Get to Know: Mission Terrace
Looking across Niagara Street. Image by Eric Heath on Flickr.
Mission Terrace is a residential development in SFAR’s District 10 (Southeast). It is bounded by I-280 on the northwest, Mission Street on the east-southeast, and Geneva Ave on the southwest.
It was one of the early planned neighborhoods, and perhaps the first developed as affordable housing for working-class people. Prior to 1910, the area was largely Italian vegetable gardens with “quaint old windmills, shack homes, barnyards and goats.” Developers Baldwin & Howell subdivided the land, and began selling homes and parcels in 1911.
The housing stock reflects the time of its development, with mainly single-family homes in styles typical of the era: Spanish Revival, Arts & Crafts, Marina, and so on. It remains a calm, oasis-like pocket flanked on all sides by bustling areas. From anywhere in Mission Terrace is an easy walk to Glen Park, Sunnyside, Balboa Park, lower Bernal Heights, and the Excelsior. It offers both easy access to the freeways and excellent public transit, with connections to major Muni lines and BART stations at Balboa Park and Glen Park.
