Pfeiffer's Castle Pfeiffer's Street San Francisco 6 Editorial Photo

William Pfeiffer was originally from the Rhine region of Germany, who came to San Francisco actually from Sacramento California with his family, in 1859. Too late for the Gold Rush, but he did know that he wanted his home to be able to withstand fires, which was still a big, city problem anywhere in the world at the time. For his inspiration, he started building his home looking like the castles of where his original home was. This was how Pfeiffer's home got the name Castle to go along with it. Ultimately, it was also about as expensive as a real castle, bankrupting William, causing him to loose the house. This forced him and his family, in turn, to live in a shack behind what was recently their own home to be. As time went by he was able to acquire the two block strip of land, in his and his wife's name, William presented the street to the city as a present. Once William realized his wife never cosigned the paper for the transfer, William tried to reclaim the street, and the city told him, in short, 'Sorry, too late'. So all that is left to show for Pfeiffer's place in this cities history, is one small but attractive, two block stretch of city street. As seen 22 February 2023.