There's more than 150 years of San Francisco history living behind these doors.
Relics of old SF, these homes are markers in time, housing memories from the Gold Rush and Prohibition—you know, back when you might have had a well in your backyard and a carriage house for your horse-drawn buggy. Take a tour of the most venerable houses still standing in the city.
Horatio Putnam Livermore's House (1857)
Horatio Putnam Livermore moved from Oakland to Russian Hill's 40 Florence Street in 1889. With its locally sourced and natural materials, the house is an example of First Bay Tradition style, an interpretation of Eastern Shingle style that was typical here from the 1880s to early 1920s. Architect Willis Polk—famous for supervising Bernard Maybeck's design for the Palace of Fine Arts, Le Petit Trianon and various other structures of historic significance—left his mark on this house with a remodel that included some of his signature design details such as natural redwood paneling.
