News from the Heart & Soul of San Francisco
Herbst Manor in Pacific Heights was home to the late Lee Herbst Gruhn, who passed away in 2010. Think Herbst Theater and San Francisco society. Her prominent brick home with carousel horses in the windows on the corner of Pacific and Divisadero — designed in 1899 by esteemed architect Ernest Coxhead — is now for…
Curbed SF visits four pedigreed properties now for sale on Billionaire’s Row, the stretch of Broadway between Lyon and Divisadero that’s home to some of San Francisco’s grandest homes and wealthiest occupants. Read more
GARDENS | DEMI BOWLES LATHROP At the crest of Steiner and Jackson Streets rises a 12 story cooperative apartment building — each floor a full flat — designed in the Mediterranean Gothic Revival style in 1927 by prominent San Francisco architect Conrad Meussdorffer. Crowned with a penthouse at the top and a maisonette with a…
ORNITHOLOGY | Monte Travis When I saw a golden crowned hummingbird up at Alta Plaza Park near the tennis courts, I was confused. I was unaware of any species that sports a golden crown. But then I watched as she dipped her bill into the long red tubular-shaped flowers adorning the bushes and witnessed the…
Naturally they’ll have a green living roof on the new eco-conscious assembly building now nearing completion behind Drew School at California and Broderick Streets. But they’ll also have a vertical garden created by Parisian botanist-artist Patrick Blanc — a rock star among gardeners credited with inventing the concept and planting gardens on walls around the…
ARCHITECTURE | Jacquie Proctor Soft-spoken British architect Harold G. Stoner quietly left his distinctive artistic mark on San Francisco, and one of his most important buildings stands proudly at the corner of Fillmore and Pine Streets. The Osada Apartments — including 15 residential units and two storefronts now home to Paolo Shoes and The Grove…
Ambitious plans for a $10.2 million renovation of Lafayette Park have received enthusiastic support from neighbors and a unanimous thumbs-up from the Recreation and Park Commission. In addition, a fund-raising mechanism has been put into place to allow park supporters to solicit contributions to supplement available bond funding to create a more elaborate 13,000 sq.…
One of Fillmore Street’s iconic institutions will disappear by the end of the year when Fillmore Hardware closes its doors promptly at 5:55 for the final time. For 49 years — since 1961 — the store has been the ultimate neighborhood-serving business. Originally twice its present size, it was a full-service hardware and glass company…
The average sales price of single family homes in the neighborhood rose during the past month from $2.7 million to $3.2 million, suggesting growing confidence in the higher end of the real estate market. The increase can partially be attributed to continued low interest rates for jumbo loans and also to a wider inventory. Highlights…
A few months ago we told the story of Saralee, a remarkable neighborhood cat who gave birth to 11 kittens. One of them was quickly named Walter Cronkite for what looked uncannily like the pencil-thin moustache of the legendary television anchorman. It turns out Walter was a girl cat, and now comes word of a…