Citywide Cultural Resources Survey

Methodology diagram

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SF Survey is an intensive, historic context-based cultural resources survey that will result in the identification, documentation, and evaluation of the tangible and intangible aspects of San Francisco’s cultural heritage. This effort strives to evaluate in consultation with community members for properties with cultural associations.

SF Survey will be completed through five interrelated components that build off one another: Community Engagement​; the Citywide Historic Context Statement; Fieldwork, Research, and Evaluation; Findings and Adoption at the Historic Preservation Commission; and the culminating Cultural Resources Inventory.

Many of the components of the survey will take place in tandem and will see us through the next several years as shown in the diagram.

Community Engagement

Engagement diagram

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SF Survey will heavily rely on dialogue with community members. In keeping with Planning’s previous cultural heritage based-work, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Methodology, capacity-building, and implementing a multi-media approach to outreach, critical consultation with the community will be key for developing inclusive findings. Through this level of engagement, Planning will ensure that aspects of the City’s history important to respective communities are shared according to the wishes of those communities.

The Community Engagement Strategy Framework aligns with the Historic Preservation Commission’s racial and social equity resolution,forging civic partnerships to include and engage communities typically underrepresented in historic preservation.

Citywide Historic Context Statement

The Citywide Historic Context Statement, framework established in 2020, forms the foundation for future fieldwork and decision making for SF Survey. It builds upon the department’s past historic context and survey efforts and incorporates recently completed and in-progress historic context statements. The Citywide Historic Context Statement aims to determine historic significance and rarity more accurately by examining sites thematically and on a citywide scale.

The Citywide Historic Context Statement is organized within three broad categories of Architectural, Cultural, and Thematic contexts. Each context statement will provide an evaluative framework that will establish significance, based on the California Register and National Register criteria. Each context’s evaluative framework will also provide an integrity analysis to guide future determinations, such as allowing for lower integrity if a property is associated with significant events (particularly cultures and/or cultural events) and/or persons.

As components are complete, the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) will review at public hearings. At each hearing, the HPC may elect to immediately adopt the findings with or without modifications, or they may take no action and direct the team to incorporate revisions or provide additional information. It is anticipated that the Citywide Historic Context Statement becomes final, telling the diverse story of San Francisco’s built environment, after all portions are completed (which means adopted by the HPC and forwarded to the Office of Historic Preservation). Learn more about completed and in-progress context statements.

Fieldwork, Research and Evaluation

Staff will gather and collect information, conduct research, and refer to the Citywide Historic Context Statement to determine historic resource status for all previously unevaluated, age-eligible properties across the city (45 years or older at the conclusion of the SF Survey). This includes approximately 120,000 parcels.

Survey efforts are three-fold: pre-survey, in-field, and in-office data collection. Individual buildings, objects, structures, and sites, along with cultural landscapes and districts will be evaluated and assigned a historic resource status. SF Survey will occur throughout the entire city, with a focus on areas not previously surveyed. Phasing is based on priorities for racial and social equity, existing and planned historic contexts, and staffing capacity. In areas of the city with previously adopted historic surveys and evaluations, staff has been auditing findings to ensure accuracy and conformance with current standards.

Findings and Adoption

Ultimately, all surveyed properties will be assigned a California Historical Resource Status Code, which determines eligibility for listing on National or California registers. The HPC will hold public hearings on adoption of components of the Citywide Historic Context Statement and on adoption of draft and final survey findings for individual properties in phases throughout the life of the survey. At each hearing, the HPC may elect to immediately adopt the findings with or without modifications, or they may take no action and direct the team to incorporate revisions or provide additional information.

Prior to those hearings, the SF Survey team will conduct outreach and discuss parts of the context statement and/or draft findings of historic resource status with the community. Once the HPC adopts all portions of the Citywide Historic Context Statement, draft survey findings will become final, and the findings will be forwarded to the California State Office of Historic Preservation and formalized.

Cultural Resources Inventory

All of SF Survey’s components require consistent and streamlined management of information. To accomplish this, a customized web-based cultural resources management platform has been developed using Arches, a cultural heritage-focused data management platform. This robust tool will ultimately be used to not only collect and maintain the data both internally (staff) and externally (community engagement), but also to provide a public website for sharing the results of SF Survey and information gathered. The inventory will house Draft and Final Findings, and supporting information, such as historic research, community-submitted details, photographs, and will interface with existing systems like the San Francisco Property Information Map. The platform will serve as San Francisco’s living Cultural Resources Inventory, the culmination of the SF Survey project. It is intended to allow for future additions and changes to the City’s cultural resources over time.