By Woody LaBounty: sfheritage – excerpt
Work first began on identifying and designating a North Beach historic district in the early 1980s. Some of the most accomplished architectural historians in San Francisco have put in hours on the project over 40 years, including Michael Corbett and the late Anne Bloomfield. They knew that the neighborhood between Telegraph and Russian hills along the spine of Columbus Avenue was particularly special. Every San Franciscan and every visitor knows.
Not only does North Beach possess stylistic uniformity and an intact architectural integrity dating from just after San Francisco’s 1906 earthquake and fire, but its social and ethnic associations are highly significant: Italian-American and Chinese-American history, Bohemian artists, Beat writers, early LGBTQIA+ spaces.
After city adoption of a highly praised 269-page North Beach Historic Context Statement in 2022, and with funding from the Northeast San Francisco Conservancy, architectural historian Katherine Petrin (who is also a board member of San Francisco Heritage) completed the long-anticipated historic district nomination in 2024. It was submitted in June to the California Office of Historic Preservation for review. After consideration and possible recommendation by the State Historical Resources Commission (SHRC), which meets quarterly, the nomination’s ultimate arbiter would be the Keeper of the National Register in Washington, D.C.
The North Beach National Register Historic District was included on the SHRC agenda for its February 7, 2025 meeting. On January 27, the last day possible to pull the item, new San Francisco mayor Daniel Lurie requested it be removed to allow more time for his office to conduct “due diligence.”… (more)
There are so many places in North Beach that deserve recognition that it is hard to choose one to illustrate this story. We will come back with a number of photos and invite the readers to share what they have as well. It you can write letter and express you feelings about the importance of capturing a bit of history that matter most to you. What part of San Francisco do you want to keep?