Noël Sullivan (December 25, 1890 – September 15, 1956) was a
concert singer and philanthropist.Queer Places:
2323 Hyde St, San Francisco, CA 94109, Stati Uniti
Hollow Hills Farms, 8545 Carmel Valley Rd, Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA 93923
Carmelite Monastery, 1000 Lincoln St, Santa Clara, CA 95050, Stati Uniti
Noël Sullivan (December 25, 1890 – September 15, 1956) was a
concert singer and philanthropist.
Noël Sullivan was born in San Francisco on December 25, 1890, the youngest child and only son of Frank J. and Alice Phelan Sullivan, the nephew of Senator James D. Phelan, and the grandson of John Sullivan who came west in 1844 with the "Sullivan-Murphy Party."
He attended the Jesuit colleges of St. Ignatius and Santa Clara. He studied voice abroad and for a number of years maintained residence in Paris. During World War I he served as an ambulance driver with the American Field Service in France.
In 1925 his father was stricken with paralysis, and Sullivan returned to the United States to take up residence with him at 2323 Hyde Street, San Francisco. The house had belonged to the wife of Robert Louis Stevenson and was purchased by Sullivan's mother as a home for the community of Carmelite nuns who had come to San Francisco in 1908 at the invitation of the bishop. The Carmelites remained there until 1914 when they removed to Santa Clara. One of the nuns was Sullivan's sister, Ada, known in religious life as Sister (later Mother) Agnes of Jesus. The Hyde Street residence remained Sullivan's home for many years, and it became a gathering place for the musicians, artists, writers and poets who were his friends.
2323 Hyde St, San Francisco, CA
He pursued his musical interests as a patron of the art, and as a concert singer.
In addition to his contributions to San Francisco's musical wealth, he devoted much money, time and effort, during the early thirties, to the campaign for the abolition of capital punishment, serving as chairman of the California Committee of the American League to Abolish Capital Punishment. He was also greatly interested in the welfare of Negroes and many became close personal friends. He supported Langston Hughes, Marian Anderson, William Lawrence and a young African American singer, Marcus Hall.
In the late thirties Sullivan purchased property in Carmel Valley and he made "Hollow Hills Farm" his permanent home in 1939. There Sullivan, a great animal lover, raised his dogs and his sheep and goats. He made that home, also, a gathering place for notables in the artistic world and a haven for his many friends. Langston Hughes was more than once guest of Sullivan, and moved into his guest cottage in Carmel for a time. Continuing his musical interests, he took an active part in the Carmel Bach festivals, and served as organist and soloist at the Carmel Mission and as director of the board of the Carmel Music Society.
Letters that can be found in Sullivan papers at the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, recorded his friendship with Ramon Novarro (1899-1968). At Senator Phelan's funeral, Sullivan accompanied at the organ Novarro, who sang. Richard Halliburton, a family friend, was in attendance. Sullivan met a potential lover named Myron Brinig, through a letter of introduction written by a mutual female friend named Emily. Brinig maintained a residence in Taos, but often spent years living on both coasts. In the mid-‐1930s, he took a trip to San Francisco and contacted Sullivan who invited Brinig to accompany him to Carmel for a weekend excursion. They spent an intimate weekend together. Brinig, who shied away from cultivating long-‐term same-‐sex relationships ultimately decided to not pursue a relationship with Sullivan, but his short affair with Sullivan demonstrates his broad and mobile sexual landscape.
In the closing years of his life, Sullivan suffered from a heart condition, and he died of a heart attack on September 15, 1956. He is buried in the Carmelite Monastery Cemetery.
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