Recap: Glen Park Neighborhood History Night

On Thursday, November 13, 2025, the meeting room at the Glen Park Branch Library was

standing room only! All had gathered to learn more about SF Survey, a multi-year program to identify and document places and resources of cultural, historical, and architectural importance to San Francisco’s diverse communities. The GPNHP, along with the SF Public Library, collaborated with SF Planning to bring the event together.

The purpose of SF Survey is to: (1) support community-led cultural initiatives through partnerships, programming, and historic preservation protections and incentives, and (2) facilitate the historic review process for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), building permit applications, development projects, and area plans. How lots that contain a structure that has been designated as a historic landmark, or is a contributor to a historic district, would be evaluated under the Family Zoning Plan was presented by Senior Planner Maggie Smith.

Because of the Family Zoning Plan, District 8 Supervisor and President of the Board of Supervisors, Rafael Mandelman, shared in his January 7, 2026, newsletter (at the time of this writing, not yet posted online) that he had focused his efforts "on minimizing its [i.e., the Family Zoning Plan] potential impact to historic resources. To that end, we were able to carve out several hundred recognized landmarks from the upzoning and to require that if lots are merged under the plan to allow larger new developments, developers will be required to incorporate any historic resources on the properties into the projects. I will continue to work with the Mayor, the Planning Department, Board colleagues and the historic preservation community to ensure that even as we build homes for San Franciscans, as we must do, we preserve the unique history of our oldest neighborhoods."

During this interactive meeting that offered opportunity for community engagement and feedback, we heard more about the San Francisco Citywide Historic Context Statement, the research and findings of structures specific to the Glen Park District, and some of the robust cultural history that helps make Glen Park special. Then, I had the opportunity to present some of the exciting history associated with our revered Glen Park corridor.

The results of this new survey will supersede the results of the 2010 Glen Park Historic Resources Evaluation. And what is very exciting is that some of our treasured architectural resources have been identified as potential historic resources.

These buildings include the Tietz house at 657 Chenery Street, a Folk Victorian structuer that is Glen Park's oldest structure; the former Chenery Park restaurant location at 683 Chenery Street of Spanish Colonial/Mediterranean Revival design, and the current site of Soluna Yoga Studio (formerly Glen Park Cleaners) at 701-703 Chenery Street. This building of Stick-Eastlake design was constructed by saloonkeeper Walter Haack in 1897 and is the oldest commercial mixed-use building in Glen Park.

So, because of the significance of the Glen Park commercial district "as a representation of the early 20th century evolution of the neighborhood commercial corridor," particularly in the context of the catastrophic destruction of downtown businesses and residences in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, Glen Park Center has been deemed eligible as a Historic District!

The next step is for the results of the SF Citywide Survey to be reviewed for approval by the Historic Resources Commission, followed by the Board of Supervisors. If you have questions about how these results might impact your property, please see the resources linked above, in addition to How to Use the Survey document, and this SF Planning FAQ page.

As many of you may already know, the Chenery and Diamond Streets Corridor (what I refer to as the "Glen Park Curve," an S-shape that appears on maps dating back to the late 18th century), is one of the oldest routes in San Francisco. established after centuries of travel by the Yelamu, a tribe of the Ramaytush Ohlone, it was used as a convenient point of egress for the first European to use it: Juan Bautista de Anza in July 1776.

So, like the United States of America and the birth of San Francisco, 2026 is the 250th anniversary of the center of our village of Glen Park. 

Party, anyone?