Walking
Tour of Tiburon:
This walking tour of Tiberon,
provided by Belvedere - Tiberon Landmark Society,
is a wonderful one-hour tour along quaint tree-lined roads, amongst a
collection of restored 19th-century floating homes and summer cottages
in which San Franciscans once spent their summers.
1) Paradise Drive & Lyford Tower 1889. National Register of
Historic Places - Round sandstone edifice, reminiscent of castle keep,
erected by Dr. Benjamin Lyford as Southern gateway to "Lyford's
Hygeia", a planned town site and health spa. First subdivision on
the Tiburon Peninsula. Tower affords a view of Racoon Straits across to
Angel Island, looking NE to Berkeley Hills and SW to Golden Gate.
2) 1920 Paradise Drive - Train & Ferry Terminal -1884.
Passenger and freight depot of the San Francisco and North Pacific
Railroad, later the Northwestern Pacific. In recent years named
"The Donahue Building" for the railway's founder. Built of
redwood with board and batten siding, Victorian style window trim. North
exterior and roof original. Concrete caissons and piles, remnants of 300
foot pier, seen at low tide. Building will be used as railroad and ferry
museum by the Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society.
3) 15 Main Street - McNeil Building 1886. First structure on water
side of street. Saloon-pool hall, boat leasing, and apartments. Compass
rose decoration added to upper facade during Town weekend paintup in
1955.
4) 27 Main Street -
Sam's Anchor Cafe 1920's. Oldest continuous use restaurant in Tiburon.
Original owner Sam Vella, an immigrant from Malta. Saloon fully
operational during prohibition. Trap door to Bay built for access to
boats bringing whiskey exists beneath floor. Remodeled 1930s.
5) 32 Main Street - Anderson Meat Market 1921. First butcher shop
erected 1891. Purchased by H. D. Anderson, a New Yorker, in 1898. Store
survived at this location for more than 50 years. Building burned to
ground in the great fire of 1921 and re-erected. Renovated in 1960s with
ornate false front, an example of Victorian embellishment.
6) 34 Main Street -
Beyries General Store, Hotel 1921. Original 1900s two-story structure
with grocery on first floor and Tiburon Hotel above destroyed in 1921
fire. Upper story rebuilt from whole sections of hotel saved from fire.
Ballustrade salvaged from author Jack London's Sonoma residence. Food
market operated until 1955. Upstairs lodging with separate stairs
reportedly a bordello in past times.
7) 35 Main Street -
Saloon 1925. Another Main Street saloon with access to the Bay for
bringing in illegal spirits, safeguarded by concrete sidewalls. Building
had varied use until 1970 when bakery opened.
8) 41 Main Street -
Waterfront Bar 1920s. The original small saloon was next door to an
old-fashioned drugstore/soda fountain complete with marble top counter
and swivel stools. After the pharmacy moved in 1954, the waterfront bar
enlarged to become a bar/restaurant with nautical South Seas decor
including Gauguin-style paintings.
9) 55 Main Street -
Bank Building 1925. Brick structure originally branch of Bank of
Sausalito. Branch closed in 1935. Property sold to first owner of Sam's
Cafe who made daily deposits of liquor to bank vault, a convenient
locker for his nearby bar.
ARK ROW.
The rest of Main Street is known as Ark Row. The name recalls the 1890s
recreational houseboat lifestyle enjoyed in Belvedere Cove by sea
captains, bohemian artists, and summer residents from San Francisco. In
winter, houseboat dwellers anchored arks in the lagoon. After 1900,
craze for arks waned. Some docked along lagoon shorelines and converted
to permanent local housing. Part of filled-in lagoon became parking lot
behind the shops.
10)
72 Main Street - Fleming Room House 1918. Mid-1880s structure affixed to
pilings here early 1900s. The landlady, Mrs. Fleming, lived in apartment
on first floor and rented rooms to Northwestern Pacific trainmen checked
carefully "for their good character." Outside spiral
gingerbread staircase added in 1956.
11) 104 Main Street - Ark
1895. Typical ark of 4 rooms and kitchen. Dwelling 90% original with
flat roof, bead and reel molding and slender Corinthian columns. Another
intact houseboat "The Double Ark" at 116 Main has unusual
arched roof and four fine Corinthian capitals. Visible remains of tar
and planks indicate lower level once an ark.
12) 112 Main Street -
Cottage 1890. Secret staircase led to hidden cupboard between floors for
safekeeping of illicit liquor. To escape revenuers, the rumrunners,
tipped off to a raid, exited by the back door to boats on lagoon.
13)
112 Main Street - Cottage 1890s. Served as artists' studio. Possible
1927 residence of Selden Connor Gile (1877-1947), important California
landscape painter and leader of the "Society of Six," a group
of California impressionists.
14) 122 Main Street -
Ranch Building 1870s. Oldest building on Ark Row. Former shed on a
Tiburon Peninsula ranch. Salt box construction later addition. U.S.
Centennial (1876) wallpaper uncovered.
15) Main Street
Drawbridge Site 1880s. Several different style drawbridges have linked
Tiburon's Main Street to Belvedere's Beach Road until 1930s. Story has
it that the raising of the drawbridge for arks and boats to go from
winter harbor on lagoon to summer fun on Cove began the tradition of
"Opening Day on the Bay," a spring parade of ships.
16) 52 Beach Road -
Social Saloon of the S.S. China 1866. Belvedere Landmark 001.
"China Cabin." Victorian drawing room of a passenger and cargo
sidewheel steamer that plied between San Francisco, Japan and China.
Salvaged before the fire when the ship was burned for scrap metal in
Tiburon Cove 1886. Saloon barged to Belvedere Cove beach. Served as a
residence for 90 years, before restoration as a maritime museum by the
Landmarks Society. Open 1-4, Sunday, Wednesday, April-October.
A special Thank You to the Belvedere
- Tiberon Landmark Society who
gave us permission to use this tour.
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