Most Popular Home Styles in the San Francisco Bay Area

A fast-paced tech scene, multi-million dollar mansions, and some of the most breathtaking views on the West Coast are just a few of San Francisco’s and the Bay Area’s highlights.

Homebuyers may balk at consistently high home prices, but those who arrive and take the time to explore this part of California quickly find unparalleled magic permeating countless neighborhoods. Of course, much of that magic comes from the region’s storied architecture.

Visit Seacliff, and you will find pristine estates in Mediterranean style perched atop the cliffs overlooking the Bay. Take a trip to Haight-Ashbury, and you will find the legendary "Painted Ladies" style of San Francisco. Explore almost all of San Francisco and the Bay Area, and you will find the gorgeous designs of late Victorians and Edwardians as well.

Amid rising mortgage rates and a rationalizing real estate market, buying a home may not seem like an easy task. But for those ready to search for their future home in NorCal, the team at Prevu Real Estate has put together a guide to the top home styles in the Bay Area.

Top Home Styles in the Bay Area

• Victorian
• Tudor Revival
• Italianate
• Shingle Style
• Stick Style
• Mediterranean Revival
• Beaux-Arts
• Rousseau "Storybook" Houses

Victorian

The popular late-1800s style is a prominent fixture in many San Francisco neighborhoods. Various iterations of the whimsical style, such as Queen Anne and Edwardian, are spottable in almost every neighborhood in San Francisco and the Bay Area. 

Tall bay windows, elaborate woodwork, and fairytale towers help keep Victorian homes' popularity alive. The iconic "Painted Ladies" of Alamo Square and their lustrous counterparts in Haight-Ashbury and Lower Ashbury are prime examples of San Francisco’s twist on the classical style. 

Homeowners venturing out to find a Victorian of their own will find many such houses dating back to the early 1900s. Some of these have been transformed into condo units, with an entire floor making up a single condominium.

Tudor Revival

Riding the coattails of the Victorian style’s popularity, the Tudor Revival style expanded the storybook repertoire of San Francisco’s home designs.

Tudor Revival homes emerged in the 1890s and imitated medieval Tudor architecture's sharp, angular features. Steeply-pitched gabled roofs, ornate half-timbering, and rustic brick finishes resulted from the style’s revival and are defining characteristics of some of San Francisco’s most celebrated Tudor Revival homes. 

The Tudor style was a favorite of New York-native architect Bernard Maybeck, whose famous Roos House in Presidio Heights became an iconic representation of peak Tudor Revival architecture. 

In the post-World War II era, the Tudor Revival was set aside in favor of the Colonial style. As a result, many of the Tudors that appear on the market can date back to the early 1900s, like their Victorian counterparts.

Italianate

A staple of U.S. architecture, the Italianate style was widely used in many developing cities and towns during the mid-1800s, including Boston and New York.

Pioneered by American landscape architect Andrew Downing, the Italianate style helped transform simple, multi-storied residences into feats of architectural sophistication. Italianate homes draw heavily on Victorian flourishes and Tudor facades. Many Italianates built on the East Coast enjoyed fanciful stonework on their exteriors.

Upon arriving in San Francisco, the Italianate style helped provide the perfect frame for the rowhouses that soon dominated much of the Golden State’s landscape. The main difference became the wooden embellishments in place of stone since access to lime and stone was more restricted during that time.

Many of San Francisco’s rowhouses capture elements of the Italianate style yet can still be classified as Victorians. The easiest way to spot an Italianate is to look for the ornate, extended hood over the tall front doors, large, symmetrical bay windows, and overhanging eaves on a square roof. 

Shingle Style

Though it originated in New England, the Shingle Style developed a signature flair as it took hold in San Francisco.

As the excessive exterior flair of Victorians became less popular, architects sought ways to retain the elegance of the style without splurging on ornamentation and embellishment. The Shingle Style is a direct result of that effort. 

When celebrated architect Ernest Coxhead joined forces with Willis Polk, the two stormed the San Francisco architectural scene with unprecedented takes on classical Victorians and Edwardians. Choosing the Shingle Style as their main canvas, they helped define the look of countless residences throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

They incorporated and blended multiple styles, but most were founded on a Victorian outline with minimalist exteriors. Using the native redwood tree as the primary source of material for the shingle roofs, Coxhead and Polk helped popularize the Shingle Style found in much of the Bay Area today.

Stick Style

Arguably overshadowed by the prominence of the Italianate style, Stick homes are a major component of San Francisco architecture.

The Stick Style caught on in the Bay Area for a few reasons: the abundance of Redwood trees that helped provide lumber for construction and cost-effectiveness due to its design.

Stick Style homes utilized the balloon-frame design, where large, vertical pieces of lumber connected the two stories within a home. The design was easier to execute and removed the need for experienced craftsmanship. This cost-efficiency helped popularize the style, but the name "Stick" was likely derived from the exterior look.

Those pieces of lumber that helped support a home's entire length were visible as long "sticks" on the outside. These were painted over to match the rest of the intricate woodwork that adorned the homes’ facades.  

Mediterranean Revival

The luxurious mansions that grace Seacliff and Marina District can be labeled under many styles. 

Some place them under the Spanish Revival umbrella; others refer to them as Marina homes. But the unmistakable appeal of the reddish stucco roofs and sepia-toned facades are most easily identifiable as features of the Mediterranean Revival style.

The foundation of the Mediterranean Revival style builds upon the Mission Revivals that dominated much of Southern California in the 1900s. The charming stucco roofs and courtyard space carried over, but the minimalist, white-washed exteriors were elaborated to create a more detailed look that defined the multi-million dollar mansions overlooking the Bay today.

The Castro Theatre, built by celebrated San Francisco architect Timothy Pflueger, is a prime example of Mission Revival architecture with Mediterranean Revival flourishes.

For homebuyers looking to secure a Mediterranean Revival home, the Marina District in San Francisco and Bay Area towns like Palo Alto  and are a few of the places to find this style.

Beaux-Arts

It should be of no surprise that one of the most expensive cities in the world should be home to one of the most lavish home styles. 

The elegant columns and intricate rotundas inspired by the peak of Roman architecture can be seen in multiple Beaux-Arts multi-million dollar mansions and townhouses in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Bernard Maybeck, who studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, brought the extravagance of the style to San Francisco, where he designed some of the most memorable pieces of architecture on display. For example, the Palace of Fine Arts, designed by Maybeck for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition and located in the Marina District, utilizes an elaborate dome and breathtaking detail that often define the Beaux-Arts style.

Many homes in this style come with an expensive price tag, but the luxurious detail and appealing symmetrical design remain highly popular among homebuyers shopping in the Bay Area.

Rousseau "Storybook" Houses

It would be remiss not to mention one of the most famous architectural styles out of San Francisco.

If you thought "fairytale" defined the splendor evident in San Francisco’s Victorians and Tudors, then seeing the famed "Storybook" homes designed by Oliver Rousseau will leave you thinking you’re in Wonderland. 

Amusingly, the flamboyant and over-the-top architectural eye candy is located in a less-than-flashy neighborhood called the Sunset District. Here, Rousseau set out to deliver distinct, architect-designed homes with an individual flair that would be accessible to the working and middle class of the 1930s.

Some resemble resort-like Spanish Revivals; some boast toy-like windows of various sizes in a stately Tudor frame. Others feature ornate balconies from which you could only expect Rapunzel to appear. Regardless of which style you stumble upon, each is a distinct work of art, and the asking prices are proof these are some of the most coveted real estate in the Bay Area.

For homebuyers in the market for "Rousseaus," it’s important to remember that various architects also built in the "Storybook" style. Though the "Rousseau" name is often attributed to these homes, not all were designed by him.  

Interested in buying a home in the Bay Area? Browse listings in your town and see how much you can save with Prevu’s industy-leading Smart Buyer Rebate.