Urban Sights: Urban History and Visual Culture

Sunset Developer Map

This page maps the building activities of developers Chris McKeon (Happy Homes Building Company), Carl and Fred Gellert (Standard Building Company, Sunstream Homes), R.F. Galli (Galli Construction Company), Fernando Nelson (Fernando Nelson & Sons), Oliver Rousseau, and Henry Doelger in San Francisco's Sunset district from the 1920s to the 1940s. Both model homes and large development tracts are indicated; collectively these building endeavors blanket the district, generating its noted suburban character. 

While exact locations are more difficult to track in Bechtle's Sunset works–unlike the Potrero images, which frequently indicate intersections, these often have more general titles–many clearly display the housing built by Doelger and his contemporaries and thus comprise another pivotal example of the artist's focus on the urban-suburban continuum. 

Data compiled from L. Ungaretti, Stories in the Sand: San Francisco's Sunset District, 1847-1964 (Balangero, 2012); and City of San Francisco Planning Department, 'Landmark designation report: Doelger Building, 320-326 Judah Street', October 3, 2012, http://www.sf-planning.org/ftp/files/Preservation/landmarks_designation/Doelger_Final_LMReport.pdf. Web design by Scott Lau. 

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