Victorians Around Dolores Park Explored, and Houses Burned in the 1906 EQ/Fire

I'm working on additions to this tour incorporating Dolores Hts. (So those who have done this tour previously can look forward to something new.)

New discoveries have been added to the tour as we discover another facet of the 20th St. fireline history. A neighbor advised us that the 2000 block of Lexington St. suffered partial burning in the 06' fires. Evidence remains and we will take a look. We may be able to visit the interior of a fabulous Bed and Breakfast on Guerrero and find a remnant of the very old RR line to San Jose that traced the Camino Real.
We'll visit the "Golden Fire Hydrant" and walk the 20th St. Fire Line where fire-fighters and citizens held the line and saved the Mission from going up in flames.
3755-20th St. is on our tour today. It is a beautiful 1889 Victorian. These interior photos show some of the beautiful interior details typical of a Victorian of this era.

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Here is a link to detailed histories of seven Victorians East of Noe Valley. We'll see some of these and many others on today's tour. Another link to one of the oldest houses on today's tour.

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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. Gables and towers.
In Queen Ann surfaces are covered in a variety of patterns with fish scale and diamond shingles, lap siding and masonry, sometimes all in the same building.

If you would like a scholarly and detailed explanation with photos, click.
After the 06' earthquake apartments in substantial buildings became popular with well-to-do San Franciscans.

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