The Jungle House

The residence you are approaching in Dolores Heights represents a modern architectural transformation of a humble earthquake cottage. These cottages were once temporary housing units hastily constructed to shelter the thousands of people displaced by the massive nineteen-oh-six earthquake. Over the following decades, this specific site evolved through piecemeal additions, eventually resulting in an awkwardly connected layout that obscured its original potential. The current design, a collaboration between the firm Jones Haydu and designer Kevin Sawyers, creates a clean and open space that honors that historic footprint while embracing the steep terrain. A notable feature of the house is an inverted bay window that cantilevers eight feet from the facade, designed specifically to frame the surrounding urban forest at the level of the tree trunks. The structure is organized along a straight axis that connects the view of the distant Sutro Tower at the bottom of the hill to a towering Monterey cypress tree at the top.