Presidio Terrace

History

Construction started in 1905, just south of and adjacent to the Presidio, a former army base that is now a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Amenities unusual for residential developments of that time included electric street lights, underground utilities and roads designed for auto traffic. The neighborhood was developed by the firm of Baldwin & Howell, a leading San Francisco real estate development company. It thrived following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake as prosperous families rebuilt outside the destroyed neighborhoods in the eastern part of the city.

Presidio Terrace was originally marketed to white residents only. "There is only one spot in San Francisco where only Caucasians are permitted to buy or lease real estate or where they may reside. That place is Presidio Terrace", according to a 1906 brochure distributed by the developer. A 1948 Supreme Court case, Shelley v. Kraemer, which banned enforcement of racial covenants in housing, invalidated restrictions of this type nationwide.

In 2015, as a result of delinquent non-payment of county property taxes by the homeowners association, a San Jose couple, Tina Lam and Michael Cheng, were able to purchase the street, sidewalks and all other "common ground", including garden islands and palm trees, for $90,000. The tax bill was being sent to 47 Kearny Street and the homeowners association blamed a defunct accountant but the owner of 47 Kearny street claimed that no such arrangement existed with the homeowner's association. "Handford Freund has never managed the Presidio Homeowners Association or whatever it may be named." Worried that the new property owners would charge them for parking in the 120 parking spaces on the street, the homeowners complained to San Francisco Board of Supervisors asking that the sale be voided. In addition the British Consulate, which has owned a house on the street as a consular residence since 2003, raised security concerns. On November 28, 2017, the Board of Supervisors voted 7–4 to reverse the sale, reverting ownership to the homeowners. After the vote, Supervisor Mark Farrell referred to the couple as "bottom-feeding pirates attempting to extort and hold San Francisco residents hostage".

In April 2018, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the municipal government had failed to bill the homeowner's association for water used for irrigation of landscaping for 113 years. In the preceding ten years, the cost of the water was $59,548, and the homeowner's association promptly paid that amount.

Surroundings

Temple Emanu-El was built on an adjacent parcel on the northwest corner of Arguello Boulevard and Lake Street in 1925, and the Little Sisters of the Poor is also close by.

Architecture

Architectural styles in the neighborhood include Beaux-Arts, Mission Revival, and Tudor Revival. Julia Morgan designed an Italian Renaissance villa in Presidio Terrace in 1909. A plan to modernize the architecture of one house in the 1990s aroused objections by neighbors.

Notable residents

Many notable San Franciscans have lived in Presidio Terrace over the years, including San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto, the former Peruvian Ambassador to the United States Fernando Berckemeyer Pazos, United States Congresswoman and first female Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senator Dianne Feinstein and her husband, financier Richard C. Blum, and novelist and newspaper columnist Merla Zellerbach.

References

References

1. Har, Janie. (2017-11-28). "Rich San Francisco homeowners get sold-off street back". Washington Post.
2. (8 August 2017). "A brief guide to Presidio Terrace".
3. Johung, Jennifer. (2016). "Landscapes of Mobility: Culture, Politics, and Placemaking". [[Routledge]].
4. "Guide to the Baldwin & Howell Records". California Digital Archive.
5. Keeling, Brock. (May 24, 2016). "Home In Gated, Super-Exclusive Presidio Terrace Asks $16.9 Million". [[Curbed]] San Francisco.
6. Chamings, Andrew. (March 10, 2020). "The racist history of San Francisco's bougiest street". San Francisco Chronicle.
7. (7 August 2017). "Wealthy San Francisco neighbors sue couple who bought their street (Update)".
8. (August 7, 2017). "Rich SF residents get a shock: Someone bought their street". [[San Francisco Chronicle]].
9. Magness, Josh. (August 7, 2017). "Rich residents shocked their private street was sold because of a $14 HOA error". [[The Sacramento Bee]].
10. (December 3, 2017). "Undoing sale of rich SF street was a matter of national security for Britain". San Francisco Chronicle.
11. (29 November 2017). "SF supes reverse sale, return private Presidio Terrace street to homeowners". San Francisco Chronicle.
12. (4 December 2017). "Rich residents who got SF street back will pay 12 cents a year in taxes". San Francisco Chronicle.
13. (April 4, 2018). "Tony San Francisco enclave drenched its greenery on city's dime for over a century". [[San Francisco Chronicle]].
14. "Outside Lands Podcast - Western Neighborhoods Project - San Francisco History".
15. Wilson, Mark Anthony. (2012). "Julia Morgan: Architect of Beauty". [[Gibbs Smith]].
16. Sandalow, Mark. (2008). "Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi's Life, Times, and Rise to Power". [[Rodale, Inc.]].