating the image for a
Facebook post. He comments:
"The Globe Hotel gained notoriety during the bubonic plague outbreak in San Francisco Chinatown
from 1900 to 1904. On March 6, 1900, Wong Chut King, a Chinese
immigrant and lumber salesman living in the hotel’s basement, became the
first official plague victim in California....
"The
outbreak led to a significant exodus from the Globe Hotel and the
surrounding Chinatown area. Fear of quarantine, chemical fumigation, and
forced vaccinations drove many residents to flee. The once bustling
hotel, which typically housed around three hundred tenants, saw its
population dwindle to a mere dozen individuals, all prepared to leave at
a moment’s notice....
"As
life in Chinatown returned to a semblance of normalcy after the plague,
the Globe Hotel was repurposed as a warehouse – far removed from a
building that had once exemplified architectural elegance."
Thanks to Doug Chan for locating this c.1904 photo for his article "
The Globe Hotel: Old Chinatown's Decadent Landmark."
He comments: "A westerly view up Jackson Street from across its
intersection with Dupont Street , no date. Photographer unknown (from a
private collection). The Globe Hotel appears prominently at right, and
what is probably the Yuen Fung Low” (遠芳樓) restaurant at 710 Jackson
Street appears in the center."
Status: The building was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire. This section of Dupont St. was renamed Grant Ave. following the earthquake.
More information: See the timeline for the pre-1906 Chinatown theatres down at the bottom of the page for the Grand Chinese. That page also has links to various resources that discuss early Chinese theatres.
| back to top | pre-1906 theatre list | San Francisco Theatres: by address and neighborhood | alphabetical list | list by architect | home |
The other pre-1906 Chinatown venues: Old Chinese / Hung Chien Guen / Royal, 626 Jackson | New Chinese / Po Hing / Po Ring, 623 Jackson | Shanghai + Son Son Fong theatres - Dupont St. | [New ] Royal Chinese, 836 Washington | Grand Chinese - 814 Washington St. | Union/New Idea Theatre - Commercial St.
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