St. Francis Wood is a residential neighborhood located in southwestern
San Francisco,
California, south of the
West Portal
West Portal is a small neighborhood in San Francisco, California. West Portal is a primarily residential area of the City. The neighborhood's main corridor, West Portal Avenue, serves as a principal shopping district of southwestern San Francisco. ...
neighborhood and west of
Mount Davidson.
St. Francis Wood had a population of 1,229 and a median household income of $179,244 in 2019.
Characterized by family homes on spacious lots (by San Francisco standards), St. Francis Wood has no visible businesses and has a correspondingly low profile compared to similar wealthy neighborhoods such as the
Marina District and
Pacific Heights. St. Francis Wood is one of eight master-planned
residence parks in San Francisco.
= History =
St. Francis Wood was established in 1912 as a neighborhood for upper-middle class residents with convenient
streetcar access to jobs downtown.
The residence park was inspired by the
City Beautiful movement. The neighborhood's street layout was designed by the
Olmsted Brothers and characterized by "standalone houses, curvilinear streets, extensive landscaping and decorative monuments" that evoked the feeling of living in a park.
Like other residence parks, the neighborhood used
racial covenants
A covenant, in its most general sense and historical sense, is a solemn promise to engage in or refrain from a specified action. Under historical English common law, a covenant was distinguished from an ordinary contract by the presence of a se ...
to block
Black and
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
people from moving in. The neighborhood was an early adopter of
zoning restrictions, including
single-family zoning to ban
apartment buildings
An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are man ...
and commercial development, because they were thought to attract racial minorities.
Historic Designation
On June 30, 2022, St. Francis Wood was added to the
National Register of Historic Places after a yearslong campaign by residents who quoted its architectural history as a residence park.
The historic designation will require all construction projects in the neighborhood to undertake a review under the
California Environmental Quality Act, adding about $10,000 in fees and 4 months in project approvals. The historic designation will also require new projects to be compatible with the neighborhood's historic character, which is typically two-story
single family homes
A stand-alone house (also called a single-detached dwelling, detached residence or detached house) is a free-standing residential building. It is sometimes referred to as a single-family home, as opposed to a multi-family residential dwelling ...
with large yards.
The designation was criticized by
YIMBY activists who said that the historic designation would make it much harder for people to add housing to the neighborhood, and cement the neighborhood's status as a wealthy neighborhood that excludes Black and
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
people. Places with historic resources are often exempted from state bills that encourage the construction of new homes. State Senator
Scott Wiener
Scott Wiener (born May 11, 1970) is an American politician and a member of the California State Senate. A Democrat, he represents the 11th Senate District, encompassing San Francisco and parts of San Mateo County.
Prior to his election to the ...
expressed concern that St. Francis Wood's historic designation creates a model for other wealthy neighborhoods to evade the intent of state housing law to build more homes in all neighborhoods.
The St. Francis Homes Association said that the historic designation was about the architectural history and said that they were an inclusive community open to the public.
St. Francis Wood's amenities are not open to the public.
= Demographics =
In the two 2020 census tracts that contain St. Francis Wood 2020 census, at least 80% of the residents are
White or
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
.
The median household income is $188,400.
References
External links
A short history of St. Francis WoodTraffic solution for St. Francis Circle
{{Authority control
Neighborhoods in San Francisco
Streetcar suburbs