SAN FRANCISCO—On Sunday February 21, a 139-year-old Victorian house, the Englander House, became the first Victorian home to be moved in 47 years as it was towed six blocks from 807 Franklin Street to 635 Fulton Street. The 5,170-square-foot house was towed at 1 mile an hour while hundreds of onlookers gathered to see the event take place. The Victorian house was placed next to another Victorian style building with the same owner.
The moving of the house took years of planning and cost an estimated $200,000 in fees. The moving of the house was coordinated by Phil Joy who told the SF Chronicle, “We had to get 15 different city agencies to agree to this.”
According to his website, Joy’s company has moved over 3,000 houses and structures over his 30 year career and specializes in moving historical structures like the Englander House.
Tim Brown has plans to connect the house to the former Bryant mortuary that he owns on 635 Fulton where the Victorian house was moved. According to the Foundsf.org, the last time Victorian houses were moved in the Bay Area was in November of 1974 when 12 Victorian homes were moved in groups of four over three weekends to join existing Victorians to form the Beideman Place Historic Area.
