NEW BOOK!
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| Anne Evers Hitz has followed up on her excellent book on The Emporium with this new one - that chronicles the history of San Francisco's other stores. |
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| In 1909, Rafael Weill & Company moved to a new, terra-cotta faced structure after its original store was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. |
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| The gleaming white facades of the 1909 building were wholly appropriate to the store's name; it spread across the block to Grant Street in various annexes and additions. |
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| Like its competitor, The City of Paris, The White House was known for its french atmosphere. In fact he store bore more than just a passing resemblance to the great Parisian department stores like "Au Bon Marché." |
Raphael Weil & Co.
256 Grant Avenue
San Francisco, California
EXbrook 2-5000
Downstairs
Housewares • Home Appliances • Unpainted Furniture • Patio Furniture • Shoe Clinic • Photograph Studio
The White House Downstairs Section
Street Floor
Jewelry • Fine Jewelry • Silver • Bags • Small Leather • Accessory Shops • La Boutique • Neckwear • Hat Bar • Blouse Bar • Sweater Bar • Go-Together Shop • Casual Dress Shop • Street Floor Lingerie • Slipper Bar • Shoe Salon • Footlight shoe shop • Campus Choice Accessories • Cosmetics • Drug Sundries • Shoe Salon • Notions • Stationery • Books
Street Floor • Post St. Bldg.
Men's Store Men's Furnishings • Men's Sportswear • Men's Clothing • Men's Hats • Gentlemen's Shoes
Second Floor
Terrace Shop • Grant Avenue Shop • Dress Circle • Gown Salon • R.S.V.P Shop • Nob Hill Shop • Young Sophisticates • Sports Shop • Coat Salon • Suit Salon • Women's World • Dress Salon • Chandelier Room • Fur Shop • Bridal Salon • Young Couture • Millinery Salon • Nurses' Uniforms • Maternity Shop • Town and Career Shop • Negligees • Lingerie • Foundations • Robes • Little Shop
Junior Circle Junior Sportswear • Junior Dresses • Junior Coats
Children's Fashion Center Infants' Shop • Children's Shop • Girls' Shop • Hi-Shop • Children's Shoes
Second Floor • Post St. Bldg.
Boys' Shop
Third Floor
Gift Shop • China Shop • Glassware Shop • Linens • Pictures • Mirrors • Lamps • Bedding • Casa Mexicana • Campus Choice Furnishings • Rugs • Oriental Rug Bazaar • Casa Mexicana
Third Floor • Post St. Bldg.
Furniture • Slumber Shop
Fourth Floor
Radio-Record Shop • TV Shop • Garden Court • Sporting Goods • Toyland • Antoine Salon de Beauté • Trim-A-Home Shop • Trim-A-Tree Shop • Gourmet shop • Wine Cellar • Gibson Girl Fountain • Rafael Weill Room Restaurant
Fourth Floor • Post St. Bldg.
Art Needle • Sewing Machine Center • Textiles
Fifth Floor
Offices • Credit • Cashier • Personnel • Music Center • Patio Furniture
Street Floor
Beauty Salon • Jewelry • Fine Jewelry • Bags • Small Leather • Accessory Shops • La Boutique • Neckwear • Hat Bar • Blouses • Sweaters • Separates • Street Floor Lingerie • Campus Choice Accessories • Cosmetics • Drug Sundries • Shoe Salon • Notions • Stationery • Books
Men's Store Men's Furnishings • Men's Sportswear • Men's Clothing • Men's Hats • Gentlemen's Shoes
Second Floor
Terrace Shop • Casual Shop • Grant Avenue Shop • Dress Circle • Gown Salon • Young Sophisticates • Sports Shop • Coat Salon • Suit Salon • Women's Shop • Dress Salon • Chandelier Room • Fur Shop • Bridal Salon • Young Couture • Millinery Salon • Nurses' Uniforms • Maternity Shop • Negligees • Lingerie • Foundations • Robes
Junior Colony Junior Sportswear • Junior Dresses • Junior Coats • Little Shop
Children's World Infants' Shop • Children's Shop • Girls' Shop • Hi-Shop • Children's Shoes • Boys' Shop
Third Floor
Gift Shop • China Shop • Glassware • Silver Shop • Linens • Pictures • Mirrors • Lamps • Bedding • Casa Mexicana • Campus Choice Furnishings • Rugs • Oriental Rug Bazaar •
Furniture • Slumber Shop • Housewares • Home Appliances • Unpainted Furniture • Patio Furniture • Radio-Record Shop • TV Shop • Garden Court • Sporting Goods • Toyland • Trim-A-Home Shop • Trim-A-Tree Shop • Art Needle • Sewing Machine Center • Textiles
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| Oakland Kaiser Center 20th and Webster July, 1960 126,000 s.f. |
Coming in due course.
Good job on this, BAK. I just inherited a carving set from my mother purchased from this store. And this is most of the scarce data about this store that I can find.
ReplyDeleteThanks... My childhood memories include TWH --- My God-father was with The Men.s Furnishing Dept 1950's-60's --- he took my sis and I there to 'show us off', as he had no children of his own - would buy us very nice things- good perfume too !!! Love the Christmas tree at TWH !!!
ReplyDeleteLOL- of course, we always HAD to be wearing WHITE GLOVES when going downtown SF then !!!!
From, Lynda in Austin,Texas
I bought a small painting of a Tudor house that has a sticker on the back that says, "The White House Picture Dept. San Francisco." The artist signature I believe says EPSHEIM. Does anyone have any clue as to who this painter is/was? I am so curious.
ReplyDeleteI have an etching from the 1920s that has the same sticker on the back. I am also curious about this. Did you find anything out about the sticker?
DeleteI just purchased a book: Bird Gossip. Author Harriette Wilbur. First edition, copyright 1920. There is a sticker on the back binding: The White House/San Francisco/Books. The book was in a Lafayette thrift shop.
ReplyDeleteI have a picture I inherited from my great aunt that has a 'The White House Picture Department San Francisco' sticker on it. She lived most of her life in SF. At one time she was secretary for the mayor of SF. The paper on the back of the pic is so brittle that it is crumbling off.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this article, as it closes a loop for me.
ReplyDeleteI have a set of 20 pieces of wooden dollhouse furniture, circa 1920, some of which still have a red and white "The White House/San Francisco, Cal, Toys" sticker on them. As the pieces were played with, it's no surprise that most no longer have that emblem on them.
We have two paintings by Pierre Tourneau. Each has The White House Picture Dept. sticker on the back. We inherited them years ago from our aunt, who lived in San Francisco most of her long life. We are so grateful to finally find some sort of connection & hope you will be able to tell us more about the artist; we have gleaned a little bit of information on the internet about him. Without dismantling the frames, we have no idea whether these charcoal drawings are genuine originals or prints. Any clues to how we can tell? We live in a small town without access to any professionals. Thank you for any help you can give us.
ReplyDeleteI really can't say anything about the art sold by The White House. Without contacting some sort of art gallery (via e-mail, maybe?) especially in San Francisco, where someone might be familiar with the store, I could only suggest long hours searching through newspaper microfilm (where available) to see if an exhibit by this artist might have been held in the store's painting department. Good Luck in your search.
ReplyDelete-Bruce
Thank you so much for doing this! I just put up for sale in my Etsy shop a first edition 1912 book Mary Frances Cookbook and on the back page was a tiny sticker that said "Whitehouse, San Francisco, $2.00". It brought back so many memories for me as my mother and Nana would take me there as a child until it closed. So in looking for a reference to include in my description I found your page. And I am so a ballroom dancer, and now I teach swing. And my father was the head of advertising at Weinstocks. My family came to SF in the late 1800s. I am now going to look through everything you have put up. Gumps, Ransohoffs, City of Paris...sigh.
ReplyDeleteAlexis at gotta-swing.com
My husbands grandmother worked at the White House in the Tea Room in the 1890's. We think she prepared food or she could have been a waitress. Her name was Anna Poey (Pinana after marriage) and she was from France. She is the missing link in our family tree. I am hoping that there is some way to find that missing link.
ReplyDeleteDonna
I have a couple of Limoges dishes that I found in a thrift store that I believe are the pattern used in the tea room. What an amazing slice of history I have found!
DeleteMy grandfather was involved with accounting/management of this property in the 50s/60s. During its renovation at that time, he received two wall clocks he told me used to hang in the lobby of the White House department store. They're about 2 feet in diameter, green marble faces, gold hands and frames. They hang in my office now. Does anyone remember them? Would love to confirm the provenance.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is the great great grand nephew of Raphael Weill. We just found the book TWH employees gave to his nephew Michel Weill when TWH closed in mid-1960s. I am interested in hearing anyone's stories of TWH and ask them to please contact me. jane@innovationsthatwork.com
ReplyDeleteMy Grandmother Sarah Aiello worked at the San Francisco TWH in the WWII years. She was in the Alterations department as she was a seamstress. She always said it was a wonderful store.
ReplyDeleteI inherited a pair of earrings that came in a box from The White House in SF. Did they sell real gems or is this just costume jewelry?
ReplyDeleteSWMBO
I am a third generation San Franciscan and I definitely remember the White House. I recently went to a vintage clothing exhibition and bought a wonderful dress from the 1940s with the White House label in it. Great dress, great memory.
ReplyDeletei have one of the mantle clocks that were on display in the store.it was made in france with the serial no.1439. do you have any idea what these clocks are valued at,if anything.
ReplyDeleteI have been looking for years for a photo or a video of the Christmas Santa calling Happy Hollie. This was a White House advertisement...or so I thought. As a youngster I was scared to death of Happy Hollie and now I want to see a photo to see what all the fuss was about. Do you know where I can find one?
ReplyDeleteI remember the Grant Ave store had those wonderful glass-doored elevators, and smiling elevator men in smart uniforms who ran them. I recall reading somewhere that the store's downfall was in not expanding to the suburbs along with their competition (The Emporium, Capwell's, Macy's). Even the City of Paris had stores in the suburbs, but The White House only had downtown stores in SF and Oakland.
ReplyDeleteMy Aunt worked there in the 50's, She worked in cosmetics. I do recall the cool elevator with operator in uniform and gloves.
ReplyDeleteIn 1959, when I was 9, my family moved from NJ to CA. We stayed at a hotel on Sutter, and visited The White House often during our 2 week stay. My older sister and I always wore white gloves and hat when touring SF. On one TWH visit, I ran up the escalator the wrong way and received a gash on my leg above my foot which warranted stitches. However the TWH nurse gave my wound a butter-fly stitch. To this day I call it The White House scar.
ReplyDeleteI have a large set of the doll house furniture, many pieces still with the label and some even with a price. They belonged to my mother and aunt who grew up in Berkeley, and they were in my grandmother's basement for many years. I inherited them when I was 12 and they are well played with but still mostly in good condition. Some with inlaid wood pictures, a chair with an inlaid swastika on it (this is the 20s, remember, so the symbol was just an Indian or Asian symbol of something) ---cabinets with sliding glass doors and little doors that open, chest with drawers with tiny pulls, dresser with three-part mirror. . . treasures!
ReplyDeletehave a large collection of the doll house furniture from The White Hosue, most with the label still intact and some with a price written on it! cabinets with little doors that open or sliding glass doors, chest with drawers with tiny pulls, table wiht inlaid wood picture of Mt. Fuji and Japanese landscape, a chair with a seat that lifts up, and on the seat is an inlaid design that includes a swastika -- (this is well before the Nazis appropropriated it) -- and much more. My mother and aunt grew up in Berkeley, and this collection was in my grandmother's basement for many years until I finally inherited it at age 12. Have found one other piece since, in an antique store in Redwood City maybe 10 years ago. . They are a treasure.
ReplyDeletelike most of you here, I have fond memories of The White House - riding the "L" Taraval streetcar from home to Market Street. Exploring The Emporium and The White House Department stores. As we moved on with our lives and the stores closed down and seemed forgotten, something happens to awaken our minds. While at Urban Ore in Berkeley, there was a wooden seesaw made of oak for sale that I eventually purchased. When I got it home and was cleaning it up, I found a brass plate affixed that stated it came from The White House San Francisco. I have tried researching it on the internet with no information available. I'm thinking it was a catalog item - probably 1930 or 40s. Now, I'm hoping that someone reading this will offer some light on this interesting piece. Thank You
ReplyDeletedoes anyone know if the store produced a cookbook? My dad remembered a cookbook his mother had they live in the Bay Area, he referred to it as the white house cookbook. thank you! love all the history!
ReplyDeleteI have seen cookbooks from the 1930s that are named with certain department stores on the title page, e.g. "The Crowley-Milner Cookbook" but in reality, they are standard cookbooks (albeit very nice ones) that were produced by a firm and specifically labeled, due to the high opinion customers held of department stores as arbiters of taste and fashion in the day. I wonder if it was one of those. They can be found on eBay occasionally. I donated mine to a collector. My wife rejected it because it was very out-of-date in terms of the actual recipes.
ReplyDelete-Bruce
Thank you BAK!! I will check it out!
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather and his brother built and installed the display cases when it opened in 1909.
ReplyDeleteI have a wooden chest that I use as a coffee table with cast iron hinges and latches that has a metal plate inscribed with " the white house san francisco" not sure the year it was manufactured but it is wonderful to know where it came from. Do you know what accuses the building now? Would love to visit next time I'm in the city. Thanks!
ReplyDeletethe Emporium is located at 835 Market St. The 102 foot wide dome was lifted approx. 60 feet which allowed the building underneath to be gutted and the interior rebuilt in the 1990s. It is now called Westfield San Francisco Centre
Deletehttps://www.westfield.com/sanfrancisco
My mother worked at the White House in the early 1940's - she played the cello as part of a string quartet in the lobby. I still have the sterling silver baby cup and spoon she got for me from the WH with a an embossed date of May 1942, just before I was born.
ReplyDeleteI have a large steamer trunk on the side it says the white house,san francisco.
ReplyDeleteI am looking for a 1932 edition of the San Francisco White House Department Store's 1932 newsletter. Should anyone know where I can find a copy, please respond to paula@petalumamuseum.com.
ReplyDeleteI just purchased a beautiful teapot marked - Especially made by Theodore Haviland Limoges France for The White House San Francisco, Cal. I only paid $2.00 for it at a garage sale. I can not find any info. on it and was curious if anyone knows when it might have been available at The White House. I has little pink roses with a gold and black band and a gold dome on lid.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a little girl in the late fifties, I remember a program on the television with Happy Holly calling Santa Claus. Santa would talk with his reindeer and show toys he was working on, this was brought to us by the White House Department Store. I can still remember how excited I would get about the holiday after seeing Happy Holly calling Santa on his "teletronic Tuner". I live in the middle west now but this is a fond memory I have of Christmas in the Bay area
ReplyDeleteI have been trying to find a photo of Happy Holly because, as a kid, that little elf scared me to death! I also asked if anyone remembered the commercials from The White House on a group Growing Up in San Francisco. I got a couple of answers, but there are no photos. The puppeteer who created Happy Holly was Lettie Connell Schubert. I can find out about her, but not what her puppets looked like. It was great seeing someone else remembering this. I, too live out of State. Michigan.
DeleteI still have my Happy Holly. Would love to put a photo on here but have no idea how to do that. If you google Happy Holly White House SF and click on "Images" there are a few there.
DeleteI have a book called The Squaw Man copyright 1906....with someone's signature ...Isabella B.Leacy July, 1911..To know someone way back held this book and read it... It has The White House Sticker...:)
ReplyDeleteFound this website because I wanted to know about these newborn booties my mother passed down to me. They are knitted white and pink, and the inner tag says:
ReplyDelete100% New Wool
Made in England
for The White House
Raphael Weill & Company
San Francisco
They came from my grandmother originally, probably purchased in the 1960's. Beautiful building with great history. Enjoyed reading everyone's posts :)
I have lots of original photos of The White House and press release photos of HW Alexander. I’m trying to find someone who wants them.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know of a White House Department store Christmas catalog from 1905 or 1906? I have recently purchased a tin toy car marked “The White House” and would like to confirm it came from this department store in San Francisco.
ReplyDeleteHi, this is awesome I am a fourth generation San Franciscan and always love to learn historic information. I have a vintage Yale and towns steamer chest that has an engraved plate on top titled the White House San Francisco
ReplyDeleteMy mother worked in the marking room at the White House. She left in 1951 after getting married. She was a lovely card from the whole staff, some pictures, and little gift card. Looks like they were polite and personable to their staff.
ReplyDeleteI have a book about the SF Pan-Pacific Int'l Exhibition published by H.S.Crocker in 1915 which contains its original White House sticker. The sticker (in the shape of a book) says "The White House -- Books in various Languages -- San Francisco".
ReplyDeleteThank you for the information. I just picked up a wardrobe steamer trunk at a garage sale that has a "The White House" label on it. Inside it is date stamped on the material with 1913. It is hard leather and in great condition. It's a little piece of history. I have not been able to find one like it in an extensive search online. The way it opens is very unique. The only other wardrobe trunk I've seen online that opens the same way is a Louis Vuitton. I wish I could find others so I know if it's authentic and what it might be worth. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteBought one today, fully intact with all that it came with. Beautiful
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ReplyDeleteI have a beautiful men's robe with the White House label in it that my mother bought for my father in the 1950-60 era. Loved that store, it had everything! Wish those great old stores existed today.
ReplyDeleteFor three years in the early 60's I skated in the corner White House Department store window at Christmas time on a 7 x 7 foot ice rink - five shows a day. I was Happy Holly. An experience that will remain forever in my heart......
ReplyDeleteMy Grandfather, Adolph Eberhart, worked here for 70 years. He started as a box boy in the 1850's and retired as Paymaster in the early 60's. I forget the exact dates. He never drove a car and took the bus from Mill Valley to the Sausalito Ferry until they built the GG Bridge. Then the Greyhound to Sutter and a street car down to the WH. He was also the First Mayor of Mill Valley!
ReplyDeleteMy stepmom's mother (Jean Dill) was a fashion illustrator for White House San Francisco in the 40s. All copies of her work was lost in a fire. Is there a place to find White House catalog archives from that time period?
ReplyDeleteI have never seen a reference to that, but you could subscribe to Newspapers.com (San Francisco Enquirer) or Genealogybank.com (San Francisco Chronicle) where you could certainly see and download her work in advertisements. Your library may have a subscription too.
DeleteThank you very much! I will try that.
DeleteI have a original White House Boulder cap that is basically brand new
ReplyDeleteHow can I speak to someone from the museum
ReplyDeleteHave just recently made aware of a letter from my grt grandfather James' brother John, written to James Oct 4, 1888 - John said he had his postion for nearly 9 years. Return address: John Watt c/o The White House, San Fransisco, California. (No idea what that position could have been but it would have started 1879 and presumably continued after the letter was written).
ReplyDelete