21st Street in Eureka Valley San Francisco

21st Street Between Noe Street and Castro Street

The residences on 21st Street between Noe and Castro are typical of late Victorian architecture in San Francisco.

Those on the south side of the street were built in the last decade of the 19th century in a mixture of sizes and styles. On the north side of the street, for almost the entire length of the block, stands a harmonious row of fourteen cottages built in the first decade of the 20th century by Isaac Anderson, carpenter, architect and builder.

Two years after the cottages were finished, they rode out the Big One of 1906.

The View to the North from the Corner of Noe and 21st Streets

Looking north from the corner of Noe and 21st Streets at sunset.

The blimp floating above San Francisco Bay indicates that the Giants or the 49er's are playing a home game.

Three Cottages on 21st Street	3820 21st Street

Three Isaac Anderson cottages built during the years 1903 and 1904 when Eureka Valley was being rapidly transformed from rural to urban. The block, with light vehicular traffic, retains the atmosphere of a village.	The cottages were built in a modest Queen Anne style characterized by a peaked and shingled facade.

Detail of 3820 21st Street	3824 21st Street

San Francisco carpenters included signature details in their buildings. Most Anderson buildings have rounded, Michelin Man newel posts and columns. The rose garden bears witness to the neighborhood's warmth and sunshine, at least compared to Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz, Golden Gate Park and other tourist centers.

Detail of 3824 21st Street	3860 21st Street

The garage in this cottage is a later addition. Most of the cottages retain small gardens in front.	The last cottage has been stripped of the original trim and reworked in the shingle style. Unlike most modernizations, this one blends with its neighbors and does not disturb the rural atmosphere.

Detail of 3860 21st Street

Big Purple

Detail of the shingled cottage.

The garden is filled with acanthus, a plant native to the Mediterranean and Aegean and one of many semi-tropical species acclimated to San Francisco and widely cultivated here.

Representations of the acanthus leaf were used as architectural ornamnets in Greece as early as the 5th Century BC, most famously on the capital of Corinthian columns, and elsewhere as late as the Arts and Crafts movement of the 19th century. San Francisco carpenters, influenced by both classical traditions and Arts and Crafts innovations, used the acanthus leaf in many forms as decorative elements on their buildings.

Beyond the last of the cottages is a remodeled Victorian with a nerves-of-steel paint job which sounds a wake-up call for the stroller lulled by the quiet pallette of Cottage Row.

The triangular bay window above the door is an unusual detail.