The Stoneson brothers, Henry and Ellis, were San Francisco merchant builders. Their work runs from a 1920s tract of Mediterranean Revival houses south of the Mission District to the Lakeside District and the Stonestown apartments and shopping center on the city's southwest side. The San Francisco Planning Department's historic context statement on Sunset District residential builders, dated April 3, 2013, lists the Stoneson Brothers among the master builders it identifies, with Henry Doelger and others.
A note on scope: the records mostly describe work from before the mid-century modern era. The city calls the brothers' houses traditional and Period Revival designs of the 1920s through the 1940s, and their postwar Stonestown project was rental apartments and a shopping center. So this guide doesn't call any Stoneson house "mid-century modern." It sticks to San Francisco's planning records, plus a few secondary accounts we flag as such.
Who the Stoneson brothers were
According to the Sunset District Residential Builders, 1925-1950 Historic Context Statement, Ellis was born in 1893 and Henry in 1895. The brothers worked as carpenters in their teens and spent their early twenties as construction foremen for contractors in Alaska, British Columbia and Washington.
Arrival. The statement says they moved to San Francisco in 1922 and took odd jobs, mostly home repairs and alterations. A neighborhood history group gives 1920.
First house. By 1928, the statement says, they had partnered with Fred Thorinson, a friend from Washington, borrowed for materials, and built and sold their first house. The same document places the firm's earliest tract in the "mid-1920s" and has both brothers living in it from 1927, so the start date isn't settled.
Firm names. The early firm was Stoneson Brothers & Thorinson, and the statement says Thorinson left at some point after 1936. Later records use both "Stoneson Development Corporation" and "Stoneson Development Company." The statement's builder table lists the firm as active from the 1920s to the 1950s.
St. Mary's Park and the western San Francisco tracts
In the mid-1920s, Stoneson Brothers & Thorinson bought a large plot of vacant land in what is now the St. Mary's Park neighborhood, just south of the Mission District between Alemany Boulevard and Crescent Avenue. There they built a tract of single-family houses in several versions of the Mediterranean Revival style, and both brothers lived in the tract, on Murray Street.
Through the 1930s and 1940s the firm built smaller single-family tracts across western San Francisco, mostly around Lake Merced and in the Sunset District. The statement says the brothers "typically designed houses in traditional and Period-Revival styles." The exception was their sales office at 1 Sloat Boulevard, which the statement, citing the city's 2010 context statement on modern architecture, describes as a fully expressed Streamline Moderne building.
The survey area the statement covers takes in parts of the Middle and Outer Sunset and the Parkside, about 2,800 buildings in all, and the statement says the survey area includes buildings by the Stoneson Brothers. One of its photos shows a 1937 Stoneson house on 32nd Avenue.
Lakeside: the late-1930s tract
By 1937, the statement says, the firm had bought "a large swath of agricultural land" in southwestern San Francisco, subdivided it and built a large tract in what is now the Lakeside District, at a reported rate of one house a day. Both brothers later lived on the same Lakeside block, on Stonecrest. In a footnote on neighborhoods next to the Sunset, the statement pairs Lakeside with "uniform picket fences or specific tree species."
Secondary accounts add detail that the city's statement doesn't give:
Years and layout. The neighborhood history group dates Lakeside to 1936 through 1950, including the Lakeside Village shopping strip (the city's statement says only that the firm had bought the land by 1937), and places it south of Sloat Boulevard, between Junipero Serra Boulevard and 19th Avenue. It puts the sales office at 1 Sloat on the corner of Junipero Serra.
Sales pitch. The same account quotes period advertising for white picket fences and for "the modern idea of placing all public utilities underground."
Architect. The same group says architect Harold G. Stoner designed many of the early Lakeside homes, and a published profile of Stoner says he worked with the Stoneson Brothers on one- and two-story houses in Lakeside Park before World War II.
No source we read gives a house count for Lakeside. Don't confuse Stoner the architect with the Stonesons.
The war years and the homebuilders' groups
The statement says the brothers won government contracts for housing during World War II, but their business slowed because the war put a hold on non-essential building.
Ellis served two terms as president of the Associated Home Builders of San Francisco between 1942 and 1944, and the statement says he was a founding member and director of the National Association of Home Builders. He was often called to Washington, D.C., to help plan emergency wartime housing.
After the war, demand for veteran housing pushed the firm's building sharply upward. Citing a 1956 newspaper report, the statement says the Stonesons built tracts in cities across the Bay Area, "notably in San Bruno, San Mateo, Millbrae, Hayward, and Daly City."
Stonestown, 1948-1952
The statement calls Stonestown the brothers' "most ambitious project to date": a planned neighborhood and shopping center just outside the Sunset District, promoted as a "City Within A City." Two Planning Department documents describe it a little differently:
The 2013 context statement: a 110-acre site, with 42 acres for commercial uses and 68 acres for two-story townhouses and high-density apartment towers in a park-like setting; architect Angus McSweeney; built to house an estimated 3,000 to 3,500 renters; opened in 1952 with 783 apartment units and a major shopping center.
A 2022 Planning Department historic resource evaluation response for a building at the shopping center: in 1948 the Stoneson Development Company chose a 65-acre tract west of 19th Avenue for a shopping center, four 10-story apartment buildings and 10 three-story garden apartments. The residential part began construction in 1948 to McSweeney's design. The shopping center, set on 40 acres, began in 1950 to a design by Los Angeles architect Welton Becket and opened in 1952.
The acreage and low-rise building type differ; we haven't found a record that settles it. The 2022 review adds that the Stonestown Medical and Dental Center opened in 1953 in what it calls the Midcentury style, and that the main shopping center was remodeled into the enclosed Stonestown Galleria in the 1980s. Remnants of the original design remain, particularly near 20th Avenue and Buckingham Way, it says, but only a few buildings, including the medical and dental center, retain high integrity. The 1970 theater that review studied was designed by George K. Raad, after both brothers had died.
Ellis died in 1952, a few weeks before Stonestown opened, and Henry kept building until his death in 1958. Citing a 1952 newspaper obituary, the statement credits the brothers with close to 15,000 houses and apartment units in San Francisco and about 10,000 more elsewhere in the Bay Area. A published history's total matches that combined figure.
Millbrae Meadows and the Peninsula tracts
A local historical society says the Stoneson company bought the land that became Millbrae Meadows and developed it. The society's list of Millbrae neighborhoods names no builder, and no official record we found ties the Stonesons to Millbrae Meadows. San Francisco Planning names Millbrae only as one of the cities where they built.
No source we read describes the Millbrae Meadows house plans or names an architect, and none names specific Stoneson tracts in San Bruno, San Mateo, Hayward or Daly City.
Owning or buying a Stoneson-era house
Confirm the builder. "Near Stonestown" describes a place, not a builder. Check the original permit and tract map; other builders worked nearby.
Ask about historic review in San Francisco. Master-builder status can support historic significance, but the statement says not every tract by a master builder qualifies. Ask the Planning Department how your house is classified before exterior changes; its review forms use categories such as "Age Eligible/Historic Status Unknown."
Pull the permit history. Houses of this age have often been altered. Our guide on checking permit history walks through it.
Plan for the age of the house. Expect older wiring, plumbing and foundations, and have a licensed inspector look before you commit.
This isn't legal advice; check your parcel's rules with the city. For more on the city's housing, see our San Francisco mid-century homes page.
Frequently asked questions
Who were the Stoneson brothers?
Henry (1895-1958) and Ellis (1893-1952) Stoneson were San Francisco merchant builders. They began building in San Francisco in the 1920s with partner Fred Thorinson, and the city's 2013 context statement lists them among the master builders it identifies.
Are Stoneson houses mid-century modern?
Not by the records we read. San Francisco Planning describes their houses as traditional and Period Revival designs, with the Streamline Moderne sales office as the exception. No source we read describes the design of their postwar Peninsula houses.
Is a house near Stonestown a Stoneson house?
Not necessarily. Stonestown was the brothers' 1952 apartment and shopping development, and the name now refers to the area and the mall. Lakeside, their late-1930s house tract, is nearby, but check the records for any single house.
Did the Stonesons build outside San Francisco?
Yes. Citing a 1956 newspaper report, San Francisco Planning says they built postwar tracts in San Bruno, San Mateo, Millbrae, Hayward and Daly City. A local historical society says the company developed Millbrae Meadows, but no official record we found confirms it.
Related reading
Bohannon Homes: David D. Bohannon's Hillsdale and South Bay Tracts
Diamond Heights Eichler History: Claude Oakland's Hillside Homes
Oliver and Arthur Rousseau: Builders of the Sunset's Boulevard Tract
More guides on this topic: Mid-Century Modern Architects & Builders
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Looking at a Lakeside or Sunset house and want help sorting out who built it? Call or text the Boyenga Team at Compass at (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606, or contact the Boyenga Team online.
