Balboa Terrace | |
|---|---|
  Balboa Terrace Location within San Francisco  Balboa Terrace Location within San Francisco  Balboa Terrace Location within Northern California | |
| Coordinates: 37°43′53″N122°28′07″W / 37.7313°N 122.4687°W | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  California |
| City | San Francisco |
| Government | |
| • Supervisor | Norman Yee |
| • Assemblymember | Catherine Stefani (D) [1] |
| • State Senator | Scott Wiener (D) [1] |
| • U.S. House | Eric Swalwell (D) [2] |
| Area | |
• Total | 0.24 km2 (0.092 sq mi) |
| • Land | 0.24 km2 (0.092 sq mi) |
| Population (2016) [3] | |
• Total | 839 |
| • Density | 3,500/km2 (9,100/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific Time) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (Pacific Daylight Time) |
| ZIP Code | 94127 |
| Area codes | 415/628 |
Balboa Terrace, San Francisco
Balboa Terrace is a small residential neighborhood in the West of Twin Peaks area of San Francisco, California. It was developed in the 1910s–1920s as one of the city’s early planned residence parks. The neighborhood spans roughly 0.09 square miles (0.24 km²) with under 1,000 residents. Balboa Terrace is bounded by Junipero Serra Boulevard to the west, Monterey Boulevard to the north, San Aleso Avenue to the east, and Ocean Avenue to the south. It lies immediately south of St. Francis Wood and shares a similar garden suburb character. Balboa Terrace is known for its family friendly landscaped streets, period Revival architecture, and a tranquil, suburban atmosphere within the city. Nearly all its homes are owner-occupied single-family houses, and the area consistently ranks as one of the city’s most desirable and high-quality residential enclaves.
History and Development
Balboa Terrace originated in the early 20th century during San Francisco’s “residence park” development boom. The tract was initially filed in 1912 by the Baldwin & Howell realty firm as one of the first subdivisions on the slopes of Mount Davidson. Progress was slow at first – as late as the 1910s the land was still mostly open fields on the edge of Adolph Sutro’s old forest and adjacent to the rural Ocean Road roadhouses. After World War I, the project gained momentum: in 1918 the Newell-Murdoch company (developers of nearby Forest Hill) purchased the property, and by 1920 an official subdivision map (designed by engineers John Punnett and John Parez) was filed. Soon thereafter, brothers Ernest C. and Oscar M. Hueter – operating as Hueter Homes – took over development of Balboa Terrace, with the Lang Realty Company as exclusive agents for sales. Construction of houses began in 1920 and continued through 1927.
Under the Hueters, Balboa Terrace was built as a master-planned “residence park” neighborhood, emphasizing harmony of design and a high-quality living environment. Renowned architect Harold G. Stoner was commissioned to design most of the homes, giving the tract a cohesive Period Revival aesthetic. Early advertisements stressed that “scattered and inharmonious building has been eliminated in favor of a carefully restricted construction program whereby homes are built in groups, block by block” to ensure architectural unity. Indeed, Balboa Terrace homes were constructed with consistent setbacks from the street, underground utility wiring, and landscaped streetscapes with planted medians and pedestrian pathways. As one contemporary description noted, the neighborhood offered “the respectability of St. Francis Wood at a lesser scale and, one might hope, price,” with its gracious streets, grassy walking paths, and absence of overhead wires. Many houses featured storybook cottage and Spanish Colonial Revival styling, complete with stucco walls, red tile roofs, and ornamental details, alongside English Tudor and Italian Renaissance influences. Stoner’s designs imbued the area with a romantic “fairy tale” character popular in the 1920s. The developers maintained uncluttered facades and lush front gardens along the streets by situating garages at the rear via mid-block service alleys.
In 1924, the Hueter brothers expanded the neighborhood by purchasing an additional 36 acres of adjacent land from the Sutro family, extending Balboa Terrace eastward beyond San Aleso Avenue. The extension departed from the original rectangular grid: new streets were laid out in gentle curves following the hillside topography, creating graceful arcs down toward Ocean Avenue. As with the original section, strict covenants and restrictions were put in place to guide development. Lots were designated for single-family residences only, with minimum construction costs and uniform set-back requirements. Like many upscale communities of its era, Balboa Terrace’s original deed restrictions also included racial exclusions – barring sale or rental to anyone not “of the Caucasian or White race” – until such discriminatory covenants were struck down after World War II.
By the mid-1920s, Balboa Terrace was nearing build-out and gaining recognition for its charm. Larger two-story homes began to appear alongside the earlier bungalows as the economy boomed. Harold Stoner delivered what buyers wanted: picturesque Spanish Colonial and Italian Renaissance Revival homes with abundant stucco, red clay roof tiles, decorative ironwork, and colorful tile accents. In October 1926, The Home Designer and Garden Beautiful magazine featured Balboa Terrace as “one of the showplaces of the Bay Region,” spotlighting its successful blend of planning and architecture. By 1927, virtually all lots had been improved with houses, completing the initial development phase.
Architectural Significance and Urban Planning
Balboa Terrace holds a noteworthy place in San Francisco’s urban development history as an exemplar of the “Garden City”/Residence Park movement (1906–1940). Along with neighborhoods like St. Francis Wood, Forest Hill, Ingleside Terraces, and others west of Twin Peaks, it was designed as a planned suburban-style enclave within the city – sometimes termed a “garden suburb”. Hallmarks of this planning approach in Balboa Terrace include landscaped boulevards, ornamental gateways, uniform architectural themes, and the separation of this residential sanctuary from commercial or industrial uses. The neighborhood’s entrance feature on Junipero Serra Boulevard – a Mission-style streetcar shelter and gateway with a semicircular arch, elegant stone benches, and period light standards – was built in 1920 and remains an iconic landmark. Designed by Punnett & Parez (the tract engineers), this gateway and its broad pedestrian paseo immediately signaled the “garden park” character of Balboa Terrace, “oozing grandeur and pomp” in the words of a local historian.
The consistency of architectural design in Balboa Terrace was largely due to the vision of Harold G. Stoner, a prolific architect of the 1920s known for whimsical Period Revival homes. Thanks to Stoner’s oversight, and the familial collaboration of the Hueters, Lang Realty, and contractor Walter Zweig (many interrelated by marriage), the entire subdivision has a cohesive look and scale. Most structures are detached single-family houses set amid lawns and low hedges, with no two homes exactly alike yet all complementing one another. Common architectural elements include arched doorways, multi-pane casement windows, decorative ceramic tilework (including artisan Batchelder tile fireplaces in several homes), and quaint details like carved wooden shutters or turreted entries. The neighborhood’s layout and deed restrictions also ensured an attractive streetscape: utilities were buried underground, and “easements in the center of the blocks put the garages at the back of the homes, giving the streetscapes a more unified and clean appearance.”. Balboa Terrace, along with its sister residence parks, embodied early 20th-century ideals of suburban tranquility, cohesive planning, and aesthetic harmony within the urban fabric of San Francisco.
Community Features and Landmarks
Although small in area, Balboa Terrace includes or is adjacent to several notable community features. At the southern edge of the neighborhood lies Commodore Sloat Elementary School, one of San Francisco’s longstanding public schools. A schoolhouse has existed at this Ocean Avenue site since the 1860s (originally on the old “Ocean House Road”), and it was later renamed Commodore Sloat Elementary. Today the school is highly regarded and conveniently within walking distance for many Balboa Terrace families. Just east of the neighborhood is Aptos Middle School (also a well-rated public school), adjacent to Aptos Park with playgrounds and sports fields used by local residents. For high school, Balboa Terrace is within the attendance area of Lowell High School, San Francisco’s top-ranked public high school, which many neighborhood students attend via the district’s school choice system. The proximity of these respected schools (graded A-minus to A-plus on school rating indices) adds to Balboa Terrace’s family appeal.
Within Balboa Terrace itself, one significant landmark is the Balboa Terrace gateway and streetcar shelter on Junipero Serra (mentioned above). This picturesque sheltered stop, emblazoned with the neighborhood’s name, not only provided access to the Muni streetcar line but also serves as a neighborhood identifier. Another architectural landmark is the First Church of Christ, Scientist (Ninth Church) located at 170 Junipero Serra Blvd (corner of San Fernando Way). This Christian Science church was built in 1921, designed by architect Henry Gutterson in a Neoclassical style, and was one of the first community buildings in Balboa Terrace. The church’s presence reflects the early developers’ provision of nearby civic amenities. (In recent years, the historic church building has also been used as an event and community space, in addition to religious services.) In the heart of the tract, at 399 San Fernando Way, stands St. Francis Episcopal Church, another neighborhood place of worship and gathering; the church is often used for local meetings and events, such as the Balboa Terrace annual homeowners’ meetings.
Balboa Terrace does not have its own commercial district (by design, as a strictly residential park), but it benefits from nearby shopping and transit. Just a few blocks north is West Portal Avenue – a bustling commercial thoroughfare with shops, restaurants, cafés, and the West Portal Muni Metro station – providing residents with urban conveniences just outside their enclave. A short distance west lies Stonestown Galleria (a major shopping mall), and to the south is the city’s Ingleside district and access to the Balboa Park BART station. Despite being “mostly residential,” Balboa Terrace is “conveniently close to [these] packed commercial” amenities and transit options, offering a balance of quiet living and accessibility.
The Balboa Terrace Homes Association (BTHA) is a longstanding neighborhood organization that plays a key role in maintaining community standards. Established by the original developers in the 1920s, the BTHA continues to enforce the tract’s Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs) and design guidelines to preserve the neighborhood’s character. All homeowners in Balboa Terrace are automatically members of the Association, which is funded by annual dues. The BTHA oversees the care of common landscaped areas – these include the expansive lawn and tree plantings along the Junipero Serra frontage, the charming pedestrian “breezeways” that cut through blocks on an east-west axis, and planted median strips on Monterey Boulevard. The Association contracts professional landscaping services and has committees for architecture review and landscape, ensuring that front yards and visible facades adhere to the tidy, garden-like standards of the community. Thanks to these efforts, Balboa Terrace’s public spaces and greenery are exceptionally well-maintained – one can see manicured lawns, flowering shrubs, and period-style street lamps that all harken back to the neighborhood’s 1920s origins. Local realtors often point out the “big lawns” and “beautiful gardens” as signature features of the area, contributing to its reputation as “an awesome neighborhood [that] is safe” and picturesque.
Neighborhood Character and Demographics
Today, Balboa Terrace retains an upscale yet homey atmosphere, often described as a “suburban slice of San Francisco.” Its winding, tranquil streets and abundantly landscaped yards can make one forget they are within a major city. The housing stock consists almost entirely of single-family detached homes, mostly built in the 1920s with a few later teardowns or remodels, and typically featuring period architectural charm. According to local data, the average home size is around 2,400 square feet on a lot of roughly 0.10 acre (4,400 sq ft). Many residences boast Spanish Mediterranean or Tudor Revival styles, complete with details like Spanish tile roofs, arched entryways, and decorative iron balconies. Homes are generally well-kept and updated; as one local realtor noted, “many have been well-maintained, and some have been remodeled over the years… People appreciate the neighborhood feel, the look, the architecture, [and] the way it’s maintained.”. The community’s continuity is also reflected in its population: many houses remain in the hands of long-term owners, and a fair number of residents are retirees who have lived in Balboa Terrace for decades. The neighborhood population was recorded as 839 in 2016, and is estimated around 950 in the 2020s – indicating modest growth. Demographically, Balboa Terrace has a high-income, educated populace and is notably homogeneous in land use (nearly 100% low-density residential). Owner-occupancy is about 94%, with only around 6% of homes rented, reflecting the neighborhood’s stability and desirability for long-term homeownership.
Quality-of-life indicators in Balboa Terrace are generally excellent. Residents enjoy low crime rates (the neighborhood’s crime risk scores are better than the national average) and a peaceful environment due to minimal through-traffic. The streetscape design – with its separated walkways and lack of commercial noise – encourages walking, and children can often be seen using the pedestrian lanes (green garden pathways) to walk to and from school safely within the enclave. The community’s location on the western slope of Mount Davidson means some homes have views westward toward the Pacific Ocean or east toward the hill, and all benefit from the fresh ocean air (though the area does experience the typical San Francisco fog especially in summer). Balboa Terrace’s climate is the same as much of western San Francisco – cool and misty at times – but on clear days the landscaped streets are sunny and inviting. The neighborhood has a “country-in-the-city” feel, with one resident noting “You’re in the city but it has this country feel” due to the greenery and quiet surroundings. Despite its small size, the community fosters a close-knit ambiance; neighbors often know each other through the Homes Association events or simply through daily routines in the uncrowded streets and shared green spaces.
Outlook and Projections
In qualitative terms, demand for Balboa Terrace homes is expected to stay strong. The neighborhood’s fundamentals – attractive architecture, safety, reputable schools, and a suburban feel near the city core – give it enduring appeal. As one local agent put it in mid-2025, “several factors suggest the San Francisco real estate market will remain relatively stable with continued strength in the single-family home segment… limited housing supply, [the city’s] perennial appeal, and the recovering stock market create a foundation for ongoing demand despite higher interest rates.”. Barring an unforeseen economic downturn, industry observers predict that well-maintained Balboa Terrace homes will continue to attract multiple buyers and sell at healthy prices through 2025. The consensus is that home values will either remain flat or climb gradually in the coming year. Even a scenario of flat prices would mean Balboa Terrace holding onto the significant gains made in 2020–2024, while a gradual rise could set new record highs for the neighborhood.
Overall, Balboa Terrace’s outlook is tied to the broader West of Twin Peaks market, which is among San Francisco’s most resilient. With its blend of historical charm and modern livability, the neighborhood is poised to retain its status as a coveted enclave. In the words of one market prediction report: “the sub-luxury market [in SF] is looking at modest growth, maybe around 5%, … it’s a more measured market with buyers being careful”. That measured optimism aptly applies to Balboa Terrace. Prospective sellers can be confident that demand remains solid for this location, while buyers can expect competition but perhaps a slightly more balanced pace than the frenzied pandemic years.
Sources:
- Balboa Terrace Homes Association – “History of Balboa Terrace.” (accessed 2023).
- Western Neighborhoods Project – Woody LaBounty, “Balboa Terrace” (historic context essay, 2008).
- Mt. Davidson.org – Jacqueline Proctor, “Mount Davidson and its Historic Neighborhoods,” updated Mar 2025.
- Niche.com – Balboa Terrace, San Francisco (neighborhood data and reviews, 2023).
- Redfin – 94127 Housing Market Trends (MLS data as of Feb 2025).
- Zillow – Balboa Terrace Home Values (Feb 2025).
- Homes.com – “About Balboa Terrace” (neighborhood guide, 2024).
- Danielle Lazier Real Estate – Market Update Spring 2025 (May 20, 2025).
- Ruth Krishnan Real Estate – “8 SF Real Estate Predictions for 2025” (Jan 2025).
