It was built in 1866 by Anson Parsons Hotaling to originally be a hotel . However , Hotaling later moved to the whiskey business . It was also one of the few surviving buildings after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire , thanks to a mile long fire hose that stretched through Fisherman 's Wharf and Telegraph Hill . Because of the saving of the building , Charles Field once stated famously , " If , as they say , God spanked the town for being over-frisky , why did He burn His churches down and spare Hotaling 's whiskey ? " After the earthquake and fire , the Hotaling business started to decline . However the building was revived in 1952 when Dorothy Kneedler Lawenda and Harry Lawenda of Kneedler-Fauchere purchased it and made it a center for their wholesale interior decorative design elements firm . The name Jackson Square was adopted , many buildings were renovated and the street became the interior design center for San Francisco for decades
1906 Earthquake and Fire
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Hotaling Building