Little Red House on De Haro St.
29 Mar 2006
Matt Jalbert recently updated his post on Potrero Hill, Volkswagen and Modernist Housing in San Francisco and added some history and photos of the ‘Little Red House’.
Before this got built, the site was occupied by an old Victorian farmhouse known as the “Little Red House” that must have dated to the 1880s or 1890s, surrounded by a gigantic yard the likes of which we simply don’t normally have around here. Native Potrero Hill bedrock outcroppings poked up through the topsoil in the steeply sloped back yard, where the hill rises to Rhode Island Street. The home was relatively small and decrepit, one of the old “shacks” of Potrero Hill that have been flattened over the past 10 years to make way for new maximum-density housing.
It was a bad day on Potrero Hill when the little red house got knocked down to make way for these condos. Greed overcoming community - a sad story. The neighborhood tried hard to save the house, working with Supervisor Maxwell. Hundreds of signatures on petitions to save the house. But, the development driven Board of Appeals wouldn’t listen. We need to oppose this type of thoughtless development when we can or we’ll lose what makes Potrero Hill a fine place to live.