When San Francisco was first established in 1850 the US Government owned the entire city. They almost immediately deeded the City of San Francisco the eastern stretch of land bordered by Divisadero (which is why the street is so named) and Market. All the land west of Divisadero was called “Outside Lands” and consisted of nothing but sand dunes, scrub and the occasional homesteader. But as early as 1852, the City filed a lawsuit against the US Government for ownership of Outside Lands. In 1864 the California Supreme Court ruled in the City’s favor, but the case was appealed and went to the US Supreme Court. The City again prevailed, and US Congress passed the Outside Lands Act of 1866, granting Outside Lands (with the exception of the Presidio^[1] and Fort Funston^[2]) to the City, and voiding any land claims made by existing homesteaders. Seeing an insurmountable fight with the homesteaders, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors quickly proposed that if they donated a portion of their claim towards the construction of Golden Gate Park, they would gain clear title to the remainder of their land. The homesteaders agreed. Golden Gate Park was built and divides the Sunset and Richmond Districts. These two districts would remain relatively unoccupied until 1917 when the Twin Peaks tunnel was completed, allowing a public transportation route from the eastern side of the City to the west.

Both of my parents, Anne Filmer Gasparich Wright and Chris G Gasparich grew up in the Sunset in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Anne grew up on 28th between Lincoln and Irving. Houses built in this area were large detached structures with modest front yards. Chris’s house, on 23rd between Moraga and Noriega, was only 10 blocks away, but was a Doelger home, with a zero lot-line and no front yard.  

Henry Doelger (1896-1978) was born in San Francisco and lived with his family in a house at the corner of 8th and Judah. His father owned a small market at the corner of 7th and Hugo, but Henry began working at the age of 12 to support the family. He managed a hotdog stand at the corner of Lincoln and 7th and it is rumored that he sold more bootleg gin than hotdogs. His older brother Frank took the proceeds from this venture and began buying and selling vacant lots in the center of the Sunset District. Eventually, Henry and his other brother John joined Frank’s real estate office at the corner of 8th and Irving. When Frank suddenly died, Henry took over the business. Realizing that no one was interested in buying barren land, he built his first home at 1427 39th Avenue in 1927. When it quickly sold, he began mass producing homes using an assembly-line method of construction. At 6’3” and always impeccably dressed, Doelger was a commanding presence as well as a great marketer. What set him apart from his competitors was selling his $5000 homes to working class starter families by making buyers feel that they were purchasing something unique. While all of his homes had the same floor plan, buyers were given the choice of five facades that distinguished the homes from each-other. He gave these embellishments grandiose names like “Nantucket”. He would build 11,000 homes in the Sunset District before moving on to develop the Westlake District of Daly City. By the mid 1930s Doelger was the largest homebuilder in the United States. He was able to weather the Great Depression^[3] by securing loans from Bank of America^[4]. In 1932 he moved his offices to a newly built Art Deco building at 320 Judah, and the company name changed to Henry Doelger Homes. Today this building is a City landmark. Doelger’s own home sat on the edge of Golden Gate Heights overlooking his accomplishment.

Chris’s house had a “Mediterranean Revival” facade. A barreled front with five rounded windows sat over a recessed garage. Doelger houses have zero lot-lines, meaning that one house butts up against the next. There was no front yard, but a modest backyard. My aunt, Jennifer Gasparich Wreden, describes a door on one side of the garage door that led to a hidden stairwell. The ice man and the milk man used this door to deliver their goods to a side kitchen door. Unlike Anne’s house, Doelger homes initially used coal for heat. Coal would be delivered through a slat on the other side of the garage door and into a bin in the garage (all Doelger homes converted to gas in the early 1940s). The garage took up the entire ground floor, with living quarters on the floor above. There was a living room, dining room (separated by glass doors), a kitchen, kitchen nook, two bedrooms and one bathroom. My father and aunt shared a room when they were young until my grandfather, a carpenter, built a room for Chris in the garage. 

Historically, the Sunset (the largest district in the City) was inhabited predominantly by Irish and Italian immigrants because racial covenants excluded African Americans and Asian Americans from purchasing property. This changed in the 1960s when Asian American families began moving in. While the Sunset District was the last in the City to remain predominantly white, today Asian Americans make up fifty percent of the district. The “Avenue Houses”, as Doelger homes in the Sunset were called, were built solidly with redwood framework, and have withstood the test of time. 

^[1] The Presidio: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=5121

^[2] Fort Funston: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=3821

^[3] Great Depression: story coming October 11th 

^[4] Bank of America: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=3302