Shipwrights Cottage at 900 Inness hit by vandalism [Photo: Bluoz]
According to Bluoz, 900 Inness got a graffiti abatement notice on October 7, 2012. The little shipwrights cottage has been sitting vacant and deteriorating for years, and is owned by the Tenderloin Housing Clinic after it was donated by a developer. The building is a city landmark, but this isn't its first brush with damage and vandalism.
Back in 2005, the India Basin Neighborhood Association started the process to get the property listed as a city landmark, as the last Victorian shipworkers cottage in San Francisco. It was built in 1875 as housing by working-class San Francisco shipwrights. The site where the cottage sits remained a shipwright and repair yard operated by the Anderson family for over 90 years until the late 1980s, and the building was used as both a residence and as an office.
900 Innes in the 1970s when it was used as an office for the shipyard [Photo: SF Planning]
By 2008, the land at 900 Innes Street was donated to the Tenderloin Housing Clinic by local developer Joe Cassidy for the purpose of building housing for Bayview residents. The proposal was for two four-story residential buildings for 128 units, a 40-slip marina, and retail. The project pushed the landmark nomination to the forefront, and the Supervisors voted to make it local landmark #250 - with the caveat that there are development opportunities for the remainder of the large shipyard lot.
Fast forward to September 2010, and a fire in the building required a new roof causing DBI to visit the site and add it to the vacant building list. The Historic Preservation Commission and Planning Department staff were not happy with Randy Shaw and the Tenderloin Housing Clinic for letting the building sit in disrepair, and issued a letter telling him to get it together. After extensive pushing from the Commission, Planning and DBI staff, and the community, Tenderloin Housing had a fundraiser and raised enough money for a contractor to work on the roof and paint the house. Doesn't look like much work has happened, since the building has once again been vandalized. And there's been no word recently on that supposed surrounding development. Readers - anyone know what the current state of the site is?
· Landmark Designation of 900 Innes Avenue [SF Planning]
· Historic Preservation Commission meeting minutes [SF Planning]
· Maintenance and Repairs to 900 Innes [SF Planning]
· Preservationists Prevail: Supes Zap Bayview Housing [Curbed SF archives]
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