Overview
The Planning Department (Department) was awarded a grant from the California Office of Historic Preservation to document the history and significance of builder tract developments in the Sunset District. Large swaths of the Sunset District were constructed during a two-decade period of intense construction activity from the mid-1920s to 1950. The resultant landscape of single-family houses contains clusters of unique buildings and exceptional architecture.
In Spring 2012, the Department will draft a Historic Context Statement (context statement) focused on the Sunset District’s prolific builder developers and residential tracts constructed from the mid-1920s into the post-War era. The context statement will document the development history of the neighborhood, identify key builders and architects, document the primary architectural styles and character-defining features, and, importantly, provide a guide for the evaluation of buildings constructed during this era.
In Summer 2012, the Department will commence with an architectural survey of residential builder tracts in the Sunset District. This evaluative survey will document the clusters of eligible historic districts and individually significant buildings. Importantly, the survey will also document and evaluate buildings that do not qualify as eligible historic resources. The survey project will conclude in Spring 2013.
Known for its rows of similarly massed single-family houses, the Sunset District might appear, at first glance, to be an unlikely area for a historic resource survey. As residents know, however, the neighborhood contains clusters of extraordinary architecture by several master builders as well as significant individual buildings designed in the Streamline Moderne style or in exuberant expressions of various Period Revival styles. Development of a context statement and survey will help ensure consistent identification, documentation, and evaluation of the neighborhood’s important historic resources. Similar architectural surveys are underway, or were recently completed, in the Mission District, Japantown, Oceanside, South of Market, Bayview, and Glen Park.
Survey Project Boundary
Buildings included in the Sunset Historic Resources Survey Area can be identified in this PDF map (left).
The survey boundary is an area roughly bounded by 36th Avenue, Kirkham Street, 29th Avenue, and Santiago Street.
Download Materials
Contact the Planning Department to
share historic photographs, maps, architectural plans, building permit histories or other relevant
information regarding your building or neighborhood. The Department is available to provide project updates to neighborhood groups, please contact Mary Brown (
see below) for more information.
Contacts
To be added to the mailing list and kept informed of the survey progress, please send an email request to mary.brown@sfgov.org. If you have questions or comments, please contact:
Mary Brown
Preservation Planner
San Francisco Planning Department
1650 Mission Street, Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 575-9074
mary.brown@sfgov.org
To speak with a Chinese-speaking Department staff member, please call (415) 558-6476 or email cathy.thai@sfgov.org
