# Old San Francisco buildings (Haight Street, mainly)

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-san-francisco-buildings-haight-street-mainly/274930
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 15, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-san-francisco-buildings-haight-street-mainly/274930 "2004-11-15T21:16:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-san-francisco-buildings-haight-street-mainly/274930/1 "2004-11-15T21:16:32Z")

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I visited SF several times over the 1990s, and I always stayed at the Red Victorian on Haight Street. I noticed that many of the vintage buildings I entered, including the Red Vic, the Pork Store Cafe, and others, all seemed to have a similar design, involving a large, high-ceilinged front room, and a mezzanine level with a railing across the back. I noticed that in at least three or four buildings on Haight, so it seems like it must have been a common design suited to some specific purpose.

Has anyone else ever noticed this? Why was that design so common?