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 The house at 111 Manchester Street, more than a hundred years old in 2004. << Back |
Every
year San Francisco comes closer to losing another among a finite number
of century old redwood cottages. This footprint is all that's left of one
such irreplaceable cottage at 132 Laidley Street
in the southern part of Noe
Valley. When it was demolished in 2000, its redwood planks filled a dumpster
with a reddish gleam. See the property as it appeared
in 1907. Preservationists are in a constant
struggle for development that balances neighborhood character with the wants
of commercial interests in San Francisco. An association of Noe Valley neighbors
wary of development here sprang up overnight to prevent the construction
of a mansion on a hill not far from the Laidley property. The neighborhood
group was no match for the lawyers, architects, and city planners lined
up against them. Construction of a so-called monster
home - a 4,000 square foot, 4-story, single-family home with working
elevator - on Zircon Place was well underway in 2001.
Detail: The right of the owner to develop the property at 111 Manchester Street in Bernal Heights was contested in 2004. |
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Copyright 2002 Hank Donat |