As we've noted many times, Emperor Norton lived in the Eureka Lodgings ― located in a building at 624 Commercial Street between Montgomery and Kearny Streets — from 1864–65 until his death in January 1880.

Recently, a correspondent alerted us to something we'd never seen: a bird's-eye photograph showing the 600 block of Commercial in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and fires of April 1906.

We knew that the Eureka building had been lost in the event — but we'd never seen photo-documentation of the loss and believe this is the first time this already-rarely-seen photo is being shared in this context.

This photograph sharpens the focus on the identities and locations of the buildings along this stretch of the 600 block of Commercial — and exactly what each building suffered in 1906.

This includes three buildings that the photos shows as being leveled by the event:

• 624–628 Commercial
  Housed the Eureka Lodgings at 624 from 1864 to 1880. Currently the site of a 4-story mixed-use apartment building at 650–654 Commercial.

• 620–622 Commercial
  William Meakin's model-making workshop. Currently the site of Empire Park.

• 612 Commercial
  Offices of Jewish newspaper The Hebrew. Previously, 1863–71, offices of The Morning Call — the period when Samuel Clemens, the future Mark Twain, was living in San Francisco and working at the Call in the summer of 1864. Also: Bret Harte had a desk here in the 1860s, while he was working as secretary to the administrator of the original branch Mint, next door. Rebuilt by 1912; demolished by 1984.

Read on for our deep-dive — including our highly researched new infographic, based on the post-quake photograph, that can be used as a tool for understanding the history of this location.