This building was designed by California's first licensed woman architect, Julia Morgan and built by Emanu-el Sisterhood for Personal Service to provide shelter and counseling for up to 70 single Jewish women who sought their fortunes in San Francisco.
By the 1940s it no longer provided residence exclusively to Jewish women, and became one of the city's foremost women's residence clubs, housing primarily war workers. In 1950s it began to supplement residence with therapy as well as recreational and educational opportunities.
By 1960s the occupancy declined and the neighborhood significantly worsened. The Board voted to close the club and sell the building to the San Francisco Zen Center of Shunryu Suzuki, one of the leading popularizers of Zen in the West and the chief priest of the Soto Zen Mission of the Sokoji Buddhist Church.
The Emanu-el sisterhood was already familiar to him since Sokoji was housed in a former synagogue of the same Temple Emanu-El congregation at 1881 Bush Street, only a few blocks away. Shunryu Suzuki established a training center in the Soto Zen tradition here in 1969, Beginner's Mind1See Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind Temple. (Hosshin-ji)
The easiest way to see some of it is to go into the bookstore. The best way to see it is to book a short-term stay and take part in the meditations. They also offer frequent events. https://www.sfzc.org/calendar
1See Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's MindSee Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
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