2019 'Architecture + the City' - Page 2

The spokeswoman is particularly enamored with the two smallest homes on tour, located in Glen Park and Bernal Heights with remodels respectively designed by Schwarz and Willmer.

The 2,102-square-foot Pinales House in Glen Park was built in 1908 and remodeled this year. It was transformed by the addition of a split-level entryway and connecting stair, combined with opening up the rear of the house to views of a redwood tree with cityscape backdrop.

Exactly a century passed between construction of the Precita Park home in the Heights and its 2017 remodel, which added a modern bedroom and bath among other improvements.

"I love those homes," Udo-O'Malley confessed. "They're smaller but they're just done really well."

While the younger owners of a 5,000-square-foot tour house on Twin Peaks planned for a "longer shelf life," she said, several of the remodels had other motives.

"People are scaling back. Smaller might be more," she said about San Francisco home ownership. Her preferred pair of the five homes is partly because they are "more realistic for your average San Francisco homeowner," and partly because "I think I fall into that demographic."

Room & Board furniture store, 685 7th Street, serves as home base for the tour, with refreshments and restroom facilities. Tickets include admission to the architects forum, also at Room & Board, and a booklet about the tour.

Tickets for the 'San Francisco Living: Home Tours' event are available for $25 to non-AIA members by clicking here.