One man, many facades
Inland from Ocean Beach lies the Outer Sunset District, once a vast sand tundra known as the “Outside Lands.” In the late 19th century, it became a less-forbidding beach bohemia. Over the next hundred years it evolved into a middle-class neighborhood, home to various immigrant groups, including Germans and Irish, and most recently, Chinese.
Architectural signatures in the Outer Sunset include horse-drawn streetcars that were transformed into getaway houses in 1895, earthquake shacks built after the earthquake of 1906, and the affordable housing units built by Henry Doelger in the 1920s and 1930s. But there’s one other defining architectural oddity worth noting: along 34th, 35th, and 36th Avenues between Kirkham and Lawton Streets, you’ll find a potpourri of idiosyncratic houses reminiscent of something you might see on a film-studio back lot. The houses, known as Rousseaus, were built by Oliver Rousseau, on whose death, in 1977, San Francisco’s most prominent chronicler, Herb Caen, noted, “Another Memorial Day death: Oliver Rousseau, who built good houses while all about him, the pure schlock was rising.”
Info
Address 34th, 35th & 36th Avenues, between Kirkham and Lawton Streets, San Francisco, CA, 94122 | Public Transport Light rail: N-Judah (Judah St & 34th Ave stop) | Tip The Rousseau houses are an easy detour on your way to Ocean Beach or Golden Gate Park.
These “good houses” are slightly bigger than Doelger’s and more upscale in every way. Today they sell for $1 million or more. Each shows a different facade; some with a turret, others with a Moorish arch or a full-length second-story balcony. There are houses with mansard roofs and houses with red-tiled Spanish roofs. Some are gingerbread-like, others are in the Tudor, Mediterranean, or Parisian style. Ornamental details—such as glazed tiles, entryway medallions, finials, and ironwork—vary from house to house.
Inside, the atmospheres are equally whimsical. Designs include sunken living rooms, interior gardens, and tiled bathrooms in bold unusual color combinations. It’s all faux and fantastic, theme-less and timeless, incongruent but interesting.
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