Eureka Valley, A Great Victorian House Tour

If you don't make it off the waiting list or you are up for more fun after we finish up see the following-
note: (Right after our Meetup event there is another very interesting SF History event, starting at the Noe Valley Library at 1pm. "A then and now local history photo hunt". Check the link, and join me in the afternoon for more fun exploring San Francisco.

-----------One in a Series of My Four Neighborhood Meetup Tours-----------
Noe Valley, Eureka Valley, Inner Mission West, the Duboce Triangle.

A marvelous tour of Victorians in Eureka Valley.
Meet at Noe St. and Liberty St. At the bottom of the Liberty St. steps.
(Note: Parking will not be that hard to find.)

Just imagine house after house of these efflorescent, floriated, flamboyant creations. What inspired the Victorians? Makes for an interesting discussion.
Roughly over 48,000 Victorians were built in SF, (1860s to 1915), with about a third remaining.
Builder, Fernando Nelson's houses stand out in neighborhoods of beautifully authentic Victorians due to his signature gingerbread details. With his sons he produced some 4,000 homes from 1876 until his death in 1953. After the Victorian Era he created developments in the Richmond, Presidio Terrace and West Portal, among others. The two photos below show very similar F.Nelson, Queen Ann row houses. The one with the garages added underneath is in the Castro (for sale listing) the other at Waller and Carmelita St
For a biography of F. Nelson, click.

This link will take you to the history of several of the houses on the tour. Or near the tour.
(Sketches of what is described below will be passed around. We'll also go over a sketch of the interior of a typical Victorian.)
(There are five Victorian Styles. Walking in the Victorian neighborhoods is even more fun when you can identify each of the five styles of Victorians.)

1. 1860s -Flat front Italianate- (earliest Victorians). (French 2nd Empire also appear downtown to burn after the '06 earthquake.)
2. 1870s -Italianate with slanted bay windows.
3. 1880s -San Francisco Stick Style (also called East Lake). Simpler square bay windows now used. Overall much more elaborate decoration, ornament and gingerbread used.
4. 1890s -Queen Anne Tower House&Witches Cap, with angled or rounded bay windows & front gable
5. 1890s -Queen Anne Row House, 1, 1-1/2 or two stories. Large front gable. Possibly with a moongate entry.

Features & "Gingerbread"
Moongate entry
Floral Decor-Garlands, Vases
Fish scale and/or Diamond shingles-
Towers & Witch's Cap-
Stained Glass or Beveled Glass-
Carvings of grotesque faces-
Sunbursts- often painted gold, half or full.
Gables
Newel Posts at the end of railings&Finials on Tower tops&roof peaks-

Woodworking mills South of Market provided the "gingerbread". There was an Old English custom using fancy cutouts of baked gingerbread to decorate wedding cakes. The term gingerbread was subsequently used for the decorating of Victorian houses. The secret ingredient was redwood. It could be carved, sawn, turned on a lathe, incised, or soaked and press- molded into almost any shape.

If you would like a scholarly and detailed explanation with photos, click.

Most of the photos below and listings are taken from the SF Planning Dept. information of 240 pages reviewing Eureka Valley.