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Guide to the James Leary Flood and Maud Lee Flood Residence Blueprints collection
USDSC_2019_002
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Title:
James Leary Flood and Maud Lee Flood Residence Blueprints collection
Date:
1912-1914
Collection number: USDSC_2019_002
Creator: Bliss & Faville
Extent: 4 oversize boxes, (8 linear feet)
Abstract:
This collection contains architectural drawings for the James Leary Flood and Maud Lee Flood Residence, also known as
the Flood Mansion.
Languages:
English
The James Leary Flood and Maud Lee Flood residence was designed and constructed between 1912 and 1915 at 2222 Broadway in
San Francisco, California. James hired architects Bliss & Faville who had designed San Francisco's Westin St. Francis Hotel,
Garry Theater, and Bank of California, among many others. Bliss & Faville were known for grandeur and attention to detail.
The Flood Mansion was designed in the classical styles of the Italian Renaissance with influences of Rococo, Tudor, Georgian,
and Mediterranean Revival styles.
James Leary Flood and Maud Lee Flood had three children, James L. Flood, Jr. (who died at the age of 4 in 1907), James, and
Mary Emma (Stebbins). James Leary died in 1926. The rest of the family remained in the house until 1938 after both James and
Mary Emma had married. At that time, Maud gave the house to Mother Rosalie Hill and the Religious of the Sacred Heart. According
to Sister Genevieve Clarke, Maud said she "dreamed that one day in her beautiful mansion there would be sweet and gentle nuns
teaching in its halls and walking in its gardens" (Clarke,
Reverend Mother Rosalie Clifton Hill, 91). According to Mary Mardel, Maud wanted her home to become a place for education, and that Maud was thankful to the Sacred
Heart nuns for their support during James Jr.'s illness and passing (
[History of Flood Mansion: Interview with Mary Mardel, R.S.C.J]
video). After Mother Hill received the house in 1938, she began designs for its restoration into a Sacred Heart school. Classes
for the school began in the spring of 1940.
Mother Rosalie Hill was integral to the design of the San Diego College for Women and the University of San Diego. She wanted
the design to be an adaptation of the Spanish Renaissance architectural style. While living at the Convent of St. Madeleine
Sophie, located at 2610 San Diego Avenue in Old Town San Diego, until the College for Women was built, Mother Hill and Mother
Suzanne de Leon drafted plans that would help guide Architect Frank Hope, Jr.'s designs for the University. It is likely that
Mother Hill and Mother de Leon requested these blueprints to help advise their designs.
This collection consists of architectural blueprints from the James Leary Flood and Maud Lee Flood residence. These drawings
are primarily of the architectural details on the house including the entrance doors, walls, transoms, and cornices. All blueprints
were completed by architects Bliss & Faville.
Blueprints are arranged chronologically.
This collection is open for research.
[Folder Title], Box # Folder #, James Leary Flood and Maud Lee Flood Residence Blueprints collection, Copley Library, University
of San Diego, Archives and Special Collections.
The Flood Mansion blueprints were found in the University of San Diego Founders Hall vault. Blueprints were mailed from the
Convent of the Sacred Heart at 2222 Broadway San Francisco, CA to Mother S. de Leon Convent of St. Madeleine Sophie 2610 San
Diego Avenue San Diego CA., postmarked April 4 1949.
This collection was processed by Ashley Toutain in October 2019.
Manuscripts
Boudoin, Burt J.
Fortress on the Hill - Founding the University of San Diego and the San Diego College for Women 1942-1963. Mission Hills, CA: Saint Francis Historical Society, 2001.
Clarke, Genevieve.
Reverend Mother Rosalie Clifton Hill, Religious of the Sacred Heart. Unpublished manuscript, 1967.
McHugh, Helen.
Founder's Tale: Mother Rosalie Clifton Hill and the Founding of the University of San Diego. University of San Diego, 2005.
Rossi, Aimmee.
History of the San Diego College for Women. Unpublished manuscript, 1973.
Bibliography
Websites
Convent & Stuart Hall, Schools of the Sacred Heart San Francisco. "About." Accessed October 14, 2019.
https://www.sacredsf.org/about/campus-map .
Convent & Stuart Hall, Schools of the Sacred Heart San Francisco. "Mary Mardel, RSCJ." Accessed October 14, 2019.
https://www.sacredsf.org/about/mary-mardel
Find A Grave. "James Leary "Jimmie" Flood." Accessed October 14, 2019.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76457316
Find A Grave. "Maud Lee Fritz Flood." Accessed October 14, 2019.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/87853475
Pacific Coast Architecture Database (PCAD). "Flood, James Leary and Maud Lee, House #1, Pacific Heights, San Francisco, CA
(1912-1915)." Accessed October 14, 2019.
https://web.archive.org/web/20190227071827/http://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/17270/ .
Schools of the Sacred Heart. "History of the Flood Mansion." Accessed October 14, 2019.
https://web.archive.org/web/20170930085111/http://www.floodmansion.org/History.html .
Bibliography
Video
[History of the Flood Mansion: Interview with Mary Mardel, R.S.C.J.]" Thomas Hughes Video Productions, circa 2000. 28:41.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Flood, James Leary, 1857-1926
Flood, Maud Lee, 1876-1966
Bliss, Walter Danforth, 1874-1956
Faville, William Baker, 1866-1947
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Society of the Sacred Heart.
Bliss & Faville
Subjects and Indexing Terms
San Francisco (Calif.)