Calvary Presbyterian Church (San Francisco)
Calvary Presbyterian Church is a historic church in San Francisco, California. It sits in Pacific Heights at the corner of Fillmore Street and Jackson Street, and is part of the Presbyterian Church (USA). The current building, at 2501–2515 Fillmore Street, was built in 1901 for J. H. McKay and designed by the McDougall Brothers in Late 19th and 20th Century Revival styles with Edwardian influences. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 3, 1978.
The Calvary congregation began on July 23, 1854. The first church stood on Bush Street between Montgomery and Sansome and was dedicated January 14, 1855; at the time it was the largest Protestant church on the West Coast. When Bush Street became too commercial, the church moved to Union Square at Powell and Geary, where a new church was dedicated May 16, 1869. As Union Square grew even more, the church moved to its current Fillmore Street location. About one million bricks, along with the pews, metal balcony supports, and much of the woodwork from the Union Square church, were reused in the new building.
The first service in the Fillmore Street church was held on Thanksgiving Day 1902, and the building was dedicated on February 7, 1904. Twenty-six months later, the 1906 earthquake destroyed much of San Francisco but left this building intact. After the quake, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Old First Presbyterian Church, and Temple Emanuel held services in the Calvary building, and a temporary courthouse was set up in the basement for the Superior Court.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 10:33 (CET).