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Russian Hill, San Francisco Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
The hill between Van Ness Avenue and Columbus Avenue, from Broadway down to Aquatic Park: Victorian-era crest enclaves, flats, condo and co-op towers, Lombard Street's switchback block and two cable car lines.
Russian Hill by the numbers
russian hill by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for Russian Hill (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in russian hill · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Russian Hill
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Russian Hill from the MLS, updated automatically, with a map of the neighborhood outline.
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Listings come from MLSListings and other MLSs through IDX and show their listing brokerage; confirm details with the listing agent. The map outline is the neighborhood boundary used by our listing search (Russian Hill (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How Russian Hill came to be
Russian Hill's landmark blocks are at the top. The National Register's Russian Hill-Vallejo Street Crest district covers the walled summit along the 1000 block of Vallejo Street, Florence Street, Russian Hill Place and parts of Jones, Taylor and Broadway, with a period of significance running from 1875 into the 1940s and Willis Polk named as architect. Planning's record calls it a rural-feeling enclave set off by walls and natural bluffs. Two more National Register districts sit nearby: Macondray Lane, a wooded pedestrian lane on the steep north slope of the block bounded by Green, Jones, Taylor and Union (1878-1930), and the Paris Block, eleven houses in eleven styles facing each other on the flat 1000 block of Green Street (1880-1925).
Below the crest, the slopes rebuilt after 1906. Planning's Russell Street district (1906-1911), off Hyde Street, records the pattern of building that followed the earthquake and fire, and a 1905 group of wood-frame flats on North Point Street by architect John A. Porporato forms another eligible district. Water shaped the north end: the Francisco Reservoir, built in 1859 at the bottom of the hill, became Francisco Park, which opened in April 2022, according to a local news report. At the shore, the Works Progress Administration built the Aquatic Park Bathhouse from 1936 to 1939, a Streamline Moderne building by William Mooser III that opened in January 1939; it now houses the San Francisco Maritime Museum, part of a national historical park since 1988.
The tall buildings came later. Eichler Homes built the Summit at 999 Green Street, at Jones, from 1963 to 1965: 32 floors in all, with 24 residential floors over seven floors of parking and 112 original units, built as apartments and converted to condominiums in the mid-1970s, per an Eichler-focused magazine. Planning's Lombard Street district (1922-1951) covers houses on the eastern slope near the switchback block.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
The hill is steep enough that several streets give up on cars. Public maps show stairways or pedestrian-only stretches on Vallejo Street at the crest, Macondray Lane, Greenwich Street, Francisco Street and Larkin Street, and the 1000 block of Lombard Street between Hyde and Leavenworth is the switchback block, a residential street that a 2017 county transportation authority study found draws heavy visitor traffic, with car queues backing up at peak times. The Powell-Hyde cable car climbs Hyde Street over the top to Aquatic Park. Polk Street, a neighborhood commercial district, runs along the western flank from Broadway to about Filbert; Hyde Street has small corner shop clusters.
Single-family houses are scarce. The Assessor counts 324 dwellings, about 9% of 3,675 residential parcels, against 1,639 condo units, 575 flats buildings, about 567 co-op units and 453 apartment buildings. That is far more co-op parcels than in the neighboring guides (the Marina has none on the roll); a co-op is bought as shares with a lease on a unit, not as real property. By area sampling, RH-3 three-family zoning covers about a quarter of the guide, RM-1 and RM-2 apartment zoning about 29% combined, RH-1 and RH-1(D) under 5%, the Polk Street district about 3% and RTO-C corridor zoning about 4%.
The house lots themselves vary a lot: the middle half of single-family lots runs from about 1,500 to 3,600 square feet, and some houses sit on pedestrian lanes such as Macondray Lane. Remodels on the crest and in the Paris Block, Macondray Lane, Russell Street, Castle Court, North Point and Lombard Street districts go through historic review.
streets in russian hill
- Broadway
- Vallejo Street
- Green Street
- Union Street
- Filbert Street
- Greenwich Street
- Lombard Street
- Chestnut Street
- Francisco Street
- Bay Street
- North Point Street
- Beach Street
- Hyde Street
- Leavenworth Street
- Jones Street
- Taylor Street
- Larkin Street
- Polk Street
- Van Ness Avenue
- Columbus Avenue
- Mason Street
- Macondray Lane
- Florence Street
- Russian Hill Place
- Russell Street
- Castle Court
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Russian Hill
- park
Ina Coolbrith Park
A small (about 0.8-acre) Rec and Park hillside park at Vallejo and Taylor, just below the crest district; Rec and Park describes the climb up and the views of the city and the bay.
- park
Alice Marble Courts and George Sterling Park
Near Greenwich and Hyde at the top of the hill: four tennis courts, a full-court basketball court and a practice wall run by Rec and Park, next to George Sterling Park, which is operated under the city's Public Utilities Commission. Rec and Park notes views of the city and the bay.
- park
Francisco Park
A 4.5-acre park on the old 1859 Francisco Reservoir site between Bay and Francisco streets, opened in April 2022, with a lawn, play structures, a community garden and a dog park; the old reservoir now stores greywater for irrigation, per a local news report.
- landmark
Aquatic Park and the Maritime Museum
The 1936-39 Streamline Moderne bathhouse by William Mooser III, now the San Francisco Maritime Museum in a national historical park, sits on the cove at the foot of the hill; the Powell-Hyde cable car ends nearby.
- landmark
Lombard Street switchback block
The 1000 block of Lombard between Hyde and Leavenworth, a residential block where a county transportation study found heavy visitor traffic, with car queues at peak periods; walking it is simpler than driving it.
- shopping
Polk Street and Hyde Street
Polk Street's neighborhood commercial district runs north to about Filbert, and small shop clusters dot Hyde Street along the cable car line.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
Russian Hill is served by the San Francisco Unified School District, which assigns seats by application rather than by fixed boundaries; an address's attendance-area school is a tiebreaker, not a guarantee. Public schools inside the area include Yick Wo Elementary (K-5) on Jones Street, Galileo High School on Francisco Street and SFUSD's Sarah B. Cooper early education center on Filbert Street. SFUSD is changing its elementary assignment policy and its own pages give different start years, so check the exact address and current rules with SFUSD's Enrollment Center.
Getting around
- Cable cars: the Powell-Hyde line runs on Hyde Street to Aquatic Park; the Powell-Mason line (in service since 1888, Market and Powell to Bay and Taylor) runs on Mason Street along the east edge.
- Muni buses: 45 Union/Stockton on Union Street, 19 Polk on Polk and Beach streets, 30 Stockton and 28 19th Avenue on North Point Street, and the 49 Van Ness/Mission in the Van Ness center bus lanes (completed 2022).
- Rail: no BART inside. The T line's Chinatown-Rose Pak station is about 0.3 mi straight-line from the Broadway and Mason corner (about 0.8 mi from the middle); Montgomery St and Embarcadero BART are about 0.8 to 0.9 mi from the south and east edges.
- US 101 runs on Van Ness Avenue along the west edge and on Lombard Street west of Van Ness toward the Golden Gate Bridge.
- Broadway passes under the hill in a tunnel near the south edge; Rec and Park keeps small mini parks at both portals.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Russian Hill: what we check
Buying here
- Know what you are buying: about 567 Russian Hill parcels are co-op units. A co-op purchase is shares plus a proprietary lease, with board approval, share-loan financing from a smaller set of lenders and building rules on renting. Condos need the usual CC&R, budget, reserve study, minutes and assessment review, and check current dues.
- Historic review is common. Three National Register districts (Vallejo Street Crest, Macondray Lane, Paris Block) and several California Register-eligible districts (Russell Street, Castle Court, North Point, Lombard Street) cover parts of the hill. Check the Property Information Map's Preservation tab.
- Access matters on the steep blocks: confirm whether the lot fronts a street or a lane or stairway, where parking and deliveries happen, and what the slope means for any foundation or retaining-wall work.
- Tenant-occupied flats and apartments: buildings first built on or before June 13, 1979 can carry rent limits and just-cause eviction rules; most single-family homes and condos have eviction protection but not rent control under state Costa-Hawkins law. Confirm with the Rent Board.
- About 247 buildings on the Assessor's Russian Hill blocks appear on the city's soft-story retrofit list, nearly all marked work complete; ask for the retrofit permit and certificate of final completion on any five-plus-unit wood-frame building.
Selling here
- Document the view honestly (which windows, which direction) and disclose any approved neighboring projects you know of.
- For co-ops, prepare the board package requirements, financing rules and building house rules up front; for condos, order resale documents early.
- Note access precisely: street frontage, lane or stair access, garage or no garage, and straight-line distance to the Hyde or Mason cable car and Polk Street.
- Gather permits and historic status, especially for homes on the crest lanes, Macondray Lane, Russell Street or the Paris Block.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Russian Hill questions, answered
Where are Russian Hill's edges?
This guide follows the SFAR 2010 realtor map: Van Ness Avenue on the west, Broadway on the south, Mason Street and Columbus Avenue on the east, and Aquatic Park and the bay on the north, stopping at Hyde Street on the waterfront.
Is the switchback block of Lombard Street in Russian Hill?
Yes. It is the 1000 block of Lombard between Hyde and Leavenworth, a residential block that draws heavy visitor traffic.
What is the Summit at 999 Green Street?
A 32-floor condominium tower at Green and Jones built by Eichler Homes from 1963 to 1965 and converted from apartments to condos in the mid-1970s, per an Eichler-focused magazine.
Are there many single-family houses?
Few. The Assessor's 2025 roll counts 324 single-family dwellings out of 3,675 residential parcels, about 9%. Condos, co-ops, flats and apartment buildings make up the rest.
What public transit is closest?
Two cable car lines (Powell-Hyde on Hyde Street, Powell-Mason on Mason Street), several Muni bus lines and the T line's Chinatown-Rose Pak station about 0.3 mi straight-line from the southeast corner.
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