Architectural Heritage Tour-Presidio Heights,San Francisco,(with urban gossip?)

This tour highlights not only the diversity of the architecture, but also the mix of architects and people who built, occupied and maintained these grand properties. (I've refrained from including the "gossipy", urban legend stories in the past, but some folks love it, so why not! Let me know if you have any for around here? Sadly the Nancy Pelosi horror story nearby, is horribly true.)
I also have ephemera we can see to get a feel for what life was like in Presidio Hts. about ninety years ago.
The walking tour covers approximately 14 blocks with noted architecture, overall we'll be walking 34 blocks, approximately 3.5 miles. With some of the usual steep SF hills, and one uphill stair path, the two uphill blocks of Lyon St. Steps.
We'll start in Pacific Hts. and take in the general architecture there, allowing us to compare its architecture, to that of Presidio Heights.
(Near the end of the tour we'll pass by the Swedenborgian Church of San Francisco. A weekly Sunday tour of this early Arts & Crafts gem is offered at 1:00pm. Tour timing is to arrive there a little before 1:00pm for those wanting to take in the Swedenborgian Church, a fantastic Arts & Crafts gem from 1895. You might want to do some prior Googling or click above to learn of its history.)
We're meeting at the intersection of Scott & Broadway. Ample parking on the nearby streets. (There are no restrooms until we get to the Church. Unless we stop at Temple Emanual at about halfway. Let me know if this is needed or you just want to take at look? There may be an open porta pottie along the way, if in dire need?)

Here are several photos, including inside the house at Presidio and Pacific, the house pictured above. An Arts & Crafts example.

Popular architectural styles in the early development of Presidio Hts.:
At the turn of the century, the brown shingle, Arts & Crafts style was popular. The Arts and Crafts movement in the United States sought to unite social reform, architecture, art, and the decorative arts. The hallmark of buildings in this style were their open interior plans and their straightforward, but beautifully finished and furnished interiors. In California known as the First Bay Traditional or Regional style,(later the Eichlers) we'll see this brown shingle style in evidence at the beginning of the tour.
In addition to this style the following gained popularity.
1895 the 1910 Edwardian, Classical and Colonial Revival: The continued Victorian house elaboration of ornament and creative facade shapes reached its height in the early 1890s at the end of the Victorian era.

After that there was a gradual move towards simplicity and away from the excessive flamboyance of our beloved Victorians and toward order. Eccentricity gave way to strict conventions, quiet lines and understatement using quality materials. Money now made understatement its chief method of display. Style was no longer measured in pounds of gingerbread ornament per square foot, but its elegant proportions and an air of dignified grandeur. We'll be seeing this today in what I call, townhouse, row house, and really very expensive; the mansions of Presidio Hts.
Part of our tour will take us to the nearby enclave of Presidio Terrace.
For a listing of the houses, date built, builders and architects of the houses in Presidio Terrace click here. Or see addresses 1-40 below:

Let's play an architectural name game when we get to Presidio Terrace. We'll pair up and see if we can find and correctly identify each house (there are 36), listed below. Note the address in many cases is not visible. (Make a hard copy, or have your phone ready with the page below for a fun game!)

| Address | Architect | Style | Year Built |
| ------- | --------- | ----- | ---------- |
| 1 Presidio Terrace | Newsom & Newsom | Jacobean Revival | 1929 |
| 2 Presidio Terrace | Frank Van Tees | Anglo Italianate | 1905 |
| 3 Presidio Terrace | McDonald & Applegarth | Elizabethan Revival | 1908 |
| 4 Presidio Terrace | McDonald & Applegarth | Prairie School | 1911 |
| 5 Presidio Terrace | McDonald & Applegarth | Craftsman | 1908 |
| 6 Presidio Terrace | Henry C. Smith | Mission Revival | 1911 |
| 9 Presidio Terrace | Albert Farr | Mediterranean | 1927 |
| 10 Presidio Terrace | Charles Whittlesey | Prairie School | 1909 |
| 11 Presidio Terrace | Charles Whittlesey | Prairie School | 1909 |
| 12 Presidio Terrace | A. Lacy Worswick | Craftsman | 1909 |
| 13 Presidio Terrace | Samuel Lightner Hyman | Mediterranean | 1922 |
| 14 Presidio Terrace | Samuel Heiman | Mediterranean | 1921 |
| 15 Presidio Terrace | Havens & Toepke | Colonial Revival | 1905 |
| 16 Presidio Terrace | Bakewell & Brown | Colonial Revival | 1910 |
| 17 Presidio Terrace | Ward & Bolles | CA Contemporary | 1951 |
| | Andrew Skurman | | rebuilt 2010 |
| 18 Presidio Terrace | Bliss & Faville | Colonial Revival | 1909 |
| 19 Presidio Terrace | Charles Whittlesey | Pueblo Revival | 1909 |
| 20 Presidio Terrace | Lewis Hobart | French Rural | 1909 |
| 21 Presidio Terrace | T. Patterson Ross | Mission Revival | 1910 |
| 22 Presidio Terrace | Edward Young | Beaux-Arts | 1907 |
| 23 Presidio Terrace | Julius Krafft | Colonial Revival | 1910 |
| 24 Presidio Terrace | Charles Whittlesey | Prairie School | 1909 |
| 25 Presidio Terrace | Charles Whittlesey | Prairie School | 1909 |
| 26 Presidio Terrace | Reid Brothers | Colonial Revival | 1909 |
| 27 Presidio Terrace | McDonald & Applegarth | Prairie School | 1909 |
| 28 Presidio Terrace | Charles Whittlesey | Prairie School | 1909 |
| 30 Presidio***Terrace | McDonald & Applegarth | Elizabethan Revival | 1909 |
| 31 Presidio Terrace | Frederick Nickerson | Colonial Revival | 1909 |
| 32 Presidio Terrace | Charles Whittlesey | Prairie School | 1909 |
| 34 Presidio Terrace | McDonald & Applegarth | Beaux-Arts | 1909 |
| 35 Presidio Terrace | Eugene Martin | Beaux-Arts | 1916 |
| 36 Presidio Terrace | Julia Morgan | Beaux-Arts | 1911 |
| 37 Presidio Terrace | Ward & Farr | Beaux-Arts | 1927 |
| 38 Presidio Terrace | George Schasty | Beaux-Arts | 1911 |
| 40 Presidio Terrace | Lewis Hobart | Mediterranean | 1919 |

***30 Presidio Terrace was designed by very noted architects MacDonald & Applegarth, and constructed and lived in by Fernando Nelson. It's style is that of an English Elizabethan cottage.

Sources suggest Nelson was slightly embarrassed of his decision to live in an architect-designed house. However, he must have appreciated the design, as the next year, he constructed a smaller version for his son, William, in the Richmond District.
Take a little Google jaunt to learn about the fascinating life of F.Nelson who built over 4000 houses in SF between 1876 and 1953.
Of note, it seems that the only member of the family business who had some architectural training, were a few mail-order (remember those) courses taken by William.

Also of architectural note: Julia Morgan lived nearby at Washington & Divisadero. Her formal office was downtown but she had some large projects she could walk to from her SF house. (This was after moving from the family house in Oakland, that she had lived in all her life, up until the move to SF.)
After the tour we're going to be hungry. I know I will be for sure. There is a very good, local Chinese restaurant, 4.6 star, Dynasty Dumpling, nearby, (but probably best to drive over to California & Divisadero), but very walkable, address-2786 California St. I need someone to tell me the best noodle dish or in general what to order? Let 's see who is going. Generally if 6 or more we should make a reservation.
This means the tour will end at the Swedenborgian Church. If you are not comfortable with finding your way back to the starting point, Broadway & Scott let me know and I'll take extra care in giving directions.
Note: I'm going to park my car halfway between our starting point and the restaurant to make the last leg after the restaurant a little shorter.