The Alamo Square Historic District is significant as a continuum of distinguished residential architecture by distinguished architects spanning the period from the 1870's to the 1920's.

The towered Westerfeld House, the renowned "Postcard Row" with its background of the downtown skyline, and the neighboring streetscapes are as identified worldwide with San Francisco as the cable cars and Coit Tower.

With a variety of architectural styles, the District is unified in its residential character, relatively small scale, construction type, materials (principally wood), intense ornamentation (especially at entry and cornice), and use of basements and retaining walls to adjust for hillside sites.

Boundaries include the park, its edges, the nearby buildings rated highest on the City's architectural survey, and infill structures for rational planning.

Most of the original owner-residents were moderately successful businessmen. A higher than average percentage of the houses were designed by architects, including a virtual cross-section of the City's better professionals.

The District has always housed a varied ethnic group.

With a high degree of integrity to its original designs, the District clearly serves as a visual reminder of how businessmen lived two to four generations ago.