Eichler Laguna Heights is the cooperative apartment complex Joseph Eichler's company built in San Francisco's Western Addition in the early 1960s, beside a 150-unit Eichler apartment tower at 66 Cleary Court. Soon after, Eichler Homes built The Summit, a high-rise at 999 Green Street on Russian Hill. SF Planning's 2011 modern-architecture context statement counts four Eichler high-rise towers and two low-rise developments in the city, alongside about 100 houses.
This post covers the redevelopment program behind Laguna Heights, who designed the low-rise co-op and the tower, how The Summit came about, and what to check before buying or remodeling in any of these buildings. It is history and architecture, not a market report. Our Cathedral Hill page and Russian Hill page cover the neighborhoods around them.
Western Addition A-1: the redevelopment behind Laguna Heights
Laguna Heights stands in Western Addition Project Area A-1, the first of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency's two Western Addition project areas. According to the city's Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure, the agency's successor, the Redevelopment Agency's Commission approved the A-1 plan on November 23, 1954, and the Board of Supervisors approved it on May 28, 1956. The project area covered 108 acres around the intersection of Geary and Fillmore streets.
Clearance required relocation on a large scale. The successor agency's summary says the program required the relocation of 1,350 households and 358 businesses, and that the disruption led a community organization to sue the agency. SF Planning's 2011 context statement, citing a published study, gives a much larger displacement figure for the Western Addition. The successor agency also lists what A-1 built: Geary widened into an expressway, St. Mary's Cathedral, the Japanese Cultural and Trade Center (completed in 1968) and 2,009 new housing units.
The agency's 1961 report says that on June 7, 1961, Governor Edmund G. Brown and Mayor George Christopher spoke at the groundbreaking for Eichler Homes' garden apartments, "the first residential construction in Western Addition."
Laguna Heights: the low-rise cooperative
The agency's 1963 report describes "the Eichler Laguna Heights development of 60 units of low-rise apartments," scheduled for transfer to a tenants' cooperative in 1964. Its 1964 report says the Laguna Heights Corporation, a cooperative, elected officers and began managing its development that year. Its next report says the co-op's administration was in its second term.
The architect credit depends on the source. The agency's 1961 report illustrates Eichler's Western Addition project with a drawing of a high-rise tower captioned "Architects: Anshen and Allen." Its 1964 and 1966–67 reports caption the Laguna Heights cooperative "Architect: Claude Oakland, AIA." SF Planning's 2011 context statement says Oakland designed the low-rises with Kinji Imada in 1963, and its biographies credit Oakland's firm with the Laguna Heights Apartments at Ellis and Laguna streets (1963) and Imada with the Laguna Heights Housing Complex at 85 Cleary Court (1963). Oakland had worked as a designer at Anshen & Allen until 1960. A published history says Anshen and Allen was assigned a tower that was never built, so the 1961 drawing may show an early scheme. More on the architect is on our Claude Oakland page.
SF Planning's context statement and a published history of the complex describe it this way:
Buildings and units. Both describe six three-story buildings of 12 apartments each, 72 in all. The agency's 1963 report counts 60 units. The history adds that one of the six buildings never joined the co-op; it stayed rental and later became condominiums.
Ownership. SF Planning says the units were sold as cooperatives, "an unfamiliar form of ownership at that time."
Plan and landscape. The apartments pinwheel around a central court designed by Sasaki, Walker and Associates, with walking paths, heavily wooded areas and circular fountains. The history calls the courtyard the complex's version of the Eichler atrium.
Construction and features. SF Planning notes prominent vertical brick chimneys set against cantilevered balconies and ribbon windows. The history describes wood-frame buildings, three stories over a parking level, with brick fireplaces, sliding glass doors and patios.
The Laguna Eichler tower at 66 Cleary Court
The agency's 1962 report says Eichler Homes started an apartment building of 150 units in A-1. Its 1963 report says the company completed it and began renting it that year. SF Planning's biographies of A. Quincy Jones and of Jones & Emmons list the "Laguna Eichler Apartments, 66 Cleary Court, 1964," one of only two San Francisco projects on the firm's list, and the 2011 context statement also dates the tower 1964 and calls it the first apartment tower built in A-1. So the agency's records point to 1963 and SF Planning gives 1964. See our Jones & Emmons page for the firm's Eichler work.
SF Planning's context statement calls it an 18-story tower, though one photo caption says 15 stories. The published history, which dates the tower 1963–1964, describes reinforced concrete, with 15 floors of apartments over three floors of parking and 150 apartments. It was meant to be one of several. SF Planning says the plan called for four 18-story towers; the history says an Eichler brochure showed three and other reports four, with Oakland's firm set to design a round tower and Anshen and Allen a third. Only 66 Cleary Court was built. The history also says the tower converted to condominium ownership in 1978, that its concrete slabs carry radiant-heat pipes, and that its units originally had Philippine mahogany walls, few of which remain.
The Summit at 999 Green Street
The Summit is Eichler's Russian Hill high-rise. SF Planning's biography of architect Neill Smith says his firm, Neill Smith & Associates, formed in 1961, designed The Summit at 999 Green Street in 1965, and lists it as a Joseph Eichler development. Oakland's biography lists interior design for the "Russian Hill Summit Apartments" at the same address, dated 1963. The 2011 context statement calls The Summit Eichler's final San Francisco project and dates it 1964, and a published history dates construction to 1963–1965.
The context statement names the designer as Tibor Fesces of Smith's firm; the published history spells the name Fecskes and credits Kinji Imada of Oakland's firm with the interiors. Both describe a trade. The context statement says Smith's firm won the commission in a land-for-commission swap, and the history says Smith owned the site, which had held a house designed by Julia Morgan, and sold it to Eichler on the condition that his firm design the building.
Both describe a 32-story tower. The history gives 330 feet: 24 residential floors, including two two-story penthouses, over seven floors of parking. It counts 112 units originally and fewer today, because owners have combined units. On the structure the sources differ in detail. SF Planning says the cantilevered floors, which end in balcony edges, are carried by two concrete piers; the history describes post-tensioned slabs cantilevered from a central core and further supported by curved piers. The history says the skin is almost entirely floor-to-ceiling glass, and that an open-air plaza separates the parking floors from the apartments; the designer has said Eichler left it open in response to neighbors' opposition. The building opened as rental apartments and, the history says, was converted to condominiums in 1974.
SF Planning's context statement says The Summit's scale and hilltop placement were extremely unpopular when it was built and led to zoning reforms limiting the height and bulk of later hilltop buildings. The published history ties the opposition to the Board of Supervisors' 1972 cut in height limits across much of the city. Two decades later, the National Register record treated it as an intrusion. The Russian Hill/Paris Block Architectural District nomination, which the National Park Service catalog dates to 1988, says the district's boundaries are set by "intrusive modern highrise apartments at 999, 1000 and 1070 Green." The Summit sits outside that district, which covers roughly 1017 to 1067 Green Street.
What to check in these buildings
Co-op or condo. Laguna Heights' low-rises were set up as a cooperative, where owners hold the building in common; SF Planning calls 66 Cleary Court a condominium tower, and the published history says The Summit became condominiums too. Co-op shares and condo units are bought, financed and governed differently, so read the bylaws or CC&Rs and talk to a lender and an attorney early.
House rules. Associations can regulate balconies, window coverings and flooring. The published history says the tower's association keeps bikes and barbecues off balconies and sets window-covering rules, and that residents are discouraged from laying hardwood over the radiant slabs because of noise. Get the current rules in writing.
Radiant heat in concrete. Ask how the slab heating is maintained, who pays for repairs and what has been replaced.
Original finishes. SF Planning lists the enclosing and glazing of open balconies as a common alteration at both the low-rises and the tower, and the published histories say mahogany walls and kitchens have been changed in many units. Ask whether the association keeps original plans.
Permits. Check the permit record with the city's Department of Building Inspection, and ask SF Planning about anything that changes the exterior.
This is general information, not legal advice. Check with the city, the association and an attorney before relying on it for a specific unit.
Frequently asked questions
Who designed Eichler's Laguna Heights?
The agency's 1964 report and SF Planning credit Claude Oakland's firm with the low-rise cooperative, and SF Planning adds Kinji Imada. SF Planning credits Jones & Emmons with the tower at 66 Cleary Court. The agency's 1961 report showed a drawing of an Eichler tower captioned with Anshen and Allen.
Is Laguna Heights a co-op?
The low-rise apartments went to a tenants' cooperative, which the agency reports began managing them in 1964. A published history says one of the six buildings stayed out of the co-op, and that the tower became condominiums in 1978.
Who designed The Summit on Russian Hill?
SF Planning credits Neill Smith & Associates, with interior design by Claude Oakland's firm. Its 2011 context statement and a published history name a designer in Smith's office, spelled Tibor Fesces in one and Tibor Fecskes in the other.
Is The Summit a historic landmark?
We found no landmark listing for it. The neighboring Russian Hill/Paris Block National Register district calls it an intrusion and uses it to mark its boundary.
Related reading
Eichler Architects: Who Designed Which Homes, Tract by Tract
Eichler Radiant Heat: Copper vs. Steel, Repair, Replace or Retire
More guides on this topic: Eichler Neighborhoods & Tract Histories
Curious about an apartment at Laguna Heights or The Summit? Call or text the Boyenga Team at Compass at (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606, or contact the Boyenga Team online.
