San Francisco is preparing to reopen Julius’ Castle, a restaurant that has stood empty for almost two decades. Opened in 1922 on the eastern slope of Telegraph Hill, the establishment was a popular meeting place: its tower and views of the bay drew celebrities, artists and politicians. The restaurant closed in 2007, when the previous owner tried to get around the city’s complicated permitting rules.
In 2012, the abandoned building was bought by the lawyer Paul Scott. He lived nearby and knew that neighbors missed the place. Mr. Scott did not expect that restoring the castle would take more than a decade. Over that time he faced inherited problems with paperwork, protests from neighbors who feared crowds and parking problems, as well as a fire, landslides and a pandemic.
When we first took it on, the building was in terrible shape. There were holes in the ceiling letting in water, and wild animals were living inside. It was madness.
— Paul Scott, restaurant owner
The owner sought to preserve the historic look of the building conceived by its founder, Julius Roz, and the architect Louis Mastropaolo. All the wooden elements in walnut, dozens of windows in their original frames and the tiled facade were restored. The kitchen, however, was completely reimagined. The chef is Christopher Santopinto, formerly of well-known San Francisco restaurants. He developed a menu built on products from Northern California: for example, crab cakes made with Dungeness crab, ravioli with mushrooms, and parsnip with plantain-style purée and octopus. Produce for the kitchen and bar, including artichokes, peas and basil, will be grown in a garden next to the restaurant.
The interior was designed by John de la Cruz. He kept and restored the original chairs that Julius Roz bought at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. On the top floor, where Roz’s own apartment once was, there is now a dining room called the Roz Parlor. French doors lead from it onto a spacious rooftop terrace.
The restaurant sits on a narrow dead-end street that is hard to reach by car, so the owner hopes many guests will arrive on foot by the famous staircase on Filbert Street. Tables can be booked through the OpenTable service. Julius’ Castle opens on November 12.
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