What Marina District is like to work in
This is one of the few flat grids in the city, built quickly on fill after 1915, and it shows in how uniform the blocks are: barrel-front stucco, arched entry, garage below, one or two flats above. What varies is exposure. A unit facing the Marina Green takes the full westerly off the water. A rear unit in the same building stays damp and still. The two need different work at the same address.
The salt is relentless. Aluminum window frames, sliding tracks, light fittings near a deck and anything stainless in the kitchen pick up a fine film within days, and it hardens if it is left. Households near Chestnut Street and the Palace of Fine Arts usually run every other week and ask for glass and tracks each time. Add the fog that rolls past Fort Mason on summer mornings and bathroom ventilation needs checking as well as cleaning.
The building stock here
Almost everything predates 1940 and almost nothing exceeds three stories. Interiors follow one plan: a long central hall, hardwood in the front rooms, a small tiled bath, and a kitchen at the rear above the garage. Ceilings sit around nine feet with plaster coving. Many buildings have had soft-story retrofit work at garage level, leaving steel posts and a swept concrete floor used for storage. Humidity stays high year round, so grout and window reveals want watching.