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SEC. 5. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE. Identified through the Mission Dolores Neighborhood Context Statement & Survey, the Chula-Abbey Early Residential District is a one-block long stretch of properties, centered on Chula Lane, Abbey Street, and 17th Street, significant as a representative collection of Folk Victorian, Italianate, Classical Revival, and Queen Anne residential buildings associated with the themes of “Early Neighborhood Development (1864-1906)” and “1906 Earthquake and Reconstruction (1906-1915).” The period of significance is 1865 to 1912. The District is comprised of 52 properties, 37 of which include contributing resources, located in the Mission Dolores neighborhood. There are 15 non-contributing properties. The Chula-Abbey Early Residential District is significant as a representative collection of residential buildings that physically illustrate the neighborhood’s pre- and post-1906 Earthquake and Fires development transition. Because it was spared from the 1906 fires that decimated many nearby neighborhoods, the district provides a unique combination of early, small scale single-family homes along with post-1906 reconstruction-era’s larger scale multi-family flats and apartments. The majority of buildings within the Chula-Abbey Early Residential District were constructed before the 1906 Earthquake and Fires, with only a small portion dating from the reconstruction period. The District provides a rare example of the neighborhood’s small-scale residential and agricultural development patterns in the late nineteenth century. Centered around Chula Lane, an east-west midblock alley, and Abbey Street, a north-south midblock alley, the buildings in the district physically illustrate the neighborhood’s transition of development from early, small scale single-family homes to larger scale multi-family flats and apartments. The buildings related to the “Early Neighborhood Development (1864-1906)” theme are largely focused along Chula Lane and Abbey Street as a linear grouping of low-scale, freestanding buildings that evoke modest, working-class cottages in a less urban setting. Larger, freestanding, single-family dwellings were also built during this early period along the primary streets, including 3639 17th Street (1874) and 3656 17th Street (1885). Many of these larger residential buildings were converted into flats in the 1890s while surrounding properties were developed in a similar manner. These infill construction and reconstruction properties relate to “1906 Earthquake and Reconstruction (1906-1915)” theme. The Chula-Abbey Early Residential District is also architecturally significant as distinctive grouping of Victorian-era residential dwellings in Folk Victorian, Italianate, Stick-Eastlake, and Queen Anne styles. The Chula-Abbey Early Residential District is a representative collection of buildings where the overall scale and massing, wood construction, and rhythmic bays of the contributing buildings create a sense of continuity. The period of significance for the District is 1865 to 1912, inclusive of the period of construction of all contributory buildings within the District. Additional historic information, and descriptions of individual buildings, may be found in the Chula-Abbey Early Residential District Designation Report, which is hereby incorporated herein as though fully set forth. (Added by Ord. 14-26, File No. 251100, App. 2/13/2026, Eff. 3/16/2026) SEC. 6. CHARACTER-DEFINING FEATURES. Whenever a building, district, site, object, or landscape is under consideration for Article 10 Landmark designation, the Historic Preservation Commission is required to identify character-defining features. This is done to enable owners and the public to understand which elements are considered most important to preserve the historical and architectural character of the proposed landmark or landmark district. The character-defining interior features of buildings in the district are identified as: None. The character-defining exterior features of contributory buildings in the district are identified as: All exterior elevations, rooflines, historic doors and fenestration, historic materials and finishes, historic front setbacks, and historic architectural details, as described below. The following section describes in further detail the character-defining features of the district and of individual buildings. A. Overall Form, Scale and P