4195 Shafter Ave
Owner: William J. Anderfuren
Builder: Carl C. Lassen
Year: 1912
This Neoclassic Rowhouse was built by Lassen for speculation. It was soon bought up by Anderfuren, who moved there with his family from a residence at 666 51st st(destroyed during the construction of Hwy 24). Anderfuren was the manager of pattern making companies under many different names starting in San Francisco and moving over to Oakland after his San Francisco workshop was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. Pattern making is the design and manufacture of sheet metal for things such as ship and airplane building. Empire Pattern Works, one of his companies with partner Chester Brown, was located a 363 3rd st in what is now Jack London Square and specialized in airplane patterns.
William J. and his wife Anna came from England to San Francisco in the 1880s. In 1886 William, a technical minded fellow, filed a patent for an improvement on portable house design. This idea evidently never caught on as his career began and ended in pattern making. His San Francisco workshop of the late 1880s was at 110 Beale st in what is now the center of the tech industry. The Anderfuren's San Francisco residence a the time was 320 Bartlett st, which still stands. William died in 1938 and his wife Anna followed in the early 40s.