• 1347 McAllister St. Apts.
• 91 Central Ave. Apts.
• 1201-19 Leavenworth St. Apts.
• 1201 Pine St. Apts.
• 1677-81 Haight St. Flats
• 961 Pine St. Apts.
• Alhambra Apartments
• 2415-17 Apts.
• 2411 Webster St. Apts.
• French flats
• Abbreviations

Across the street [from a splendid row of late chateauesque Queen Anne flats] at No. 1347 is one of James F. Dunn's elegant Parisian Belle Epoque designs. One wishes Mr. Dunn had had a block to himself somewhere. In any case, this is worth seeing for its complexity and contradiction (Woodbridge and Woodbridge 1992: 125).

James Francis Dunn designed another of his Parisian Belle Époque apartment buildings at 1347 McAllister (58) (c. 1900) (Wiley 2000: 300).

Attributed to Dunn & Schroepfer; Elegant French Neo-Baroque (Gebhard, Winter and Sandweiss 1985: 300).

This set of flats, at 1347 McAllister Street, with an Art Nouveau-Baroque façade and oeil de Boeuf windows on the top floor, is by James Dunn, who designed some of the most unusual houses in the city in the early 1900s: 1250 Pine Street (1919); 1201 Leavenworth Street (1908-09); the Chambord Apartments, 1290 Sacramento Street (1921); an apartment house at 2411 Webster Street (1915); the Moorish style Alhambra at 850 Geary (1914); French style flats at 2415 Franklin (1915) and 1677 Haight Street (1905); and the amazing building at 91 Central Avenue (1904). Dunn knew how to make a statement. Every one of these buildings is worth a special visit; no two are alike (Alexander and Heig 2002: 125).

One block further east, at 1347 McAllister, is a curious building in the French Baroque style, built as flats in the late 1890s, with oeil de boeuf windows in the mansard roof, carved faces and caryatids, ornate French windows, and a canopy over the entrance. (see page 125) James F. Dunn, its architect, did three or four other structures in the Parisian Belle Epoch style: one on Franklin Street north of Vallejo, one on Haight opposite Cole Street, and the Chambord Apartments at Sacramento and Jones Streets, built after 1906 (Alexander and Heig 2002: 239).

An extraordinary Classic Revival facade embellished with wonderful plaster heads (Woodbridge and Woodbridge 1992: 129).

Across the street [from Charles McCall's brown-shingled apartment house at Nos. 1202-06] is an example of Dunn's pre-Francophile style in a Classic Revival apartment house that rambles on and on up the block (Woodbridge and Woodbridge 1992: 63).

Walk to the 1200 block, where there are two striking apartment buildings designed by James Francis Dunn. Little is known of Dunn, who died before the Chambord Apartments were completed in 1921, beyond his ability to come up with original combinations of French Beaux-Arts motifs. Two of his most elegant are the apartments at 1201 Pine (20) (1909) and 1250 Pine (21) (1919) (Wiley 2000: 267).

Parisian style flats (Woodbridge and Woodbridge 1992: 129).

Another James Dunn house, at 1677 Haight Street (left), shows the refined taste of this exceptional architect. This building would be a standout even in Paris (Alexander and Heig 2002: 135).

(Woodbridge and Woodbridge 1992: 58).

Two of the more exotic examples of local apartment houses architecture. The ever-inventive Mr. Dunn here turns his hand to Moorish styling (Woodbridge and Woodbridge 1992: 114).

One of the most elegant of Dunn's essays in this imported Belle Epoque style (Woodbridge and Woodbridge 1992: 81).

One of several French Second Empire transplants in the city (see also 1347 McAllister, SF-9/2) (Gebhard, Winter and Sandweiss 1985: 48).

Designed by James Dunn, this pair of flats at 2415-2417 Franklin Street is the utmost in refined French style, with beautifully formed windows, Louis XV cartouches, delicate filigree balcony railings, and two strong male figures holding up the cornice. Compare this with another Dunn design at 1347 McAllister (page 125) and 1677 Haight (page 135) (Alexander and Heig 2002: 261).

Dunn's Francophilia varied from the tasteful to the extravagant, as demonstrated here (Woodbridge and Woodbridge 1992: 85).

James Francis Dunn, architect for a number of fine apartment buildings on Nob Hill, designed the Francophile apartment house at 2411 Webster (19) (c. 1915) (Wiley 2000: 275).

One of the half dozen or so often flamboyant exercises in French Art Nouveau that Dunn built in various parts of the city (Woodbridge and Woodbridge 1992: 58).

Walk to the 1200 block, where there are two striking apartment buildings designed by James Francis Dunn. Little is known of Dunn, who died before the Chambord Apartments were completed in 1921, beyond his ability to come up with original combinations of French Beaux-Arts motifs. Two of his most elegant are the apartments at 1201 Pine (20) (1909) and 1250 Pine (21) (1919) (Wiley 2000: 267).

Abbreviations