Victorian Tour-Eureka Valley, plus SF Mime Troop-Opening Day-Dolores Park

(Come enjoy the Meetup tour then go to the season opening performance of the San Francisco Mime Troup in Dolores Park at 2pm.)

The walk from Dolores Park to Eureka Valley adds something new to today's tour, plus some Victorians we haven't checked out before have been added*.*

Due to possible hot weather. (Highly suggested to bring a bottle of water, wear a hat and take it easy.)

Following up on Part 1, that we did on April 26, 2025, we'll start out from Dolores Park this time, stopping to see a cute Earthquake Cottage on the way to the earliest houses in Eureka Valley.

3755-20th St.(see photo above) Take a video tour of mostly the interior here and checkout the photos.
This historic house was built by Danish sea captain, Hans Birkholm in 1889 who became the Danish Consul in 1898 and the house was used as the Danish consulate. It is a Stick-Eastlake Italianate, 11 rooms , classical Bradbury & Bradbury wallpaper, formal dining room w/2nd frplc., stained glass, 12 ft. ceilings, original lighting and hand curved woodwork, Victoriana throughout. More photos below.

Maybe you'll want to engage in the challenging game of identify the Victorian? Along with seeing some of the gingerbread, signature decorations that were unique to a few of the builders of that time.
What was it like when there were street after street, of these efflorescent, floriated, flamboyant creations. What prompted them, makes for an interesting discussion. Compare the Victorians of the 1880s to the Modernist California houses of the post WW II era. A startling comparison!

I'm open to recommendations for lunch. Or stop by Tartine at 18th & Guerrero. Many others to choose from.

The information below is provided if you are interested in more details about SF Victorian architecture.

Looking at a San Francisco Victorian, what to look for:
(There are five Styles)

• Flat front Italianate- (earliest Victorians). (French 2nd Empire appear)
• Italianate with slanted bay windows.
• San Francisco Stick Style (also called East Lake). Simpler square bay windows now used. Overall much more elaborate decoration, ornament and gingerbread used.
• Queen Anne Tower House&Witches Cap, with angled or rounded bay windows & front gable
• Queen Anne Row House, 1, 1-1/2 or two stories. Large front gable. Possible moongate entry.

Features & "Gingerbread"
Type of Entry & Doorway(maybe a rounded or partial Moongate entry)-
Decorative Ironwork-
Floral Decor-Garlands (one of many types of decorations known as *"Gingerbread")
Fish scale&Diamond shingles-
Towers & Witch's Cap-
Stained Glass or Beveled Glass-
Carvings of grotesque faces-
Sunbursts- often painted gold color, half or full.
Gables (Queen Anne's) in a variety of material- (mainly redwood)
Newel Posts and Finials on Tower tops and roof peaks-

Fernando Nelson built thousands of homes in SF. Over many, many decades. We'll also see clusters (2 to 17) of Victorian homes systematically built for the average working person by a development company, "The Real Estate Assoc." THEA, from 1870 to 1880. Not quite magnificent but many still standing.
Development of woodworking mills South of Market provided the ornaments with which to add the "gingerbread" to the Victorian houses There was an Old English custom using fancy cutouts of gingerbread to decorate wedding cakes. The term gingerbread was subsequently used for the decorating of Victorian houses. The secret ingredient was redwood. It could be carved, sawn, or turned, or soaked and press molded into almost any design
Periods
1860 - 1870s Italianate: Buildings were vertical in emphasis with rounded classical detail. Earliest had flat windows & flat roofs with false roof fronts.
1880s Stick Style (also called East Lake): The early buildings in this genre relied heavily on plane vertical board decorations. Squared off bay windows appear.
Late 1880s and 1890s Queen Anne : Gingerbread would be applied to both the Stick and Queen Ann styles in San Francisco. Sloping roofs appear. Front facing gables and towers with witches hat.

If you would like a scholarly and detailed explanation with photos, click.