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3331-3333 Cabrillo Street
 
As one of the farthest neighborhoods from San Francisco’s downtown core, the Outer Richmond District remained a vacant expanse of sand dunes for decades after the city was established. For a time it was part of the Mexican Rancho Punta de los Lobos. Then, under American rule, became home to squatters and ranchers, many of whom had come to San Francisco for the Gold Rush but failed to strike it rich. In the 1860s, a toll road was built along the present route of Geary Boulevard, allowing Richmond District ranchers to take their produce to market and city folk to spend the day at Ocean Beach. Shortly thereafter, the city street grid expanded into the avenues, streetcars rumbled into the neighborhood, and major streets like Geary and Arguello boulevards were paved. The 1906 Earthquake flushed refugees from destroyed areas of the city into the outer neighborhoods, where many decided to settle permanently. The growing popularity of the private automobile then allowed people to live farther from downtown and residential development continued to spread westward. The Richmond District saw exponential growth in the 1920s, but just a few years prior, the house at 3331-333 Cabrillo Street was one of few residences that dotted the windswept sand dunes.
 
Building & Engineering News reported completion of the house on 23 July 1915, when property owner Bessie W. Johnson settled construction costs with builders George W. Boxton & Son. Around the time that George and Charles Boxton built 3331-3333 Cabrillo Street, they maintained an office in the Chronicle Building in downtown San Francisco; an indication that they were not just one of the myriad small builders in the city. Newspapers record a number of contracts that the Boxtons were awarded for the construction of houses and apartment buildings, but also document contracts for larger projects like the Concord Inn (1911) and Martinez Town Hall (1912) on the East Bay.
 
An early Sanborn Fire Insurance map (1919) indicates that the house at 3331-3333 Cabrillo Street was a two-story, single-family dwelling, originally addressed 3331 Cabrillo Street. The map shows the house as the only one on the southern stretch of Cabrillo Street between at least 33rd and 37th Avenues, although a large barn-like building labeled “The Park Amateur Driving Club” was located at Cabrillo and 37th and a few houses were scattered along the perpendicular avenues. 
 
From its construction until 1930, the house was occupied by Bessie W. Johnson and her family. Bessie was born in New York in 1861 and had been married to Frederick J. Johnson, an Englishman and the superintendent of the Prudential Insurance Company of America. Frederick died in January 1915, and it seems likely that the estate he left Bessie enabled her to purchase the property and build the house on Cabrillo Street. The family had previously rented a house on 32nd Avenue. At the time of the 1920 census, Bessie was living at 3331 Cabrillo Street with her daughter, Ruby Wright; grandson, Stanley; and a lodger named Arthur A. Sones, who worked as a book keeper.
 
Although Bessie Johnson may have retained ownership of the property, in 1930 she began renting out the house. The occupants were Frank J. Creede, manager of the State Compensation Insurance Fund; his wife Letitia; their young son, Frank Jr.; and a maid named Josephine Ramos. By 1940, the Creedes had purchased the house from Bessie Johnson and continued to live in it. Frank had opened his own law practice. The family employed Anne Bariela as domestic help and had a roomer named Eleanor Kerr, a 22 year old woman with no occupation. The 1950 census shows much the same situation, although the Creedes no longer employed a maid or had a lodger.
 
In 1952, Frank and Letitia Creede retired to Carmel. They appear to have retained ownership of the house on Cabrillo Street, however; and subdivided it into two residential units; 3331 and 3333 Cabrillo Street. The Creedes retained the unit addressed 3331 Cabrillo as a city pied-a-terre and rented out the new unit addressed 3333 Cabrillo to Peter A. Smith, a lawyer, and his wife, Mary.
 
Frank Creede died in Carmel in 1960 and the house on Cabrillo Street was sold. It appears to have been let to various rental tenants in the decades to come.  Residents in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, with identified occupations included Calvin B. Colt, who worked for the Hormel Meat Co.; Bob Klobas, a mover for Beacon's Van & Storage, and his wife Cheri; Robert P. Malek, who worked for G&N Radio and Television Service, and his wife Hazel; Patrick C. Matthews, an employee of United Cleaners; Richard J. Gleason, an employee of the Environmental Protection Agency, and his wife Jeanine; and Mylos I. Sonka, a social worker. At certain points, the two residential units may have been further subdivided, as addresses for 3331a and 3333a appear in addition to the two main addresses. In 1975, the property was purchase by the Hong family, who own it today.
 
The house at 3331-3333 Cabrillo Avenue is a simple example of the First Bay Tradition style, a San Francisco Bay Area iteration of the East Coast Shingle style. The style became popular around the turn of the twentieth century, between about 1895 and 1917, and exhibited Arts & Crafts influences with a less formal emphasis. Bay Area architects such as Ernest Coxhead, Willis Polk, John Galen Howard, Bernard Maybeck, and Julia Morgan were best known for honing the style, but it was taken up by many vernacular builders, too. 
 
The house exhibits the style's boxy, but somewhat vertical form, topped with a simple hip roof withbroad eaves. The walls are clad with hallmark wood shingle, which were originally installed with a pattern of alternating exposure, but now have a standard pattern. Craftsman influence can be seen in the large three-part front window with a decorative surround that includes a pediment-like panel at the top, once adorned with pyramidal corner blocks. The double-hung window sashes, which are shorter on top than bottom and have vertical muntins, are also in the Craftsman vein.