San Francisco’s Victorian Houses Are Being Restored to Their Original Glory

For over a decade, young homeowners—fueled by tech money and the dominance of modern architecture—were heavily reworking the city’s cache of historic properties. Many century-old homes had their interiors gutted to create open-plan living spaces, their architectural details removed to make way for precise corners, their woodwork painted bright white and their exteriors washed in various shades of gray.

Amid the pandemic, the tide is finally starting to turn. A growing number of younger residents of San Francisco are choosing to purchase and restore historic properties—in particular the Victorians that are so synonymous with the city.

According to Realtor.com, views of Victorian and Edwardian properties in San Francisco have increased by 80% year-to-year, and the median price-per-square-foot for these homes reached $1,050 in January, up 8.7% from last year. Views per property of modern single-family homes, meanwhile, were down 5.7% over the same period, with a 1.8% increase in price-per-square-foot to $831. News Corp. , owner of The Wall Street Journal, also operates Realtor.com under license from the National Association of Realtors.

“For the last 10-12 years during the massive economic boom here, houses were in such demand that you had people buying Victorians, painting them a solid dark gray and stripping out the interiors in an effort to modernize the appearance of a house that they obviously didn’t like that much,” says Lynne Rutter, a decorative painter who serves as the president of Artistic License, a coalition of local artisans dedicated to period revival work. “Recently, I have seen far more thoughtful restoration happening, and younger homeowners who are doing more considerate work. They are eager to know more about their homes and will ask a lot of questions,” she says.

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