Alfred E. Clarke Mansion

The Alfred E. Clarke Mansion, perched at the corner of Douglass Street and Caselli Avenue, stands out for the alternating bands of plain and scalloped shingles that wrap its four-story exterior. Built in eighteen ninety-one, the house features multiple towers and gables, a design inspired by a French lakeside chateau. Its original owner, Alfred "Nobby" Clarke, was an Irish immigrant who rose from cabin boy to clerk for the San Francisco Chief of Police. Despite investing one hundred thousand dollars into the project, Clarke never actually lived here; his wife refused to leave her home on Nob Hill for what was then the rural Eureka Valley.