Community Partner Network

The Community Partner Network was comprised of fellow neighborhood group members whose organizations were harmed by the actions of the San Francisco Parks Alliance.  Here are the principal members with Board of Supervisors Board President Rafael Mandelman as they are recognized at the Board of Supervisors meeting of January 7, 2026. We are most grateful for their work in obtaining our lost funds. Their work is now complete. The group moves forward as the San Francisco Public Space Collective.

Launching the SF Public Space Collective

The SF Public Space Collective (SFPSC) is an organization dedicated to San Francisco’s public spaces, which are stewarded by dedicated community groups.  Their efforts are diverse—from large parks and playgrounds, to small parklets and stairways, to cross-town trails for hikers—most of the groups are powered by volunteers who want to support their neighborhoods. 

The SFPSC now has an interim steering committee with a draft governance structure, mission and vision statements and is building its own 501(c)(3). The work is premised on community based decision making, knowledge sharing, accountable governance, and transparent accounting—an outgrowth of the San Francisco Parks Alliance experience. If you want to learn more, reach out to Ildiko Polony (second from the right in the above photograph) at [email protected]. 

Fire at Ord & Corbett Park

At the first of the year, a fire was set to clothing, possibly left for those less fortunate.  Please refrain from leaving clothing and food at the park as there are other avenues to donate.  There is a risk to leaving discarded objects as you can see from the photograph below. CHN repaired the charred portion of the bench, repainted both benches and replaced gravel—many volunteer hours and $200 in materials.  

Thanks to Casey Rando for the cleanup, Ted Teipel for the bench repair, and Leslie Koelsch and Joey Accordino for painting.                                 

A Historical Deep Dive on Block 2655 

(Corner of Clayton and 17^th and 17^th and Uranus only) 

Meet Your Turn of the 20th Century Neighbors—A Winchester Mystery House in Corbett Heights?

The story below begins with the development of the buildings you see in the above photographs of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.   To read about the earlier history and development of Corbett Heights, we refer to you the 2017 Corbett Heights Neighbors Context Statement.

1200 Clayton and Its Construction

A Georgian style house shown in the photographs above (1916, 1920, 1921, and 1923) stood at the corner of 17^th and Clayton (1200 Clayton Street—the address was 1200 Ashbury prior to 1909).  The San Francisco Chronicle of February 1, 1906, two months before the earthquake and fire in April, reported that Emma M. Stoddart, owner, was to build a two story residence with A. W. Evans as contractor at the cost of $4,250. 

On December 22, 1909, Emma Stoddart applied for another permit to construct a three story, five family building at the cost of $8,500.  Since Emma and her husband, Dr. Archibald Chalmers Stoddard,  are listed in the 1907 city directories as residing at 1200 Ashbury in 1907, most likely a house was built in 1906, but redesigned, enlarged or built anew in 1909. The permit of 1909 below fits the description—three story, five family building—in the photographs. The 1909 building was designed by the prominent architectural firm of Rainey and Phillips and was to be 28 feet wide and 100 feet deep and 37 feet high (approximately 8400 square feet).   It covered five to six of the eleven lots on the 17^th Street side. A few permits followed in later years to enlarge the residence by adding rooms, baths, and stairs  (1920), a garage (1925), storage rooms (1928), and a porch (1930). 

Emma Meroney Lee Stoddart

Emma Meroney Lee Stoddart (1852-1938) was the wife of Scottish immigrant Dr. Archibald Chalmers Stoddart (1847-1910). Dr. Stoddart was the head of the Liebig Chemical Company at 974 Market Street, which was known for treating certain ailments. The Stoddarts resided at the property at 1200 Clayton Street until their deaths (Dr. A. C. Stoddard, 1910; Emma M. Stoddart Schneider, 1938.) 

Mostly likely Emma Meroney Lee met her second husband, Archibald Chalmers Stoddard, through her first husband, Dr. Benjamin Brooks Lee, who worked for Dr. Stoddart’s dispensary at Geary and Mason. Dr. Lee and Emma married in South Carolina in 1883 and soon after left for San Francisco. Emma filed for divorce in 1887. Dr. Lee was an 1880 graduate of the Medical College of the State of South Carolina.  He was frequently in trouble with the law and his alias was “Tug” Allen.  In 1896, he was found to have been trying to redeem stolen bonds.  He practiced medicine without a California license eventually receiving one in 1900, which was revoked in 1908 for attempting to sell prohibited medicine out of state through the mail.   He was convicted of manslaughter in 1908 for striking a detective in the eye with the tip of his umbrella, causing the detective’s subsequent death.  He was sentenced to five years at San Quentin. And much more…and now back to 1200 Clayton.

Dr. Archibald Chalmers Stoddart

Dr. Stoddart immigrated to Canada from Scotland in 1868 at the age of 21.  The Ontario, Canada Census Index of 1871 lists his profession as chemist/druggist. (His family was known for a large drug store business in Buffalo, NY, which claimed that they created the ice cream treat, the Ice Cream Sundae.) He was found to be practicing medicine without a license early in career in San Francisco, but seemed to be successful in his appeals, which were won on technicalities. He claimed he was a graduate in classics from the University of Toronto and in surgery from the Royal College or Surgeons, Edinburgh, Scotland. Another case against him was brought by fellow members of the Eclectic Medical Association, San Francisco, who tried unsuccessfully to remove his license due unprofessional behavior. (One of those members of the association was the infamous Dr. J. Malcom Bowers whose trial for murder can be read here.) 

We did not find any record of the degrees from the University of Toronto or the Royal College of Surgeons (a brother did have those credentials), but he was a graduate of Bennett Medical College, Chicago, Illinois receiving his diploma in 1875 and a certificate in 1876 (California, U.S. Occupational Licenses, Registers, and Directories, 1876-1969). Bennett Medical College of Eclectic Medicine and Surgery was chartered in Illinois in 1868 and opened with two rooms and nineteen students.  The college operated under the principals of eclectic medicine, which emphasized individual judgment in medical matters.  Its intent was to produce practitioners rather than purely scientific doctors.  By 1875, one had to complete two courses of six-month lectures and pass an exam.  In 1910, the college was criticized for having nominal entrance requirements, poor facilities, and inadequate clinical training. In response to subsequent pressure by the American Medical Association, the college became part of Loyola University in 1910. 

Regardless, Dr. Stoddart was known to have mesmerized his audiences in numerous public speaking engagements. He was quite successful evidently and accumulated much wealth (purportedly by not paying creditors) through his practice and purchases of real estate in San Francisco and other cities throughout the country. 

On October 25, 1905, before Emma began construction of the house on Clayton, an indenture was made between the Anglo California Bank, Ltd., San Francisco and Emma M. in consideration of ten dollars ($10) in gold coin granting forever the property described as lots eight (8), nine (9), ten (10), eleven (11), twelve (12), and fifteen (15) in Block F on the map entitled Park Lane Tract no. 4., a map recorded March 27, 1890. 

(Adolph Sutro transferred to W B. Storey, Jr., Superintendent of the San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railway Company, Lots 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 16, 19, 23, and 29 (San Francisco Examiner, April 17, 1890); many of the lots resold, several to Emma M. Stoddart.) 

Two Wives and Creditors Claim the Property

After Dr. Stoddart’s death in 1910, lawsuits and counter suits followed for many years. Two wives, both named Emma, and numerous creditors fought over the assets.  The first wife,  Emma Alice Cruttenden (Emma A.) married Dr. Stoddart in 1870 in Ontario, Canada. Emma A. claimed he abandoned her in 1896 . He then married Emma Meroney Lee (Emma M.), wife number two, in 1896 in Mountain Home, Idaho.  Emma M.’s father was William A. Meroney who had a mercantile business and ran the Meroney Hotel in Orangeburg, South Carolina; later, he was the postmaster and sheriff in Mocksville, North Carolina. 

Emma A., the first wife, said she and Dr. Stoddart never divorced, that he died intestate and that he evidently committed bigamy by marrying wife number two, Emma M.   She claimed that since she was never divorced from Dr. Stoddart, she had a right to his estate, and that Dr. Stoddart hid a great deal of property from his creditors and conveyed much of it to his second wife.  Emma A. held that the doctor’s estate was valued at $150,000 to $250,000 ($5.1 to $8.5 million in today’s dollars). 

The second wife, Emma M. held that Dr. Stoddart was legally divorced from his first wife in Salt Lake City in 1894 (an alternate claim by her sister was that they divorced in Boise, Idaho in 1894) and legally married to her, and that a will was written in 1900 leaving her all his property. 

Dr. Stoddart’s Will

Wife number two never filed the will of 1900 after her husband’s death as she believed it was not worthwhile to go through a lot of expense when there no estate.  Emma M. claimed in 1910 at trial that the doctor had nothing at all at the time of his death and that the property she now has was her separate property. 

The will was dated September 30, 1910, but not probated until January 13, 1925 (San Francisco Superior Court, No. 10359, Register Vol. 21, p. 359) with Emma M. as executrix. Emma M. swore in court on January 12, 1925 that the value of her husband’s effects did not total more than $100.00. 

First Wife Files Suit

Emma A., the first wife, filed suit on October 10, 1910 to set aside the deeds Stoddart conveyed to Emma M., in trust for himself, with the sole aim of preventing his creditors from seizing the realty.  The transfers she claimed were therefore fraudulent, and not made in good faith. Emma A. states that that they should be annulled.  The realty in question consisted of lots at Uranus and 17^th Street and Clayton and 17^th Streets (as well as several others within the city). On September 30, 1910, Emma A., was appointed executrix of her husband’s estate (possibly because the second wife could not find proof of divorce) in order to enable her to investigate the matter with a view of having the assignment to Emma M. set aside.  Emma A. told the court that Dr Stoddart had attempted to be adjudged bankrupt in 1901 but the discovery of his property holdings prevented it.  The estate is said to have had $40,000 in debts. Emma A. gave a deed to their home at the southeast corner of Geary and Gough Streets to her husband in 1883 for the purpose of avoiding probate proceedings if she should die first; she said he would not record it until her death. However, the 1900 will gave the Geary and Gough property to the second wife should the first wife not survive. In 1901 the first wife filed a lawsuit regarding the property at Geary and Gough Streets and in 1905, she was awarded a judgement for full ownership during her lifetime. After her death, the Geary and Gough property was to revert to the benefit of creditors. The property was no longer in her name in 1916 and her marital status is listed as “single.”  

Divorce or Bigamy

While the second wife stated Dr. Stoddart divorced in first wife in Salt Lake City, no record evidently was found at the time. Emma A., the first wife, maintained in court that she was never served divorce papers.  We found that Dr. Stoddard filed for divorce in Box Elder County, Utah on July 1, 1876, twenty years before the first wife claimed desertion. He testified that the couple had not lived together four months prior to the divorce filing July 1, 1876 and that his wife was living in Beloit, Wisconsin.  (Beloit is 100 miles from Chicago where he had completed his degree at Bennett College.) The court mailed the required notice to her in Beloit.  We do not know if it was received, but believe the divorce could have been granted by default with a default certificate being issued as it was allowed at the time under Utah law. 

As reported in the San Francisco Call Bulletin of February 10, 1911, Emma A., the first wife took the witness stand and made claim to the Dr. Stoddart’s estate on the grounds that she had never been divorced and she was his rightful widow.  She also testified that Dr. Stoddard and she lived together until 1895 when he left her and married the second wife in 1896.  Emma A. was given a week to convince the court of her claims. The court would then consider setting aside the Utah divorce degree of 1876 if Emma A. could provide sufficient proof to the judge that she lived with Stoddart from the time of their marriage until 1895 in spite of a purported divorce.  If so, he would declare the Utah divorce void and the first wife would be able to secure that portion of her husband’s estate, which was left to the second wife.  Prior to his death, Stoddart deeded to his second wife, about $200,000 worth of property, constituting the bulk of his estate. (We were unable to find a report whether the proof the judge required was provided.) 

Trustee’s Sale of 1920 and Emma M.’s Third Husband

In 1920, there was a Notice of Trustee’s sale (The Recorder, February 26, 1920, p. 8).  Emma Meroney Lee Stoddart Schneider, the second wife, now married to a George Ewald Schneider (1882-1923), an immigrant from Metz, Alsace-Lorraine, her third husband, who worked as a salesman, a mechanical inventor, and brew master, was to surrender several properties to debtors (Ralph McLeran and Carl J. Peterson), which included 1200 Clayton Street.  On March 25, 1920, 1200 Clayton (along with several other properties) were to be sold at the Humboldt Bank building at 780 Market Street.  The Schneiders were in default of payment of principal and interest due for a deed of trust on the properties entered into in 1916 with McLeran and Peterson. (Perhaps her husband’s many inventions were not successful.)  Yet, she and her husband, George Schneider, remained living at 1200 Clayton until their deaths.  Emma and George Schneider were likely the successful bidders on the properties.  The property was in the name of Emma M. Stoddard from when it was built in 1909 until her death in 1938. The estate of Emma M. Stoddart Schneider sold 1200 Clayton to Charles H. Baldwin, architect, on June 5, 1939. 

Rest in Peace

When Dr. Stoddart’s body was brought to the city and embalmed after his death in 1910,  Emma M. kept the remains in the mansion at 1200 Clayton for more than a month. She was the only occupant of 1200 Clayton at this time. Relatives urged her to have the interment take place, but she “wanted to keep him with her as long as possible.” The Internment did finally occur. His second wife, Emma M. (d. 1938) and Emma’s third husband, George E. Schneider (d. 1923) and a few of her relatives are all buried in Section F, lot 364 at Cypress Lawn along with Dr. Stoddart.  Only Dr. Stoddart has a headstone. Evidently, Emma M. still wanted to keep Dr. Stoddart with her as long as possible.  The first wife, Emma A. returned to her hometown in Ontario, Canada where she met and married Dr. Stoddart in 1870 and died there in 1937. 

The Georgian Apartments and Demolition

After Dr. Stoddart’s death in 1910, the residence eventually became the Georgian Apartments (perhaps as Emma no longer had income due to her husband’s early death).  Emma advertised in The San Francisco Examiner in 1916 for male help with plumbing, carpentry, and painting in exchange for free store rooms or an apartment. It appears that the building at 1200 Clayton expanded considerably as shown in the photographs from 1916 to 1923 in order to accommodate numerous residents (twenty-five rooms).   The 1920 Federal census records seventeen (17) residents; the 1930 Federal census lists her as head of the household and the value of her property at $60,000 with thirty-seven (37) individuals, some of whom were relatives of Emma M.   In 1938, the Schneiders were owners with a mortgage of $18,622.53 owed to Crocker National Bank.  The 1940 census, after Emma’s death two years prior, recorded forty (40) tenants, which included her long time apartment manager. The building was sold in June 1939 to Charles Hobart Baldwin. The building no longer appears in the 1950 Sanborn fire maps and was demolished before 1950. Shell Oil applied for a permit to build a gas station in October 1950. Emma M.’s assets at probate of April 19, 1938 were $48,285 (about $1.1 million dollars today) and her debts were $21,565. Emma M. left some specific properties to relatives (e.g., the Olive and Polk Street property to her brother’s widow and son; the Bush and Fillmore property to a nephew).  The balance of her estate, including 1200 Clayton, was left to nephews, nieces, sisters-in-law, and grandnephews.   

Conclusion

Given that Emma M. was paying creditors with judgments against her and selling property in San Francisco, and in many other states as well, years after Dr. Stoddard’s death, suggests that she successfully inherited the bulk of the estate.  A properly prepared last will and testament would ordinarily control the disposition of the estate even under circumstances where there could be a question about the spouse, as appears to be the case here.   In addition to the transfer of the Clayton Street property for a nominal sum, we found several others transfers of this type, including a transfer from Dr. Stoddart to Emma M. Lee before their marriage in 1896. The trail of property transfers, litigation, creditors, judgments, etc., is endless. 

We are unclear how California community property laws (est. 1850) and the transfer of property in an effort to avoid creditors if that is the case, would have applied here. (California did not have a specific Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (UTFA) during this period.  The modern UTFA was proposed much later (1918) and adopted by California in 1929, but the core concept of voiding transfers to cheat creditors existed under general statutes and common law making transfers to hinder or delay creditors voidable.) If the reader can provide some clarification, please let us know by emailing us at [email protected].

The Baldwin Years

Following the Stoddart ownership, the entire south side of 17^th Street between Uranus Terrace and Clayton, consisting of eleven lots (340 feet frontage on 17^th Street) was next owned by Charles Hobart Baldwin (1897-1943).  At the time of Charles H. Baldwin’s death, he was residing at the Fairmont Hotel. The lots were purchased by Baldwin in 1939 after Emma’s death (1938) for $20,250.  In 1939 he applied for a permit to do some repairs to 1200 Clayton.  

Charles H. Baldwin was in charge of his mother’s interests in Virginia City, Nevada, which were inherited from the Hobart family. (Walter Scott Hobart organized the Sierra Nevada Wood and Lumber Company, which played a significant role in supplying lumber and cordwood to the Comstock mines during the late 19th century.) After his death in 1943, the records of 1945 show that the lots became the property of his mother, Virginia A. H. Baldwin (1873-1958). 

Virginia A. Hobart and Charles Adolphe Baldwin married in 1896. Charles Adolphe Baldwin was born in 1861 in San Francisco and died at his gilded age mansion, the Claremont, in Colorado Springs in 1934. They couple lived six months a year in Colorado and six months a year at the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco. In 1949, Virginia Baldwin, Charles’ widow, married Georgian Prince Zourab Tchkotoua (1897-1991), twenty years her junior.  The Tchkotouas lived at 2104 Broadway. 

In 1958, Mille Robbins, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, told more tales of Prince and Princess Tchkotoua and her son. Charles H. Baldwin married in 1935 and moved to Nevada and was divorced a year later.   “From there on, though, the history of young Charles becomes almost complete shrouded.  A few acquaintances with lengthy memories will tell you that his career was anything but successful and that he died in this city under unsavory circumstances….Prince Tchkotoua, an expatriated Georgian of the Russian variety, had come to San Francisco in the late ‘30s and managed to make a not overly prosperous living as a painter and wine salesman.  Tall, suave and courtly with plenty of leisure, be became a popular extra man for older unattached women.”  (Millie Robbins, San Francisco Chronicle, August 26, 1958, page 28.) 

Art Hoppe writing in 1959, wrote about the sale at auction of Virginia’s jewels at the Lakeshore Auction Gallery, Oakland, May 4, 1959.  One of the items for sale was a prep school gold scholarship metal made by Tiffany’s in 1916 and awarded to Charles H. Baldwin for excellence in Greek. Regarding his disappearance, Hoppe writes, “He then disappeared from polite society and died mysteriously one day—some say in a Skid Row hotel—while still a young man.” (Art Hoppe, San Francisco Chronicle, May 4, 1959, p. 3).  

Charles’s death certificate, however, indicates the place of death as the Fairmont Hotel and according to the funeral home records he died in room 391 (not a Skid Row hotel).  The cause of death is listed as Lobar Pneumonia of three days duration by Dr. Kennan of the Clift Hotel—no hospitalization or autopsy. Princess Tchkotoua’s relatives and a couple of servants inherited her estate; a great-niece, Mary Ann Hobart Gibbons of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, inherited the bulk of her estate.  

1940s and 1950s Demolition and Development

In the 1946 San Francisco Block Book, the lots in question of Block 2655, now number thirteen—Lots 1 (corner of Uranus), 33-41 (facing 17^th)), 30-31 (facing Clayton), and 32 (corner of Clayton and 17^th) continued to be the property of Virginia A. H. Baldwin.  Evidently, the property was sold sometime between 1946 when Virginia is listed as owner and 1958 (her death) when there is an application to change the zoning. The 1948 application to change these lots from a residential district to commercial one was disapproved; two years later, 1950, the commercial district (R-3 in in 1960; RM-1 in 1980) was approved allowing the Shell gas station (lots 31, 32, 33, and 34). In 1952 the thirteen lots were merged into two. Roy Nichols’s gas station was built in 1953 and remained in service until 1985. 

1950s and the Bel Rae Apartments

The Bel Rae Terrace apartments at 1222 Clayton and 4521 17^th Streets on lot 42 were first advertised for rent starting at $135 a month in September 1958. The units were described as “romantic, delightful, and thrilling” with thirty apartments, thirty parking spaces and a penthouse with a 33 foot living room.  Close to 10,000 yards of rock, with cuts made up to 20 feet, had to be moved from the site to prepare for construction of the building, which is in three sections.  It was designed by John Baumann (1920-1916). Ray Finegan was the builder of this $500,000 apartment house. 

Roy’s Shell Gas Station and the 1985 Condominiums

Thirteen lots (condominiums) at 1200 Clayton replaced Roy’s Shell gas station in 1985.  The condos originally were offered at $124,000 to $137,000.  These condominiums are on lot 31 (1958), but now each unit has its own lot number. 

1230 Clayton

The house at 1230 Clayton, circa 1890, was advertised for sale in 1951 and remained on the market for over four years;  in 1956, the house was rented for $100 a month and most likely demolished between 1957 and 1959. The current building was built in 1959. 

Note: The grandson of a former owner of the New Terrace Market at 17^th and Uranus claimed the apartment building at 4521 17^th Street was built by his family, the Ryans. It was reported as such in the story of market in the Neighborhood Newsletter (June 2024).  It was not correct.  The Ryans owned the land and probably built the apartment building at Mars and 17^th, not Uranus and 17^th.

Richie’s Picks Will Return Next Month