Serenity House; The building retains its original facade, although its function has changed from a single family home on a triple lot to an institution helping Roman Catholic priests recover from alcohol addiction. Built in 1895 at a cost of $16,885 for Charles E. Hansen, "probably the best-know man in the German community." Designed by German-born architect Wildrich Winterhalter. Hansen migrated to San Francisco in 1852 from Schleswig-Holstein and went into the brewery business. His second brewery location was at Fulton and Webster Street: National Brewery. He lived nearby at 828 Fulton Street. By the time he built this home, he was widowed and childless but he filled the house with nieces and nephews and Swedish and Danish female servants. He died in 1908 from starvation caused by a throat malady. In 1911 the home sold to Dr. Alex T. Leonard, Irish born Chief Surgeon of St. Mary's. He had 11 children but 5 died in one year from diptheria. When prohibition took over in 1920, the Olympic Club's stock of alcohol wound up here. Many Jesuits from the University of San Francisco visited in the 1920s. In 1945 it sold to Rabbi Marlin of Congregation Keneseth Israel (at 935 Webster). In the 1950s it sold to the Roman Catholics for Serenity House.
