Then & Now: Wells Fargo Bank Building

The intersection at Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and Tunstead Avenue has long been a center of activity.

In 1909, George B. Hund opened a drugstore at the corner in a building owned by James Tunstead. It was called Poppy Drugstore, or simply Hund’s. The store provided everything from baseball gloves, to film, stationery, ice cream sodas and candy, as well as pharmaceutical supplies. The store was the first business in town to have an illuminated sign.

George Hund found time to serve as a volunteer fireman, support the town’s baseball team, and serve as a town trustee and mayor. In the January 9, 1913 photograph, a rare snowstorm has dumped a few inches of snow in town and has covered the dirt roads, railroad tracks and cattle guard. At the rear of the building a doorway leads into a pool and billiards parlor.

In 1925, the Hund building was purchased from the Tunstead estate by Robert Carey, a local real estate developer, and then was moved, pulled by a team of horses, to an empty lot down the street. The building still stands at 339 San Anselmo Avenue and is home to the San Anselmo Inn.

The Mercantile Trust Company purchased the corner lot in April 1925 and constructed the bank building we see today. The Marin and San Anselmo Herald reported in October 1925 that a permit was issued for construction of the main bank building of brick with marble trim. The bank opened on May 8, 1926 at cost of $50,000; it was the largest bank structure in Marin, with five teller cages, four safe deposit booths, and offices and conference rooms. The interior was done in “chrome” marble with mahogany woodwork trimmed in cream, and the windows and transoms were arranged so that the main banking room was light and airy.

Mercantile Trust merged with the American Bank in 1927 to become the American Trust Company, which merged with Wells Fargo Bank in 1960. Thanks go to Wells Fargo for preserving this San Anselmo landmark.