Historic Preservation Commission initiates landmark designation for Sacred Heart Parish complex

The San Francisco Historic Preservation Commission voted unanimously Oct. 5 to initiate landmark designation for the Sacred Heart Parish complex in the Western Addition, directing staff to return with clarified findings and options for the commission’s second hearing. The action begins a formal Article 10 landmark process for the church, rectory, school and convent that staff described as meeting “established integrity eligibility requirements.”

Planning Department staff recommended two periods of significance — circa 1891–1936 and 1968–1972 — and proposed a refined list of character-defining features. Shannon Ferguson, Planning Department staff, told commissioners the department had adjusted the draft to focus the designation while noting the property’s association with architect Thomas J. Welch and Father Eugene Boyle’s later civil-rights-era significance.

The hearing focused less on whether the site merited protection than on technical questions about what to list. Mark Reiser of the Historic Preservation Fund Committee objected to exclusions in the staff report, saying, “We do take issue with the exclusion of the so called connector or bridge between the rectory and the sanctuary,” and asked staff to justify the decision. Reiser urged clearer cross-references between the staff report and the proposed ordinance so future permit reviewers understand which features were intended for protection.

Owners and their representatives urged additional documentation and time to resolve ambiguities about interior volumes and character-defining features. An owner representative told the commission they would submit full floor plans and requested the schedule be slowed “a teeny bit” so outstanding issues could be resolved before final recommendation to the Board of Supervisors.

More than a dozen members of the public and neighborhood groups spoke in favor of designation. Residents, preservation groups and arts tenants — including artists who live and work in the former convent — described the complex’s cultural role and urged protection. Robert O. Pritchard of Save Our Sacred Heart noted the State Office of Historic Preservation had previously found the property eligible for the National Register.

Commissioners and staff discussed how to treat stained-glass windows that had been removed without permits and later returned to the property; staff said those elements were included because they were originally part of the building fabric and were recovered by the current owner. Commissioners also debated whether to list interior spaces such as the narthex and baptistery in whole or to identify a range of options (from limited interior features to a broader interior listing) to balance preservation guidance with the owners’ proposed adaptive reuse.

The commission voted to initiate designation and to ask staff to refine the record and present options at the second hearing. Staff said the next hearing will include additional plans, sections and a clearer statement of which features apply to which buildings; there is no statutory deadline for the follow-up. The motion passed unanimously, 7-0.

What’s next: staff will provide clarified documentation, floor plans and options for interior feature listings at a subsequent hearing before the commission and later a resolution to the Board of Supervisors.