Here is a picture of the surroundings. This building is a Victorian row house from probably 1880 or so. It looks like each unit is owned by it's occupants, except for the blue one which is sitting idle (I hope). The two units on the left must have decided to go together on a paint job. This area of the city has been neglected for decades and has the most crime and the most poverty. Absentee landlords have let much of the housing stock deteriorate, however, many people living here are long time residents and own their homes. Land pressures in San Francisco are causing changes here though, and it is probably likely that change will come soon and displace the people from this area which sits all along the derelict eastern shore of San Francisco on the SF Bay. The land is a goldmine.
They're such lovely houses. But what's going to happen to them - will the buildings be knocked down for redevelopment? Or will the area be gentrified? Buildings like that here would be 'listed', with strict rules about the likes of demolition or even renovation. I would imagine the same sort of rules apply there, unless there's some overpowering reason to knock things down.
The two on the left were obviously rehabbed recently, and probably the one on the right too, to a lesser degree. They are probably each worth 7 or 800,000 USD if not much more. I am sure that before long, maybe when the credit crisis here in the US mellows, that #3, the blue one will be rehabbed too. This is gentrification right in front of your eyes in this rowhouse. That's how it happens in SF: unit by unit. Urban redevelopment on a grand scale ala the 60's and 70's, where whole neighborhoods are declared blight and leveled (always along ethnic lines) is probably finished in SF. We're aware of our wonderful Victorian heritage and the improbability of this incredible quality and flamboyant type of housing ever being built again.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-03 07:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-03 09:56 pm (UTC)
This area of the city has been neglected for decades and has the most crime and the most poverty. Absentee landlords have let much of the housing stock deteriorate, however, many people living here are long time residents and own their homes. Land pressures in San Francisco are causing changes here though, and it is probably likely that change will come soon and displace the people from this area which sits all along the derelict eastern shore of San Francisco on the SF Bay. The land is a goldmine.(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-03 10:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-03 10:33 pm (UTC)