Cable cars clang past it on California Street, and tourists stream by on Grant Avenue. Many never look up at the brick church on the corner. Old St. Mary's is a California Historical Landmark, and it has stood on this corner since 1854.
The first cathedral in California
The cornerstone was laid on July 17, 1853. At its dedication at Christmas Midnight Mass in 1854, it became the first cathedral of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. California's Office of Historic Preservation calls it the first building erected as a cathedral in California. It served as the cathedral from 1854 to 1891.
The state says it was built of brick brought "around the Horn" in sailing ships, and that much of its stonework was quarried and cut in China. Wikipedia says it was built by Chinese laborers in the Gothic Revival style, and when it opened it was the tallest building in San Francisco. The state's landmark description calls it, in its day, "the city's most prominent building."
The warning on the clock
Look under the clock face and you'll see: "Son, observe the time and fly from evil." The words, from Ecclesiasticus, were aimed at men visiting the brothels that surrounded the church in the 1850s.
Earthquake, fire and rebuilding
Old St. Mary's survived the shaking of 1906 but was gutted by the fires that followed a day later. The heat melted the church bells and the marble altar, leaving only the exterior brick walls and the bell tower. The restoration was completed in 1909.
In 1891 the archdiocese moved its cathedral to a larger church on Van Ness Avenue, and Old St. Mary's became a parish church. The Paulist Fathers have served it since 1901. It was made a Designated San Francisco Landmark in 1968, and it remains an active parish serving Chinatown and Nob Hill.
One more bit of trivia
Emperor Norton, San Francisco's self-proclaimed emperor, collapsed in 1880 at the corner across the street, at California and what was then Dupont Street, on his way to a lecture. Dupont was later renamed Grant Avenue.