Topographical Map, via lib.berkeley.edu
San Francisco is famous for its hills. It’s said to be the 2nd hilliest city in the world after La Paz. For a while, these features were seen as something to be conquered. In many cities of the world, the higher areas are less desireable, because they’re harder to reach. That was the beginning of our city as well.
If you look at a topographical map of San Francisco, it’s easy to notice the grid going up and over the hills of the downtown region. The original city planners plotted roads over and through peaks with abandon. Continuing to look at the map, you notice a change as the city expands to the south and west. Beginning in Pacific Heights and the Western Addition, tops of hills were dedicated to parks: Bernal Heights, Alta Plaza, Lafayette Park. In the southestern section, the grid is skewed to align with the slope of the hills. Lastly the southwestern region is a series of planned developments like Forest Hill and St. Francis Wood, with roads curving to hug the contour lines.
Before, via foundsf.org
This demonstrates the changing theory of city planning over time, and also illustrates the odd effects of hills on a grid. This first segment actually goes against the grain of the rest of this series, in that the topography didn’t leave many unexplained scars on the landscape. The most pertinent example from early history is the 2nd Street Cut. To summarize, the railroads all ended south of Market, and there wasn’t a level path through to downtown. Thus, a path was cleared along 2nd St through Rincon Hill. In reality, most of the downtown hills we take for granted are partially man-made, as they were all graded for advancing levels of transit.
Like most of the first 4 portions of the story, I think it’s safe to say that the topography won’t have any more lasting effects on the shape of the city. All of the hills have been developed or preserved, an that isn’t likely to change. It’s interesting to note that the greatest changes in our vertical landscape happened when we had the least technical knowhow, but those early changes are the ones that last.
After, via foundsf.org
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Patrick Carroll on 08.24.2009
I just discovered your very excellent blog. I particularly liked this article about grids over hills. I live in Diamond Heights at the corner of 30th and Douglass…IF the original street grid had been extended that far. I was always amazed to see on old maps how the grid was extended far out into the bay and up and over Diamond Heights and up the side of Mt. Davidson…