Pacific Heights, San Francisco: the Haas-Lilienthal House, two twelve-acre parks and a ridge of numbered houses

The reason to walk this ridge is the houses, and the reason to trust a particular house is its number. San Francisco keeps a register of individually designated buildings under Article 10 of the Planning Code, and Pacific Heights holds a long run of them, mostly on the east-west streets that climb the hill.

Several carry an entry on both registers. The Haas-Lilienthal House, 2007 Franklin Street, is San Francisco Landmark No. 69, designated on 4 January 1975, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, reference number 73000438, on 2 July 1973, and it is open for tours. The Whittier Mansion at 2090 Jackson Street is San Francisco Landmark No. 75, designated on 8 November 1975, and was listed on the National Register, reference number 76000524, on 26 April 1976; on 29 April 1941 its title was transferred to the German Reich, which paid $44,000 in cash for it and used it as its consulate. The Atherton House at 1990 California Street, San Francisco Landmark No. 70, designated in 1975 and listed on the National Register, reference number 79000527, on 31 January 1979, was renumbered from 1950 California Street in 1900 and cut into thirteen apartments in 1923. The Tobin House at 1969 California Street faces it: San Francisco Landmark No. 260, designated in 2008, listed on the National Register, reference number 09000806, on 5 October 2009.

The Spreckels Mansion, 2080 Washington Street, is San Francisco Landmark No. 197, designated on 9 June 1990: three storeys in the French Baroque chateau manner by George Adrian Applegarth and Kenneth A. MacDonald Jr., faced across Washington Street by Lafayette Park, and screened by a very tall hedge planted by the novelist Danielle Steel. The Bourn Mansion, 2550 Webster Street, is San Francisco Landmark No. 38, designated in 1971: red clinker brick in an English townhouse manner, built in 1896 by Willis Polk for William Bowers Bourn II and Agnes Moody Bourn.

Beyond those, a numbered house is often all a visitor gets, and that is worth knowing before you set out. Chambers Mansion and the Richard E. Queen House stand on the same block of Sacramento Street; the Isaac Wormser House, the Lilienthal-Orville Pratt House and the William Vale House on California Street; the Talbot-Dutton, Leale and Ellinwood houses along Pacific; the Gibbs Residence and its caretaker's cottage on Jackson Street; the Edward Coleman House on Franklin Street; the Madame C J Walker House on Pine Street; the Ortman-Shumate House on Scott Street; the Casebolt House on Pierce Street. Every one of them is a private residence, and no source states opening hours for any of them, so none are given here. The C. A. Belden House at 2004-2010 Gough Street, the Dallam-Merritt House at 2355 Washington Street and the Real Estate Associates houses on Clay Street carry a National Register reference number and no city number.

Two parks of almost exactly the same size sit a few blocks apart, and both are open all year from 5am to midnight. Lafayette Park, 2101 Washington Street, is 12.48 acres and is bounded by Washington, Sacramento, Gough and Laguna Streets, with two tennis courts, a children's playground, an off-leash dog area, restroom facilities and a picnic area; it gives views toward the Marina district, Alcatraz Island, San Francisco Bay, Buena Vista Park and Twin Peaks. Alta Plaza Park, 2501 Jackson Street, is 12.94 acres, established in 1888, bordered by Jackson to the north, Clay to the south, Steiner to the east and Scott to the west, with the plaza cutting off the east-west continuation of Washington Street and the north-south continuation of Pierce Street. Three hard-surface tennis courts, a small playground at the centre, grass across the northern half and terraced lawns on the southern. The steps at Alta Plaza appear in the 1972 film What's Up, Doc?. They were used without permission and were badly damaged during the chase sequence, and the damage can still be seen. A third, much smaller green is the Presidio Library Mini Park at 3150 Sacramento Street, 0.679 acres.

Fillmore Street is where the shops are, in the blocks between Bush Street and Broadway. Streetcar service on Fillmore began in July 1895, and the following month the Fillmore Counterbalance was installed to work the 24.54 percent grade between Green Street and Broadway. The area was platted as part of the Western Addition in the 1860s and acquired the name The Fillmore in the 1880s; decorative arches lined the intersections between 1907 and 1943 and were then removed for scrap for the war effort. The Clay Theatre at 2261 Fillmore Street opened around 1913 and closed in January 2020; it is San Francisco Landmark No. 302, designated on 6 May 2022.

Broadway between Divisadero and Lyon is the other walk. San Francisco Heritage publishes a self-guided Broadway walking tour of approximately 15 blocks, 0.8 miles, which it describes as moderate with a few hills. Two of the institutions on it hold whole city blocks and are working schools rather than visitor sites: Convent and Stuart Hall, the Schools of the Sacred Heart, at 2222 Broadway, and the Hamlin School at 2120 Broadway, a private day school for girls from kindergarten to eighth grade. Sarah Dix Hamlin bought the Van Ness Seminary at 1849 Jackson Street in April 1896, the school took her name in 1898, it moved to 2230 Pacific Avenue in 1907, and she died on 25 August 1923. One caution about the name on the Broadway campus: the James C. Flood Mansion at 1000 California Street is a different house on a different hill.

No source states a bus route, a rail line or a station for this ridge, so none is given here. Steer by street addresses instead, and expect to climb between the parallel streets.

The Haas-Lilienthal House at 2007 Franklin Street, San Francisco CA 94109, (415) 441-3000, is shown on docent-led tours. The churches with published visiting arrangements are St. Dominic's at 2390 Bush Street, Congregation Sherith Israel at 2266 California Street, San Francisco CA 94115, (415) 346-1720, and the Swedenborgian Church, whose sanctuary and garden are at 2107 Lyon Street at Washington Street and whose office and mail address is 3200 Washington Street at Lyon Street, (415) 346-6466. Calvary Presbyterian Church is at 2501-2515 Fillmore Street and St. Brigid's Church at 2151 Van Ness Avenue.

The parks are at 2101 Washington Street, 2501 Jackson Street and 3150 Sacramento Street. For food and a bed: b. patisserie at 2821 California Street, San Francisco CA 94115, (415) 440-1700; SPQR at 1911 Fillmore Street, San Francisco CA 94115; Pizzeria Delfina at 2406 California Street, San Francisco CA 94115, 415.440.1189; and Hotel Drisco at 2901 Pacific Avenue, San Francisco CA 94115, (415) 346-2880.

The houses named above are read from the pavement, at 2080 Washington Street, 2090 Jackson Street, 2550 Webster Street, 1990 and 1969 California Street, 2220-2222 and 2212 Sacramento Street, 2395 Sacramento Street, 1782 Pacific Street, 2475 and 2799 Pacific Avenue, 2622-2624 Jackson Street, 1701 Franklin Street, 1834 and 1818-1820 and 2226 California Street, 2066 Pine Street, 1901 Scott Street, 2727 Pierce Street, 2004-2010 Gough Street, 2355 Washington Street and 2503, 2524, 2530 and 2536 Clay Street. The Webster Street district runs three blocks. The Lyon Street stairway climbs between Broadway and Green Street.