Signs about the Historic District line the streets around Alamo Square. Photo 2014.

The Alamo Square Historic District is an area surrounding Alamo Square that has been designated as especially historic by the Board of Supervisors.  The area was designated as a historic district by the Board of Supervisors in July of 1984, and in the planning code approved the supervisors stated:

The Alamo Square Historic District is significant as a continuum of distinguished residential architecture by distinguished architects spanning the period from the 1870's to the 1920's. The towered Westerfield House, the renowned "Postcard Row" with its background of the downtown skyline, and the neighboring streetscapes are as identified worldwide with San Francisco as the cable cars and Coit Tower. With a variety of architectural styles, the District is unified in its residential character, relatively small scale, construction type, materials (principally wood), intense ornamentation (especially at entry and cornice), and use of basements and retaining walls to adjust for hillside sites... With a high degree of integrity to its original designs, the District clearly serves as a visual reminder of how businessmen lived two to four generations ago.

A map of the Alamo Square Historic District from the SF Planning Code.

Characteristics of the Historic District

The historic designation by the Board of Supervisors detailed the characteristics of the historic houses in the area. See below for the original document.

Individual buildings that are mentioned in the historic designation include:

• Archbishop's Mansion
• Green Apothecary
• Russian Orthodox Church
• Westerfeld House

See also

• article 10 appendix E.pdf - The original Historic District designation, as approved by the Board of Supervisors in 1984.