St. Joseph's Hospital was founded at this location in 1889 by a charitable donation to the Catholic Church.

St. Joseph's was known as the working man's hospital. The hospital accepted patients without regard to religion or nationality, the Franciscan Sisters always providing nursing and administration. For many years the hospital was also a home for the aged. Not only did the Sisters care for some patients on a charity basis, they kept general rates low by donating their nursing services.

The present building opened in 1928. It closed in 1979 because of structural seismic deficiencies and government cost containment efforts to reduce the number of excess hospital beds in San Francisco.

St. Joseph's Hospital was one of the last major works by the architectural firm of Bakewell & Brown.

The building is a tastefully proportioned monumental Spanish Renaissance Revival complex, visually significant on the San Francisco cityscape from many different vantage points. The institution contributed significantly to the city's health care for 90 years.

Source: NRHP nomination submitted in 1985.

Located between The Castro and The Haight-Ashbury, the former St. Joseph's Hospital was converted to condominiums many years ago.