The local landmark helped revive awareness of structure that provided vital shelter in the wake of the 1906 earthquake
Editor’s note: This article is part of an Examiner series exploring the history of some of San Francisco’s lesser-known historic landmarks. Today, we consider Landmark No. 171 on The City’s local registry, a rare link to the 1906 earthquake .
Many of San Francisco’s landmark buildings stand out for their monumental stature or striking architectural splendor. But in the case of the tiny wooden cottage at 1227 24th Ave. in the Sunset, it is precisely the building’s undistinguished smallness that makes it remarkable. The structure’s tiny proportions — underscored by the neighboring homes that tower over it on either side — provide the telltale sign of its true origin, which stretches back nearly 120 years to the direct aftermath of the 1906 earthquake. At the time, with much of The City laying in ruin and thousands of residents sleeping in hastily erected tent encampments, city leaders searched for a way to provide sturdier forms of shelter that could better withstand the fast-approaching winter cold. In the end, they hit upon a plan that resulted in the mass production of a vast fleet of tiny wooden cottages — about 5,600 in all — that were then rented out to quake victims. These wooden structures — the smallest of which measure just 10 by 14 feet — came to be known as refugee shacks. And their story didn’t end with the earthquake relief effort. Hoping to clear out the encampments that had taken over San Francisco’s parks and plazas, The City offered to grant ownership of the simple wooden dwellings — and reimburse rent — to anyone willing to cart the structures off. Many people took The City up on this deal, transporting their cottage to an unclaimed parcel of land and then moving inside. In this way, the army of wooden shacks quickly dispersed all over town. Over the decades, the vast majority seem to have been dismantled, but a tiny handful still remain intact. That includes the cluster of four shacks that makes up the home at 1227 24th. Three have been melded together — a common practice as residents repurposed the cottages into more permanent dwellings — and a fourth is freestanding in the property’s backyard, according to city documents. As the years slid by and San Francisco developed into a modern metropolis, these quaint little cottages — and the important role they played following the 1906 earthquake — might have faded from public consciousness entirely were it not for the efforts of one of the people who has called 1227 24th St. home. When she first moved into the pint-sized house in 1982, “I had no idea it was anything special,” said Jane Cryan, speaking during an interview a few years later. Ex // Top Stories Steph Curry, Michael Mina team up in Union Square Pair to open bourbon bar, steakhouse in hotel SF nonprofits fear for future in era of federal, city budget cuts They say philanthropy can’t fill in the gaps left by a loss of federal and city government investment Local experts: Demand for at-home reproductive care on the rise The COVID-19 pandemic helped spark demand. Changes in abortion access and newly available tests are driving higher She only found out because a neighbor happened to tell her about its history. That conversation seems to have sparked a transformation for Cryan, who went on to become an ardent preservation advocate for San Francisco’s refugee cottages. “They feel like homes. They make you feel safe and cozy, even though they’re small,” Cryan said in a 1980s interview with The Examiner. The paper covered Cryan’s preservation campaign in a string of articles that ran all the way through the early ‘90s. Thanks to Cryan’s efforts, in 1984, San Francisco granted landmark status to her home at 1227 24th, making it the first, and to this day only, refugee shack structure to land a spot on The City’s landmark list. While Cryan’s preservation efforts were not always successful, she wracked up some notable successes. In one case, she managed to convince authorities to relocate two other refugee shacks at risk of demolition to the Presidio Museum, where they were incorporated into the museum’s 1906 earthquake exhibit. More recently, the refugee shack preservation baton has been picked up by others, including Woody LaBounty, who today serves as the president and CEO of San Francisco Heritage. LaBounty estimates that somewhere between 30 and 50 refugee shacks remain standing in San Francisco. Yet more could also be hiding away in backyards or incorporated into the structures of the homes built up around them. Making these diminutive buildings especially hard to save is the fact that they are generally privately owned. For many property owners, their presence is seen, first and foremost, as an impediment to repair or redevelopment work they wish to carry out. Indeed, the owner of Cryan’s home fought the 1984 landmarking effort, The Examiner reported at the time. “So it never ends,” LaBounty said. “I feel like I've been working on trying to save earthquake shacks for 25 years. There's always new ones and new issues.” Even the two shacks that Cryan managed to save and relocate to the Presidio in the 1980s may soon be in jeopardy, due to a complicated bureaucratic tangle that has thrown into doubt just who should take responsibility for them, LaBounty said. But for LaBounty, these small structures remain not only important links to the 1906 earthquake, but also a potent reminder of San Francisco’s resilience in the face of disaster and its commitment to helping those most in need. “That's where I think it's more relevant than ever,” LaBounty said. “Here is this unique idea that came out of our disaster, that people, I think, would still be inspired by as climate change and war and other things in our world create refugee situations.”
Refugee Shack Refugee Cottage 1906 Earthquake Preservation
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