Earthquake/Fire: Hibernia Bank
The Hibernia Bank at 1 Jones (corner Jones/McAllister/Market) was built in 1892. It survived the 1906 earthquake and fire with some damage and reopened a month later. Today (in 2025) the landmarked building is called The Hibernia, providing leased office space and event space.
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These cards show Market/Jones on earthquake day 4/18/1906.
- Weidner 208 looks east on Market from Jones. Left: Prager's department store (1238-1250 Market), still intact. Center: Fire many blocks away obscures the Ferry Building but has not reached the Call yet. Right: Smoke pours out of Sterling Furniture (1039 Market). Market is empty: two lonely pedestrians in many blocks, no firefighters.
- Mitchell 146, postmarked Santa Barbara 12/09/1906, shows refugees gathering on Jones with piles of their belongings as the fire consumes the south side of Market on 4/18/1906. The space directly behind the bank is being excavated, presumably to build the office building seen in the later Newman card below. The caption is incorrect: Prager's (1238-1250 Market) is on the left, Hibernia Bank (1 Jones) is on the right.
- Pacific Novelty 645, postmarked Alameda 6/13/1908, is a colorized version of the same image.
The postcard album Facing Disaster (S.F. Bay Area Post Card Club, 2006) suggests that the refugee image above is doctored, based on a later photo. I disagree; I think the "neatly piled rubble" in the picture is construction material and the buildings are largely undamaged because the fire has not yet reached them, though it is very close.
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- Unknown publisher shows substantial earthquake and fire damage to the bank. The background smoke is probably added by the postcard artist. "Praeger's" should read "Prager's". Mitchell 2729 shows the new post-quake Prager's, rebuilt at the same site (still standing 2026).
- Rieder 6976 looks west on McAllister from Market (right edge: McAllister side of the Hibernia) showing workers in the initial stage of post-quake cleanup.
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- Mitchell 114 is a formally posed post-fire image of the bank building with debris clearing in progress. It is printed on flimsy stock; the back is a separate sheet, glued to the front.
- Rieder-Cardinell shows the same image.
- Roesch shows the Hibernia decked out for Fleet Week 5/06/1908. The fences and trees on each side are a product of the postcard artist's imagination; the bunting and vegetation on the bank probably are too.
- Newman V195 shows the repaired bank building with the 1908 Hibernia Office Building just beyond. The card credits the photo as © Charles Weidner 1909.
Steve's SF postcard pages:
