Russian American Historic Context Statement
The Russian American Historic Context Statement chronicles the history of the Russian community in San Francisco. The context statement seeks to identify longtime Russian residential enclaves, Russian-owned businesses, properties associated with prominent Russian Americans and Russian descendants, and important religious, social, and political organizations that have influenced San Francisco’s Russian American heritage.
Work on the Russian American Historic Context Statement began in the Fall of 2023. The current draft was authored by Dr. Nina Bogdan, who co-authored Russian San Francisco, an Images of America publication (2010) and has published a recent article about the San Francisco Russian community in the Journal of Russian American Studies (Spring 2021). She has presented regularly on the history of San Francisco’s Russian American community since 2010, both at community events and at academic conferences. Her dissertation, focusing on that history, was nominated for the Nevins prize in 2021 and her book manuscript on the same subject is currently under peer review. Dr. Bogdan was born and raised in San Francisco’s Russian-American community.
The context statement includes information on the following:
- Settlement and Immigration Patterns
- Cultural and Social Movements
- Community and Religious Institutions
- Russian-American Businesses
The final draft of the Russian American Historic Context Statement is available for public review and comment.
- Russian American Historic Context Statement (Adopted 2025)
This historic context statement is intended to facilitate the identification and evaluation of local Russian American cultural resources and offer recommendations for their preservation. This cultural context is one of several the department has completed and are in-progress to ensure the appropriate documentation of the City’s expansive and diverse story, as part of the Citywide Cultural Resources Survey. Other cultural, architectural, and thematic contexts are detailed on the Citywide Historic Context Statement webpage.
Community partners who have supported the development of the RAHCS to date include Cinderella Bakery, Globus Books, the Museum of Russian Culture, the Russian Center of San Francisco, Russian American Community Services, Slavic Voice, Internet Archive, Western Neighborhoods Project, and the San Francisco Public Library Richmond branch. Department staff worked with several of these community partners on the following community engagement events that provided information and sought feedback on the RAHCS:
- October 11, 2025: Community Event with Russian Center of San Francisco
- September 18, 2025: Russian American Community Services (RACS) Community Briefing
- May 3, 2025: Slavic Festival with Russian Center of San Francisco
- October 29, 2024: Russian American Historic Context Statement Focus Group
- September 19, 2024: Richmond Neighborhood Community Workshop
- June 5, 2024: Richmond Neighborhood Community Forum
The Russian American Historic Context Statement was adopted by the Historic Preservation Commission Hearing on October 15, 2025.
The Russian American Historic Context Statement was presented as an informational item at the Historic Preservation Commission Hearing on July 16, 2025.
For all inquiries, please contact cpc.survey@sfgov.org
If you'd like to share stories, memories, and/or photographs related to the story of the Russian American community in San Francisco, please submit a Community Stories form or email cpc.survey@sfgov.org