baile_studio

The Deep Mission – or Outer Mission as it is more commonly known – began as farmsteads and pastureland that provided San Francisco with with Swiss chard and potatoes. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Mission District was a primarily working-class white neighborhood dominated by Irish and German immigrants, with a significant Italian presence, especially after the 1906 earthquake. Irish families populated areas around 24th Street, while Italian immigrants, often employed as laborers, farmers, or peddlers, settled in the district before the area shifted toward a Latino majority in the 1950s-60s. In the 1990s to 2000s housing bubble and its subsequent gentrification led to many Latino/Chicano and Asian/Filipino families to move into the area. Until recently it remained one of the few low-rent and middle-class enclaves in San Francisco. Lately the neighborhood has gained popularity with Silicon Valley employees looking to be in the city, but have easy access to the highways heading south.

In a full circle moment, our client, a recent Irish immigrant, purchased a 1916 post earthquake Edwardian timber framed house adjacent to the 24^th Street corridor. With the building she inherited a well proportioned but down on her luck family compound that had seen a lot of unpermitted interior manipulation throughout the years. Our first goal was to uncover the years of illegal renovation and neglect and see what stories might be hiding within. The design process saw us untangling a rabbit warren of walls to open up and create a large light filled Kitchen, Dining and Living area. In the process a closed off industrial skylight was identified, revealed and celebrated at the nexus of the Public and Private spaces. The open loft like space now hovers over the bustling neighborhood below where one is as likely to stumble across a hipster bar or Michelin starred restaurant as the old family fruit stand.