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St. Francis Wood & Monterey Heights, San Francisco Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
Mason-McDuffie's 1912 residence park on the west slope of Mount Davidson, with an Olmsted Brothers street plan and John Galen Howard gates, plus the Monterey Heights hillside next door.
St. Francis Wood & Monterey Heights by the numbers
st. francis wood & monterey heights by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for St. Francis Wood & Monterey Heights (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in st. francis wood & monterey heights · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in St. Francis Wood & Monterey Heights
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in St. Francis Wood & Monterey Heights 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 (St. Francis Wood & Monterey Heights (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How St. Francis Wood & Monterey Heights came to be
St. Francis Wood started as part of the old Sutro holdings on the west face of Mount Davidson, land that had been part of the Rancho San Miguel grant. In the early 1910s the Residential Development Company bought about 725 acres from the Sutro estate, and the Mason-McDuffie Company, the firm behind the Claremont and Northbrae residence parks in Berkeley, bought 175 of them. Lot sales opened on October 12, 1912. The pitch: improved lots, deed restrictions, a homes association and home sites about twice the width of a standard 25-foot city lot.
Mason-McDuffie hired the Olmsted Brothers of Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1913 to lay out the streets and landscape, with James F. Dawson leading the work, according to the National Park Service. John Galen Howard designed the main gate, the entry pillars, the first fountain, the brick-inlaid sidewalks and the sales office that later became the association's office. Henry Gutterson followed as tract architect. He designed the terminal fountain in 1916, designed 83 houses and reviewed other architects' plans against the restrictions from 1914 to 1954, according to the city's draft context statement on residence parks. Sales were slow at first; the real build-out came in the 1920s, when 347 houses went up, more than 60 percent of the eventual total. St. Francis Wood was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.
Monterey Heights is the hillside east of San Jacinto Way. Early Olmsted sketches ran streets as far east as Yerba Buena Avenue, but that land stayed with the Residential Development Company and was later developed by Baldwin & Howell, according to the same context statement; the San Francisco Public Library's guide to the firm's records lists Monterey Heights among its tracts. On the Assessor's roll, about 140 of its 312 houses date from the 1920s and most of the rest from the 1930s to the 1950s. It has its own homeowners association and sits outside the St. Francis Wood historic district.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
The plan reads like a slope map. Streets run in a near-grid on the gentler western blocks and turn into curves on the steeper northeastern ones. St. Francis Boulevard is the spine: it starts at the main gate on Junipero Serra Boulevard (two curved loggias with small gable-roofed gate houses), passes the Circle fountain at Santa Ana Avenue, widens into St. Francis Plaza, a 50-foot lawn median, and ends at the terraced terminal fountain at San Anselmo Avenue, which the homes association restored in 2008. Along Portola Drive, concrete pillars with acorn lights and 'St. Francis Wood' in metal script mark the side entrances.
The street details are part of the design. Six-foot sidewalks carry red brick edging and a brick diamond inlay, eight-foot planting strips were planted street by street, front yards share a uniform setback, and utilities run underground. On the north-south streets, houses on the east side sit above the sidewalk behind banks or retaining walls. Styles run through the period revivals plus Craftsman and Arts and Crafts; no single style was required. The big early houses line St. Francis Boulevard; 1920s houses on slopes such as Santa Paula Avenue tend to be smaller. On the Assessor's roll, most St. Francis Wood houses are two stories, the middle half run about 2,350 to 3,400 square feet, and the median lot is about 5,000 square feet.
Monterey Heights' streets, among them Maywood, Fernwood, Rosewood and Ravenwood drives, San Felipe Avenue, St. Elmo Way and El Verano Way, wind across the slope above Monterey Boulevard, which carries a planted median along the St. Francis Wood edge. Houses there are a little newer and somewhat smaller (Assessor middle half about 1,950 to 3,000 square feet, median lot about 4,700 square feet). The whole guide area is zoned RH-1(D), single-family detached, on the city's zoning map, apart from a few public parcels.
streets in st. francis wood & monterey heights
- St. Francis Boulevard
- Santa Ana Avenue
- San Anselmo Avenue
- Santa Clara Avenue
- Terrace Drive
- Santa Monica Way
- San Lorenzo Way
- Santa Paula Avenue
- San Pablo Avenue
- San Andreas Way
- San Buenaventura Way
- San Fernando Way
- San Leandro Way
- San Rafael Way
- San Benito Way
- San Jacinto Way
- Maywood Drive
- Fernwood Drive
- Rosewood Drive
- Ravenwood Drive
- San Felipe Avenue
- St. Elmo Way
- El Verano Way
- Yerba Buena Avenue
- Monterey Boulevard
- Portola Drive
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near St. Francis Wood & Monterey Heights
- landmark
St. Francis Boulevard gates and fountains
The main gate at Junipero Serra Boulevard, the Circle fountain at Santa Ana Avenue and Henry Gutterson's 1916 terminal fountain at San Anselmo Avenue sit along one street, with the 50-foot St. Francis Plaza lawn between them.
- park
Terrace Drive park and the tract's mini-parks
The Olmsted plan set aside about two acres on Terrace Drive at Santa Clara Avenue, now a long lawn with tennis courts, a basketball court and a play area, plus small triangle parks at San Lorenzo Way/Santa Monica Way and San Anselmo/Santa Paula avenues. The homes association handles landscape upkeep in the tract; ask it about any use rules.
- park
Mount Davidson Park
The Recreation and Park Department's park on the hill to the east has trails on its western slopes and more than 30 acres of mostly blue gum eucalyptus forest; its center is about 0.6 mi straight-line from the middle of this guide.
- shopping
West Portal Avenue
The West Portal Avenue neighborhood commercial district starts just across Portola Drive, about 0.4 mi straight-line from the center; a local history group describes it as the shopping street that grew up to serve St. Francis Wood and the other residence parks.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
St. Francis Wood and Monterey Heights are served by the San Francisco Unified School District, which assigns seats by application and lottery; an address's attendance-area school is a tiebreaker, not a guarantee. Public schools close by include West Portal Elementary at 5 Lenox Way, across Portola Drive, and Commodore Sloat Elementary at 50 Darien Way and Aptos Middle School at 105 Aptos Avenue, a few blocks south of Monterey Boulevard. SFUSD's elementary assignment policy is changing (its own pages give different start years), and boundaries and tiebreakers change, so check the exact address with SFUSD's Enrollment Center.
Getting around
- Muni Metro: West Portal station (K Ingleside, L Taraval, M Ocean View) is about 0.4 mi straight-line from the center, and the K and M stop at St. Francis Circle on the guide's west corner.
- The K Ingleside runs south on Junipero Serra Boulevard and east on Ocean Avenue to Balboa Park; its Junipero Serra & Ocean stop is about 0.5 mi straight-line from the center.
- BART: Balboa Park station is about 1.3 mi straight-line to the southeast.
- Driving: Portola Drive runs along the north edge, 19th Avenue (State Route 1) and Sloat Boulevard meet at the west corner, and the I-280 ramps at Ocean Avenue are about 1.2 mi straight-line.
- On foot: the Portal Path and Terrace Walk cut through blocks, and the West Portal Avenue shops are a short walk across Portola Drive from the northern blocks; Stern Grove is about 0.8 mi straight-line west.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in St. Francis Wood & Monterey Heights: what we check
Buying here
- Historic status: St. Francis Wood parcels are Category A on Planning's historic resource map (National Register and California Register district), so exterior changes visible from the street, additions and demolitions get historic review. Most Monterey Heights parcels are Category B (not yet evaluated, 45 years or older), which can trigger an evaluation. Check the address in the Property Information Map's Preservation tab.
- Homes associations: ask for the St. Francis Homes Association's current CC&Rs, any design-review requirements and assessment status before you write an offer, and check current dues. Monterey Heights has its own homeowners association with bylaws and annual dues; confirm whether the house is a member.
- Hillside lots: about 5% of the guide area lies in a mapped state seismic hazard zone, mostly on slopes near San Jacinto Way, Maywood Drive and Miraloma Drive. Read the natural hazard disclosure, and expect geotechnical review for big additions there. Retaining walls, drainage and foundations on the uphill side are worth a close look.
- Zoning versus private rules: the area is RH-1(D), and city rules may allow added units or an ADU on RH lots under conditions, but recorded CC&Rs can be stricter than zoning. Check both before you pay for a plan.
- Old deeds in early residence parks can contain discriminatory covenant language, which is void. The city has a free process to record a modification that strikes it (see sf.gov).
Selling here
- Gather the association paperwork buyers will ask for: CC&Rs, any association approvals for past exterior work, and contact details for the association office.
- Pull your permit history. In a Category A district, buyers and their agents will check that past exterior work went through Planning.
- Order pre-sale inspections for the items 1920s hillside houses raise: foundation, drainage, retaining walls, older wiring and the sewer line.
- San Francisco's transfer tax rate steps up with the sale price; check the current tiers on sf.gov and settle in the contract who pays.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
St. Francis Wood & Monterey Heights questions, answered
Who designed St. Francis Wood?
Mason-McDuffie developed it, the Olmsted Brothers laid out the streets and landscape starting in 1913, John Galen Howard designed the gates, the first fountain and the sidewalk pattern, and Henry Gutterson served as tract architect and designed the 1916 terminal fountain.
Is St. Francis Wood a historic district?
Yes. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022 and is also on the California Register, so its parcels are Category A historic resources in Planning's review. Monterey Heights is not part of that district.
Is there a homeowners association?
St. Francis Wood has the St. Francis Homes Association, which looks after the tract's fountains, plaza and greenbelts. Monterey Heights has a separate homeowners association. Ask both for current documents and dues.
How do you get downtown from here?
Muni Metro is the direct route. West Portal station is about 0.4 mi straight-line from the middle of the area, and the K, L and M run from there through the Twin Peaks Tunnel to downtown.
What is the difference between St. Francis Wood and Monterey Heights?
St. Francis Wood is the Mason-McDuffie residence park west of San Jacinto Way, built mostly in the 1910s and 1920s. Monterey Heights is the hillside tract to the east, developed by Baldwin & Howell, with more houses from the 1930s to the 1950s.
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