Submitted by Kristi Wachter on
Fernando Nelson was the most prolific builder in San Francisco. He built more than 4,000 homes, from the Mission District to West Portal.
Fernando Nelson was born in New York on February 4, 1860; he was named for the mayor of New York, Fernando Wood. His mother was German and his father was Danish.
He came to San Francisco at 15 and began working as a carpenter. He began his career as a builder at 22, erecting a home at Church and 30th.
Nelson was not a formally trained architect. He was an owner-builder - he bought land, built homes on it, and sold them to homeowners. When he started out, his customers were price-concious, and he built low-cost homes. As his business grew, he began to build more elegant and expensive homes.
After building numerous Victorians in the Mission, he began expanding to other parts of the city - first the Richmond, including his exclusive development at Presidio Terrace, and then the Sunset and West Portal areas.
He brought his sons, Frank, George, and Joseph, into the business, Fernando Nelson & Sons. He also had a daughter, Adelia.
Nelson was an early auto enthusiast. He had the first automobile in San Francisco, custom built for him in 1900. In 1906, he set a record for driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 18 hours and 13 minutes.
Nelson died on November 20, 1953, in San Francisco.