Mention Midtown Terrace to many San Franciscans and you’ll be met with a quizzical gaze. Where is it? What is it? It’s a mid-century neighborhood on the west side of Twin Peaks. Think single-family homes, fully detached, with both front and rear yards, lots of green space, and peace and quiet.
Midtown Terrace Neighborhood Vibe
It’s a strictly residential neighborhood, with a somewhat suburban feel to it. Midtown Terrace was built as a planned community starting in the 1950s, and it provides a lot more elbow room than other neighborhoods in the City. Houses, a firehouse, a school, and a church. That’s Midtown Terrace in a nutshell.
Popular Midtown Terrace Home Styles
Call them mid-century homes — some more modern than others at this point. There are approximately 800 homes in Midtown Terrace, all originally built within about 10 years. They were modest homes, meant for working-class families, and while many have been extensively remodeled, the neighborhood retains its original charm with fully detached, two-level homes, most with three bedrooms and two baths. And parking!
Getting Around in Midtown Terrace
The Forest Hills Muni stop is within walking distance (depending on your definition of walking distance) but Midtown Terrace residents are fairly car-dependent (it was built beginning in the 1950s, after all). The good news is that almost every home has a garage. The bad news is that you’ll probably be pulling in and out of that garage a lot!
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Nestled on the west side of Twin Peaks, Midtown Terrace is a planned community that is filled with a tranquil collection of detached single family homes that were built beginning in the 1950s. The neighborhood has a very suburban feel, with relatively wide streets and homes that often have both front and rear lawns.
At the base of the neighborhood lies the Midtown Terrace playground, which has an excellent play structure and flat field that is great for soccer or any other field game. Because Midtown Terrace was built as a planned community, it has a few features that you aren’t likely to find in too many other San Francisco neighborhoods. A few examples would be that there are no homes built directly behind one another – Midtown Terrace homes are separated by a small strip of land known as a green belt. All of the utilities are underground, so you don’t see telephone or power lines. Homes in Midtown Terrace are a part of a neighborhood homeowners’ association.
Homes for sale in the neighborhood commonly feature three bedrooms and two bathrooms, which for San Francisco is a pretty generous serving of real estate. The neighborhood is also within the geographic boundaries that give (a slight) preference to enrollment at the highly coveted Clarendon Elementary public school. These are just a few of the reasons that buyers with elementary aged children often consider this neighborhood when they are looking at homes for sale.