(03-22) 04:00 PST San Francisco -- The creaky black Victorian on California Street looks like hell, which may be appropriate, since it served so long as the devil's workshop.
But there is nothing particularly sinister about the future proposal for the building that once housed San Francisco's sordid Church of Satan in the Richmond District. The developer who has owned the structure since 1993 simply wants to tear it down.
"The place is in such a state of disrepair that there's no hope for it," said Todd Werby, an official with the Cass-Bagley Corp., which recently filed plans to demolish the infamous four-story structure. "It might be a great place for a Halloween party, but it's so structurally unsound now I don't think that's a good idea.
"I don't necessarily want to be the one to drive a stake through the heart of the temple, but if that's the way it has to be, then I guess I can live with that."
You won't find the neighbors near the house at 6114 California St. performing night-time rituals to save the former residence of Satan follower and media cultivator Anton LeVay. The place has been an eyesore for the better part of a decade and has been empty since shortly after LeVay died of heart disease four years ago, in, of all places, St. Mary's Hospital.
The windows are boarded, the black paint is peeling and even the cyclone fence in front with the barbed wire on top is rusting. It still attracts an occasional gaggle of gothic freaks, but for the most part, LeVay's celebrated dark sanctuary is a dusty relic in San Francisco's museum of eccentric history.
The Black Pope, as LeVay liked to be called, was a self-proclaimed sorcerer with a devilish penchant for marketing. While the nation's media, led by the San Francisco papers, regularly descended upon the 1905 Victorian to pen the latest weird act to emanate from LeVay's bizarre chambers, his great contribution -- if that's the correct term -- to counterculture was a 1969 manifesto called the "Satanic Bible," which his followers and publicists claimed sold more than 1 million copies.
But LeVay knew the devil was in the details, and he went out of his way to paint a dark portrait of the many rituals he and his fellow devil worshipers engaged in: a satanic baptism for his daughter Schreck which featured a naked 30-year-old priestess draped over an altar; a satanic wedding, involving a few friends, where the bride naturally wore black; and the startling presence of Togare, LeVay's 700-pound Nubian lion, who was regularly featured in Herb Caen's column until the neighbors' roars grew too loud and animal control officials forced LeVay to give it to the zoo.
LeVay's ability to attract a dark-hearted crowd did not result in great financial success and in 1991, a San Francisco judge ordered him to sell his gothic manse, which LeVay did, to Werby's father, an old friend. He was allowed to live there until his death, and a campaign by his former mistress to raise money to keep the Church of Satan from going under, went nowhere.
Ultimately his satanic business, as one might expect, came to an unfortunate end.
Following his death in 1997, his heirs, including his two oldest daughters and his common-law wife, found themselves in a court battle over his estate, including royalties from his satanic verses, which included such occult section favorites as "The Devil's Notebook," "The Complete Witch" and "Satan Takes a Holiday."
A probate judge later split his belongings among his family members, including such items as a bed of nails, a skull, a coffin, a Vampire Boy painting, and an autographed Marilyn Monroe calendar -- one of several starlets LeVay claimed to have seduced.
Whether LeVay was evil incarnate or just P.T. Barnum in a black cape is of no mind to Werby, who once said the market for a rundown, neglected, black Victorian formerly occupied by a satanic cult was not quite as heavenly as you might expect. "So we never put it on the market," he said. Even though some people might consider it a hot property.
Instead of a last dance for the devil, the developer is planning to knock the former church down and turn it into a three-unit residential building. The demolition and construction permit is just beginning to slither its way through the planning process, which is expected to take several months.
So at this point, no one knows when the end will come. Only that it will involve backhoes and sledgehammers, not fire and brimstone.
LeVay's former live-in mate once called the church a priceless piece of satanic history, claiming that its roots "went all the way to hell." But, in fact, it only extended to the assessor's office, which listed the last sale price of the dilapidated Victorian at $240,000.
That wouldn't get you a two-bedroom condo in Hades now, and certainly not in a nice neighborhood of San Francisco. For that you need a lot more than religion.
You can reach Ken Garcia at (415) 777-7152 or e-mail him at kgarcia@sfchronicle.com.
This article appeared on page A - 15 of the San Francisco Chronicle
For decades, the Victorian seen in the far left photo was a San Francisco landmark known as the Black House. It was home to Church of Satan founder Dr. Anton LaVey from 1967 until his death in 1997. After falling into disrepair, the Black House was sadly demolished in 2001. The current owners of the property built three cheesy condominiums in its place that are just now up for sale. My friend Greg Long snapped this photo of the new development last weekend. I hope that a rich Satanist buys the condos and paints them black as a memorial. Here's what the Church of Satan said about the Black House in 1998 during their efforts to save the place:
Originally built in the 1880's, it survived the devastating 1906 fire and earthquake. It's been a speakeasy, a "spook parlour" and, when Dr. LaVey bought it in 1956, it was owned by one of Mammie Pleasant's girls, one of the most notorious madams in San Francisco. Dr. LaVey made it world-famous when he performed history's first Satanic wedding and baptism here; his 500-pound lion, Togare, was raised here. Dr. LaVey was forced to sell the house several years ago because of a relentless civil suit. That fight almost killed him, but this house meant a great deal to him. He said it was part of his own personality - that its roots went all the way to Hell.
Link to the 1998 letter from Church of Satan, Link to a 1998 San Francisco Chronicle article on the house.
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