Exuberant architectural styles were all the rage in late 19th century San Francisco - both the new Queen Anne style and the highly ornamented revival styles.

Polk scorned the "wild and untrammeled efforts of local architects to outdo each other in unique and crazy effects." He called the Western Addition "an architectural nightmare conceived in a reign of terror and produced by architectural anarchists."

Perhaps that is why Polk went out of his way to strip this Tudoresque residence to its essentials. Its neighbor on one side is a flamboyant classical revival residence. Its neighbor on the other side is a haughty Queen Anne.

But, by the 20th century, Polk himself was capable of some unique and crazy effects as in the Naphtaly House.

Occasionally, when a historic property is listed for sale, we can get a glimpse of the interior.