Two earthquakes, 93 years, and more than a million dollars later....USF's 5th St. Ignatius Church stands strong!

The University of San Francisco is home to one of the most beautiful churches in the country, and I venture to say one of the most beautiful churches in the world. The St. Ignatius church, which stands on the corner of Fulton and Parker in San Francisco, California is the universities 5th church. After spending nearly two hours in the universitie's archive room speaking with USF's archivist, Father Michael Kotlanger, S.J., the incredible history and importance of the church was crystal clear. The 1st and 2nd St. Ignatius (SI) churches were built on Market Street in the late 1800’s, and were basically 12x20 wooden shacks. The 3rd SI, known as ‘Old St. Ignatius’ was built on Hayes and Van Ness, but was ruined by the 1906 earthquake. The ‘shirt factory’ was the nickname of the 4th SI, was merely a relief church put up in a matter of weeks to get the university back in operation after the devastating earthquake.

In 1911, the priests at the University of San Francisco began building the ‘mother church’ St. Ignatius that still stands after 93 years. From 1911 to 1914 architect, Charles Devlin, was the mastermind behind the steel frame and Italian renaissance design of the church that put USF on the map. The University spent $850,000 building the 5th SI, which will end up being chump change compared to the expenses of the church over the next 93 years.

The $38,000 tin roof, brought in from an east coast company, rotted after only one year because of San Francisco’s marine air, and was soon replaced with a Terra Cotta roof (pressed brick) from a local company in Alameda, California. In the late 1980’s, SI’s dome, which was modeled after the Duomo in Florence, Italy, began to rust away and the ceiling quickly began to leak. It is rumored by USF’s archivist (which you can easily compare to the Rain Man, because he knows just about everything about USF) that replacing the SI dome cost more than the entire church cost when it was built in 1911. Thankfully, when USF replaced the frame of the dome they used led coated zinc, which is expected to last for 80-85 years. Do not think for one second that the damages stopped with the roof or the dome, the bell towers also needed replacing. And the 1989 earthquake cost USF $85,000 to replace the churches little cupola, because the iron rod inside snapped. In short, although St. Ignatius is a beautiful church, the money spent on upkeep is astronomical. (Hm…ever wonder where your tuition is actually going?)

The beautiful stained-glass that is seen inside SI today started to replace the churches original yellow glass in the 1940’s. In fact, each different window was privately donated by parishioners to USF. This sounds like a good thing right? Free stained-glass! Not so quick, there is undoubtedly a Catch 22. The brand new windows resulted in nothing short of a lighting nightmare. To perfectly light up the stunning new windows as well as the intricate new paint job inside the church, SI quickly installed a cutting-edge lighting system. A lighting system that costs USF $10,000 a month! That just scratches the surface on the incredible history of USF’s St. Ignatius church.

And here are a few quick, interesting facts….

1. The 2 bell towers used to be on all navigation maps for ships, because they helped to lead boats directly into the bay.
2. The bell that rings today is the same bell that has rung since 1862, and followed SI and USF through all five churches. Even after falling 5 stories during the 1906 earthquake, the bell was uncracked and undamaged.
3. Prior to 1994, only 2 weddings were held in SI, because the church was a ‘university chapel’ as opposed to a ‘parish church,’ and was forbidden to hold weddings or baptisms.
4. In the 1930’s San Francisco used to add 5 street cars during St. Ignatius services, because of enormous amount of people attending church!
5. The bell towers stand 180 ft tall, and to walk down the isle is an exhausting 190 ft. (Which you can imagine would seem endless on your wedding day in 4 inch stilettos!)

Gleeson Library - A Storied Journey

The University of San Francisco has a long history of scholarship dating back to the 1800s, but its library, traditionally thought of as the heart of the school, was only built in 1950. The first site occupied by the school that would come to be known as USF was at Market and 5th Street, now occupied by the Westfield Shopping Center. During this early period, the school had no formal library, as the entire institute centered on one school room. The school stayed for five years, after which it moved because of the tax burden imposed on schools and churches.

The new school at Hayes St and Van Ness grew from humble beginnings to become one of the premier centers of learning on the West Coast, said library archivist Father Michael Kotlanger. Kotlanger explained that the old library consisted in large part of donated books, most of which were either science related or spiritual in nature. The books were not located in one central library, but rather in many individual collections organized by subject matter and scattered around the university. At that time, the books were strictly for use at the school, and could not be checked out by students.

As with the rest of the city, 1906 marked a turning point for USF. The massive quake and fire on April 18th, 1906 gutted the school and obliterated nearly everything in it, including all the books collected over the previous half century. The few records that survive from before 1906 were housed in separate locations downtown and in Los Gatos, said Kotlanger. After the tragic events of that day, the school moved to a location near the present day southern entrance to St. Mary's hospital at Hayes and Shrader, a few blocks from its present day location. School officials tried to build up the library's collection after the devastating loss of all its books, but at that time they had to rely on the generosity of donors. The law school opened in 1912, necessitating further book acquisitions, all of which were donated by jurists and legal scholars who had an interest in helping future legal minds.

In 1927, the school moved to its current address at Fulton and Parker. The burgeoning library collection was housed on the fourth floor of Campion Hall, the original university building that served as the entire university for many years. Finally, in 1950, the collection became large enough that university officials agreed a separate library would be both necessary and good for the school. The library is named after Father Richard Gleeson, who spent 46 years in service to the university. Kotlanger said Gleeson died the day it was announced that the library would bare his name.

Under the direction of Father William Monihan, the new library initially housed the relatively small collection from Campion Hall, and had administrative offices and classrooms on the upper floors. This condition was not to last, as Monihan aggressively sought out books for the new library, including many rare books now housed in the Donihue Rare Book Room. These include a fragment of the Gutenberg Bible dating from the 1450s, medieval illuminated manuscripts, the works of Sir Thomas Moore and a collection of letters from the English Catholic novelist and film-writer, Graham Greene. Kotlanger stumbled upon these letters when looking through files in the university's possession. The letters were appraised for $250,000.

As Monihan and his successors continued to build the library's collection, classroom and office space had to move to other locations on campus. In addition to its own collection, Kotlanger said the library once held the extensive personal collection of Adolph Sutro, who was mayor of San Francisco from 1895 until 1897. Space was leased in the library's basement by the Sutro estate until Gleeson library's own collection could no longer be housed solely in the upper floors. The lease was allowed to expire for a nominal rate, and Sutro's collection moved to its current location at San Francisco State University.

In 1997, the library opened the Geschke Learning Resource Center, named after Charles and Nancy Geschke, two university patrons and parents of a former student. The Geschke Center houses the circulation desk, reference stacks, and dozens of computers, both Apple and PC. The center also includes Thacher Gallery, an art exhibition room with rotating exhibits throughout the year. On the east wing of Geschke Center is the Monihan Atrium, a large study area named after the aforementioned Jesuit priest and library director.

The library's collection continues to grow at the rate of 13,000 volumes per year, according to its website, in an effort to maintain its status as a world class center for learning and scholarship. Located at the geographic heart of the university, Gleeson Library truly is at the heart of the school's dedication to learning and service.