Before & After ~ Move It or Lose It!
The 1880s Volmer House by architects Samuel and Joseph Cather Newsom is one of a large number of Victorian era houses purchased by the San Francisco Redevelopment Authority as part of an Urban Renewal “slum clearance” program in the 1960s. It was one of a handful that were relocated to save them and rehabilitated. Today it is a highly desirable and valuable home.
Hundreds of similar houses were demolished, and more than 25,000 residents displaced. Not coincidentally, most of those displaced residents were poor, elderly, and/or people of color. This so-called “slum clearance” of disproportionately poor and non-white neighborhoods using federal Urban Renewal funds occurred in cities across the U.S., destroying millions of historic homes, many owner-occupied in stable neighborhoods.
More tragically, acres of surface parking and undeveloped vacant lots remain in many cities where the promised shiny new development never occurred. San Francisco was the exception in saving a few significant historic houses.
Sometimes the only way to save a house is to move it. All aspects of home restoration are covered in “Restoring Your Historic House, The Comprehensive Guide for Homeowners.”
Signed and personalized copies of the award-winning and bestselling 720-page hardcover book are available from the author in our shop, YourHistoricHouse.com/shop/.
Select restoration and preservation titles by other authors also available in our shop!
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