Russian Hill–Macondray Lane District - San Francisco, CA - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

"The Russian Hill/Macondray Lane District is a woodsy enclave on the steep North slope of Russian Hill, surrounded by the dense and treeless urban fabric of San Francisco. On the square block bounded by Green, Jones, Taylor, and Union Streets, it focuses on the mews-like public alley right-of-way called Macondray Lane, which bisects the block from East to West. The 18 buildings have addresses variously on Macondray Lane, Green, Jones, and Taylor Streets. The highest elevation in the district, 282 ft., is the flat half-block of Green; from it Jones Street drops at 26% grade to 210 ft. at Union, and the East Third of Green Street drops to 218 ft. at Taylor; Taylor Street itself drops a 23% grade to 154 ft. at Union; and Macondray Lane works its way down from about 246 ft. at Jones to about 185 ft. at Taylor, most of the drop in a steep double flight of steps at Taylor. The Lane and the steep part of Green are developed only as narrow footpaths and steps; the remainders of these city-owned rights-of-way are filled with trees and other plantings. Part of the Macondray width is overgrown cliffside, topped by rear retaining walls of the gardens and buildings facing Green. The Green Street Steps are ordinary but old concrete; the Macondray walkway consists variously of bricks, asphalt, concrete, cobblestones, and boardwalk. Its charm is in the scale, the hidden quality, and the landscaping. The buildings are all two- or three-story frame residential structures, small in scale and deceptively tiny on Macondray, where they acquire extra stories as the hill drops off toward Union Street. Those on Macondray and Jones generally fill their front lot lines; on Green there are setbacks and side yards. Of the 19 resources, 13 contribute to the district; four are not old enough; Sketch Map, No. 1 and 2, would have been contributors but were burned and recently demolished. Otherwise condition in the district is generally good. Buildings are densely packed, the space around them mostly an illusion created by differences in elevation, by spectacular views and intense landscaping in every bit of open space. Four buildings survived the 1906 fire, and almost all the rest were built in the next three years. Therefore, most are clad in "rustic", a local form of weatherboard; three are stuccoed; six are shingled (three of them some years after construction but within the period of significance). Styles are mostly vernacular renditions of Colonial Revival, Craftsman, or Mission Revival; at most, two or three of the houses might claim "high art" architecture." (visit link)

Street address: roughly 900-982 Green, 1918-1960 Jones, 15-84 Macondray & 1801-1809 Taylor San Francisco, CA USA County / Borough / Parish: San Francisco Year listed: 1987 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1800-1899 Historic function: Domestic Current function: Domestic Privately owned?: yes Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.