1906 Earthquake Shack Survivors: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 16:44, 5 April 2024

Unfinished History

Dolores Park—then Mission Park—cottage camp, opened November 19, 1906 and closed October 22, 1907.

Photo: OpenSFHistory.org wnp14.0615

Relief sheds as the quake shacks were known, were towed by horse-drawn carts to new locations, usually on undeveloped hillsides at the time.

These two quake cottages, in their original green color, were preserved and on display for a while on the Presidio.

Photo: Chris Carlsson

A couple of quake shacks put together along the Iron Steps above Eureka Valley.

Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2022

Earthquake cottages, the FEMA trailers of their day, were originally built and distributed in the wake of the 1906 earthquake and fire. John Baranski describes how they came to be in his Housing the City by the Bay: Tenant Activism, Civil Rights, and Class Politics in San Francisco (Stanford University Press: 2019):

[After the 1906 quake], Dr. Edward T. Devine, a New Yorker sent to San Francisco by the American Red Cross and member of the Finance Committee… called for the establishment of a nonprofit public corporation with the power to build, sell, and rent permanent housing. The housing would be not just for the usual long-term dependents of city government—such as the aged, infirm, and invalid—but also for workers who did not earn enough money to rent or buy their own homes. He recommended using $3 to $4 million of the committee’s money for housing. His program was designed to put money into circulation, create jobs, and make housing for residents who might otherwise leave for want of shelter. Inherent in Devine’s program was the conviction that public agencies should provide model homes and communities. In the end, Devine’s plan for permanent projects was reduced to 5,610 temporary cottages and 19 two-story tenements for sale to the private sector. Demand for the cottages was “enormous,” according to the Red Cross, and many of the 17,000 residents housed in these buildings across the city regarded them as better than the pre-quake housing. By the summer of 1907, the tenants were given a choice: Either purchase and move the dwellings to individual lots or be forcibly removed by city park authorities. As thousands of families were forced back into the private housing market, the city’s first experiment with nonspeculative, social housing came to an end.

Dozens of quake shack survivors dot the hills and are spread across most of San Francisco's neighborhoods. Sometimes they are plain to see, other times they are embedded in more extensive, modernized structures. It's fun to hunt for them. These photos are some that are definitely—or most likely—former earthquake shacks that were moved out of the parks to various available lots after 1907.

Surviving quake shack on Pearl Street between Duboce and Market.

Photo: Chris Carlsson

369 Valley Street.

Photo: Chris Carlsson

81 Mayflower Street.

Photo: Chris Carlsson

433 Liberty Street: is this a quake shack that was built on and extended?

Photo: Chris Carlsson

Possible shack on 21st Street.

Photo: Chris Carlsson

157 Lobos Street, might be double-quake shacks.

Photo: Chris Carlsson

Looks like an old quake shack hoisted up to the 2nd floor of this improvised structure, and windows put in all around... on the 500 block of Circular Ave., near Marston.

Photo: Chris Carlsson

Likely quake shack on Paul Avenue in the Bayview.

Photo: Chris Carlsson

Might be a quake shack, on Bernal Heights.

Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2014

1728 Clement Street. Sure looks like one!

Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2019

Diamond Street just below Diamond Heights Blvd., a modernized structure that seems to be built on an old quake shack footprint.

Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2014

This building on Ringold Alley in South of Market is comprised of two earthquake shacks with a new facade.

Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2020

This looks like a shack with a major buildout and extension, covering the corner of Laidley and Mateo in Glen Park.

Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2020

Another apparent quake shack, with foyer, garage, and extension built around it on Farragut near Rae, overlooking Visitacion Valley and Little Hollywood.

Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2020

These two small structures on Shotwell, opposite the Aztec stairs, are almost surely 1906 earthquake shacks, of which there are a surprising number dotting Bernal Heights.

Photo: Chris Carlsson

An old quake shack with an addition, perched at southeast corner of Bernal Heights overlooking Cortland Street gulch where it connects to Bayshore under Highway 101.

Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2020

This house on 24th Avenue is made up of several 1906 earthquake shacks.

Photo: Lorri Ungaretti

1836 Palou adjacent to Caltrain tunnel.

Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2021

1080 Felton Street, near Bowdoin, in Portola.

Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2021

Near the intersection of Moultrie and Ogden in Bernal Heights.

Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2016

365 Capp Street.

Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2015

172 Fairmount Street, above the Bernal Cut between Noe Valley and Glen Park. Apparently two shacks joined together long-wise.

Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2022

207 Raymond Street at Rutland in Visitacion Valley.

Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2022

54 Vesta Street, Bayview.

Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2023

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 ''Photo: OpenSFHistory.org wnp14.0615''
+[[Image:Quake-shack-drawn-by-horses.jpg]]
+'''Relief sheds as the quake shacks were known, were towed by horse-drawn carts to new locations, usually on undeveloped hillsides at the time.'''
+[[Image:Quake cottages.jpg|800px]]
+'''These two quake cottages, in their original green color, were preserved and on display for a while on the Presidio.'''
+''Photo: Chris Carlsson''
+[[Image:Quake-shack-double-on-Iron-Steps 20220706 013103938.jpg]]
+'''A couple of quake shacks put together along the Iron Steps above Eureka Valley.'''
+''Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2022''
 Earthquake cottages, the FEMA trailers of their day, were originally built and distributed in the wake of the 1906 earthquake and fire. John Baranski describes how they came to be in his ''Housing the City by the Bay: Tenant Activism, Civil Rights, and Class Politics in San Francisco'' (Stanford University Press: 2019):
@@ Line 83: / Line 101: @@
 ''Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2014''
-[[category:1900s]] [[category:Earthquakes]] [[category:buildings]] [[category:2000s]] [[category:Housing]] [[category:1906]] [[category:Noe Valley]] [[category:Castro]] [[category:hills]] [[category:OMI/Ingleside]] [[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]]
+[[Image:Double-quake-shacks-on-Ringold-Alley 20200716 171431.jpg]]
+'''This building on Ringold Alley in South of Market is comprised of two earthquake shacks with a new facade.'''
+''Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2020''
+[[Image:396-Laidley-and-Mateo 20200802 182841.jpg]]
+'''This looks like a shack with a major buildout and extension, covering the corner of Laidley and Mateo in Glen Park.'''
+''Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2020''
+[[Image:Quake-shack-near-Farragut-and-Rae 20200709 171826.jpg]]
+'''Another apparent quake shack, with foyer, garage, and extension built around it on Farragut near Rae, overlooking Visitacion Valley and Little Hollywood.'''
+''Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2020''
+[[Image:Quake-shacks-on-shotwell-opp-aztec 5643.jpg]]
+'''These two small structures on Shotwell, opposite the Aztec stairs, are almost surely [[Bernal Heights 1906 Quake Shack survivors|1906 earthquake shacks]], of which there are a surprising number dotting Bernal Heights.'''
+''Photo: Chris Carlsson''
+[[Image:Quake-shack-at-edge-of-Bernal 20200819 172800.jpg]]
+'''An old quake shack with an addition, perched at southeast corner of Bernal Heights overlooking Cortland Street gulch where it connects to Bayshore under Highway 101.'''
+''Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2020''
+[[Image:Photo6Ungaretti.jpg]]
+'''This house on 24th Avenue is made up of several 1906 earthquake shacks.'''
+''Photo: Lorri Ungaretti''
+[[Image:1836-Palou 20210327 202706527.jpg]]
+'''1836 Palou adjacent to Caltrain tunnel.'''
+''Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2021''
+[[Image:1080-Felton-Street-near-Bowdoin 20210327 212318437.jpg]]
+'''1080 Felton Street, near Bowdoin, in Portola.'''
+''Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2021''
+[[Image:Quake-shack-at-Moultrie-and-Ogden 20160227 144856.jpg]]
+'''Near the intersection of Moultrie and Ogden in Bernal Heights.'''
+''Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2016''
+[[Image:Quake-shacks-on-Alabama 20151009 150329.jpg]]
+'''365 Capp Street.'''
+''Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2015''
+[[Image:Quake-shacks-at-172-Fairmount 20220907 015355512.MP.jpg]]
+'''172 Fairmount Street, above the Bernal Cut between Noe Valley and Glen Park. Apparently two shacks joined together long-wise.'''
+''Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2022''
+[[Image:207-Raymond-at-Rutland 20220119 221422295.jpg]]
+'''207 Raymond Street at Rutland in Visitacion Valley.'''
+''Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2022''
+[[Image:54-Vesta-quake-shack PXL 20230425 230818042.jpg]]
+'''54 Vesta Street, Bayview.'''
+''Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2023''
+[[category:1900s]] [[category:Earthquakes]] [[category:buildings]] [[category:2000s]]  [[category:Housing]] [[category:1906]] [[category:Noe Valley]] [[category:Castro]] [[category:hills]] [[category:OMI/Ingleside]] [[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]] [[category:SOMA]] [[category:2020s]] [[category:Visitacion Valley]] [[category:Glen Park]] [[category:Sunset]] [[category:Portola]] [[category:2020s]] [[category:Bernal Heights]] [[category:Eureka Valley]]