National Register of Historic Places in San Francisco

Russian Hill Viewed From Pier 35 Cruise Terminal
Russian Hill Viewed From Pier 35 Cruise Terminal
26 May 2011
Vallejo Street Improvements at Jones Street Vallejo Street Improvements at Jones Street
20 December 2019
(Click Photos to Zoom)
National Register #87002289
Russian Hill - Vallejo Street Crest Historic District
Bounded By Broadway, Jones, Vallejo and Taylor
Period of Significance: 1875-1949

The Vallejo Street Crest Historic District is an island that escaped the great fire all around it after the 1906 earthquake. Today, it is a privileged rural enclave in the midst of the city that is noted for its pioneering First Bay Area Tradition houses, its Beaux Arts street design and its landscaping.

When the forty-acre district was listed on the National Register in 1988, it contained twenty-six contributing buildings, two contributing sites and five contributing structures. The district also contained eleven buildings and one site which were considered to be of no historical interest.

Contributing to the significance of the district are:

  • First Bay Area Tradition houses by Willis Polk, Joseph Worcester, Julia Morgan, Albert Farr and Charles W. McCall;
  • Pueblo Revival houses by Charles F. Whittlesey;
  • Artists who lived, worked, visited and gathered mental sustenance here including Catherine Atkinson, Maynard Dixon, Sara Bard Field, Dorothea Lange, Rose Wilder Lane, Horatio P. Livermore, Willis Polk, Mary Curtis Richardson, Dora Norton Williams Joseph Worcester;
  • Beaux Arts street treatment;
  • Engineering of the the retaining walls that support the hill and for the creation of streets, ramps, and walkways to manage grades of 16%, 23% and 40%;
  • Landscape architecture;
  • Gathering places of Les Jeunes, the Bohemians who produced the 1890s little literary magazine The Lark.

Source: Adapted from the NRHP nomination submitted in 1987.

 

Name Year Address Remarks Sort Address Sort Name
Roeder-Field House19091020 BroadwayBroadway 1020Roeder-Field House
Parker-Atkinson Retaining Wall 18901020-1060 BroadwayBroadway 1020AParker-Atkinson Retaining Wall
Atkinson House18531032 BroadwayBroadway 1032Atkinson House
Demerest Retaining Wall18901078-1080 BroadwayBroadway 1078Demerest Retaining Wall
Livermore-Whittlesey House I191335 FlorenceFlorence 0035Livermore-Whittlesey House I
Livermore-Whittlesey House II191337 FlorenceFlorence 0037Livermore-Whittlesey House II
Livermore-Whittlesey-Jew House191239 FlorenceFlorence 0039Livermore-Whittlesey-Jew House
Livermore Residence185740 FlorenceFlorence 0040Livermore Residence
Livermore-Whittlesey House III19131728 JonesJones 1728Livermore-Whittlesey House III
Livermore-Whittlesey House IV19131730 JonesJones 1730Livermore-Whittlesey House IV
Livermore-McCall House I19151740 JonesJones 1740Livermore-McCall House I
Livermore-McCall House II19151742 JonesJones 1742Livermore-McCall House II
Livermore-Polk House I19151 Russsian Hill PlaceRussian 0001Livermore-Polk House I
Livermore-Polk House II19153 Russsian Hill PlaceRussian 0003Livermore-Polk House II
Livermore-Polk House III19155 Russsian Hill PlaceRussian 0005Livermore-Polk House III
Stanley G. Heyman House19366 Russsian Hill PlaceRussian 0006Stanley G. Heyman House
Livermore-Polk House IV19157 Russsian Hill PlaceRussian 0007Livermore-Polk House IV
Homer-Parker Retaining Wall18671601-1629 Taylor StreetTaylor 1601Homer-Parker Retaining Wall
Homer-Parker House19091629 Taylor StreetTaylor 1629Homer-Parker House
Theller Retaining Wall18671637 Taylor StreetTaylor 1637Theller Retaining Wall
House of the Flag 18641652-1656 Taylor StreetTaylor 1652House of the Flag
Ina Coolbrith Park19301700 Taylor StreetTaylor 1700Ina Coolbrith Park
Jenks Retaining Wall19051701-1715 Taylor StreetTaylor 1701Jenks Retaining Wall
Vallejo Street Improvements1914Vallejo Street Between Jones and TaylorVallejo 1000Vallejo Street Improvements
Hanford-Verdier Mansion19051001 Vallejo StreetVallejo 1001Hanford-Verdier Mansion
Williams-Polk House: Polk Portion18921013-1017 Vallejo StreetVallejo 1013Williams-Polk House: Polk Portion
Williams-Polk House: Williams Portion18921019 Vallejo StreetVallejo 1019Williams-Polk House: Williams Portion
Eells House19171023 Vallejo StreetVallejo 1023Eells House
Marshall Houses II & III18881034 & 1036 Vallejo StreetVallejo 1034Marshall Houses II & III
Ford House19411070 Vallejo StreetVallejo 1070Ford House
Livermore House19121071 Vallejo StreetVallejo 1071Livermore House
Lowry Flats19081075-1077 Vallejo StreetVallejo 1075Lowry Flats
Livermore-McCall House III19151085 Vallejo StreetVallejo 1085Livermore-McCall House III
LLivermore-Whittlesey House I at 35 Florence Street
(Click Photo To Zoom)
Livermore-Whittlesey House I
35 Florence Street
Built 1913
Photographed 20 December 2019

In 1912, H.P. Livermore embarked on a nine-unit building program which, by his death four years later, earned him the title "Father of Russian Hill." He commissioned Los Angeles and former Santa Fe Railroad architect Charles F. Whittlesey for five Pueblo-Mission Revival style houses.

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LLivermore-Whittlesey House II at 37 Florence Street
(Click Photo To Zoom)
Livermore-Whittlesey House II
37 Florence Street
Built 1913
Photographed 20 December 2019

A rough stuccoed Pueblo/Mission Revival dwelling.

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Livermore-Whittlesey-Jew House at 39 Florence Street
(Click Photo To Zoom)
Livermore-Whittlesey-Jew House
39 Florence Street
Built 1912/1948/1969
Photographed 20 December 2019

The rough-stuccoed Livermore-Whittlesey-Jew House is the strongest statement of Florence Street's Pueblo and Mission Revival mixture.

The left half was designed by Charles F. Whittlesey and built in 1912. This was his first building for H.P. Livermore. The right half was a separate lot with its own 1906 building.

In 1933, the adjoining lot was purchased and the 1906 building was demolished. In 1948, the existing double garage was built. In 1969, the Jew family added a second floor above the garage.

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Livingston Jenks Retaining Wall at 1701-1715 Taylor Street
The cantilevered white house at 1000 Vallejo Street was
designed by the architectural firm, Anshen & Alien,
and built in 1957 after the Livingston Jenks House
was demolished. It is too new to contribute to the
district but was included in the nomination because
the projecting section repeats the angle of the Jenks
House and because the design of the building and the
architects are significant for their era.

(Click Photo To Zoom)

Livingston Jenks Retaining Wall
1701-1715 Taylor Street
Built 1905
Photographed 20 December 2019

The retaining wall has a length of about 145 feet and ranges in height from six feet to thirty feet. It is a battered stone wall of irregular coursing, with a high ledge running contrary to the hill's slope. Some of the wall appears to be the living rock. The lowest part is most rough, the middle more regular, the top most regular.

Los Angeles architect Myron Hunt designed the wall and a house for attorney Livingston Jenks. The house was demolished in 1956 and replaced by the cantilevered white house seen in the photograph. The wall remains and contributes to the protection of the district from the outside world.

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Hanford-Verdier Mansion on Russian Hill Crest
26 May 2011
(Click Photo To Zoom)
Robert G. Hanford - Paul Verdier Mansion
1001 Vallejo Street
Built 1905

Four story, rough-stuccoed Colonial Revival and Craftsman residence.

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David P. Marshall Houses on Russian Hill Crest
26 May 2011
(Click Photo To Zoom)
David P. Marshall Houses
1034 and 1036 Vallejo Street
Built 1888

The David P. Marshall Houses, designed by amateur architect Joseph Worcester, were the first San Francisco houses clad in unpainted shingles. They anticipated the First Bay Area Tradition house before Willis Polk, Ernest Coxhead and A. Page Brown had arrived in San Francisco.

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