Inner Sunset Time Capsule Opens

04/01/08 - posted by Angus Macfarlane

1249 9th Avenue may not be the oldest building in the Inner Sunset, but it is certainly the oldest-looking. For years the neglected exterior of this turn of the 20th century building has intrigued and mystified me. Even though it was occupied, it was the closest thing to a haunted house that I could imagine.

This old house is for sale and yesterday's open house gave me the the chance to see the interior of this venerable old-timer. Ignoring the one million dollar asking price for this "as-is fixer-upper", I walked through its tiny rooms, wondering at the changes that this house witnessed and withstood in the surrounding neighborhood: from wooden sidewalks on 9th Ave to concrete; from gas street lamps to electric; from the clop-clop of horses hooves to the growl of diesel buses.

The interior is probably unchanged from the time the first family moved in more than a century ago. It includes a vintage stove, although I doubt that the two one-car garages were originally included for horseless carriages.

I tried to imagine who lived there over the years and decades as the trees in Golden Gate Park grew taller and the undeveloped expanses of sand in the Inner Sunset grew smaller and the neighborhood grew outward and filled in.

I don't know how many more open houses there will be before this time capsule is sold and demolished by the next owner, but I recommend that you all drop by and see this bit of our history.