A Street Runs Through It

While preparing our submission for Planning Department review, we had to have a historical evaluation of the property prepared by a third party.  While most of the history of the property was rather boring and non-eventful, a small bit of history that discussed the development of the neighborhood over the past century caught our eye.  This history also shed some light on how such an odd shaped lot came into existence.

As noted in a previous blog post, prior to 1900, the neighborhood was dominated by the Gray Brothers Quarry, which produced most of the bricks that lined the San Francisco cable car lines throughout the city.  During the time of the quarry, streets had been cut out of the rock for transport vehicle access and from the general quarrying done to the area. This made the location prime real estate for people who began to build their homes on the streets cut into the hill. 

The first Sanborn map illustrating the immediate area surrounding the property was published in 1899. At this time the block did not include the current section of Roosevelt Way, which was not a thoroughfare until after 1920.  The reproduced Sanborn map below shows the current boundaries of property (identified with the arrow) as it fit in the existing block in 1899. The area was sparsely developed with single-family homes and hospital facing Buena Vista Park.  

1899 Sanborn Map showing approximate location of the property

The 1913 Sanborn map shows the gradual development of the surrounding blocks with several more single family and multiple family residences. Prior to construction of the current house that sits on the property, the approximate location of the parcel contained two modest one-story single-family homes (see the arrow pointing to the triangle outline of our property). In addition, several streets in the neighborhood had been renamed; South Broderick was changed to Buena Vista Terrace and Tilden was changed to 15th Street.

1913 Sanborn Map

In 1926, the present St. Joseph’s Hospital building, replacing the 1889 hospital building, was constructed to a Bakewell and Brown design. Around the same time, Roosevelt Way was cut through joining 14th through 17th streets. This and other street reconfigurations made Buena Vista Park, which was designated in 1867, more accessible from Eureka Valley and the south. The southern end of the block was cut through in order for Roosevelt Way to continue east where it terminated at Alpine Terrace. 

The reproduced 1950 Sanborn map shows the transformation of the neighborhood after Roosevelt Way cut through the southern end of the block containing our property. At this point, the block was completely developed with single and multiple-family residences. The map also shows the property with a one-story-over-basement single-family home as it was originally constructed.

1950 Sanborn Map