News from the Heart & Soul of San Francisco
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…
REAL ESTATE | John Fitzgerald The volume of sales in the local housing market remains strong, with 38 closings during the past month, exactly the same as the previous month. Most notable among recent sales is 2830 Pacific Avenue, the 2009 decorator showcase home. The 7-bedroom Pacific Heights mansion was originally listed at $12.9 million in…
Renovation of Le Petit Trianon — long delayed — is now scheduled to begin this summer. The grand home at 3800 Washington Street has been empty for years and largely unattended, even since it was bought in 2007 for $22 million by tech mogul Halsey Minor, founder of CNet. “The state of Le Petit Trianon…
Home furnishing stores — which took a big hit during the last decade — are seeing a resurgence on Fillmore, especially in the block between Pine and Bush, home to Zinc Details, Design Within Reach, the Shade Store and newcomer Ruby Living Design. Today the block got something new in modern home design when BoConcept…
The roses in Susan Meyers’ garden will be in peak bloom on Saturday, May 22, for the Garden Conservancy’s garden tour. The tour is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and this year the starting point is Meyers’ “playful Pine Street garden” at 2418 Pine Street.