Ingleside Terrace, San Francisco: Homes, History & Real Estate Guide
Ingleside Terrace is the residence park laid out in 1911 on the grounds of the old Ingleside Racetrack, bounded by Ocean Avenue, Ashton Avenue, Holloway Avenue and Junipero Serra Boulevard. It is subdistrict 4E in the MLS’s District 4. Urbano Drive still follows the track’s oval, and a 1913 sundial stands in a round park inside it.
Three things set it apart from the rest of the district: lots that are, at the median, the largest in District 4; a California Register-eligible historic district covering the tract; and a homes association that has been in place since 1938. A mapped liquefaction band across the old infield is the fourth thing a buyer should know about.
Ingleside Terrace homes for sale
Ingleside Terrace market report
From racetrack to house lots
The city’s landmark fact sheet for the Ingleside Terraces Sundial tells the story. Thomas Williams acquired the land in 1894 and opened the Ingleside Racetrack there in 1895. In January 1910 he announced plans to subdivide it, and in February 1910 Joseph A. Leonard bought the property for $400,000.
Leonard, an architect and engineer, led the Urban Realty Improvement Company, known as URICO. Engineer E.J. Morser divided roughly 148 acres into 792 house lots arranged around the old racetrack loop. When sales were announced in November 1911, the lots ranged from 50 to 150 feet wide and were terraced for views toward the Pacific and Lake Merced.
Building started slowly. The first houses, including the Leonards’ own, were finished in 1912, and 38 were occupied or under construction by the end of that year. About 15 a year followed through 1921; once the Twin Peaks Tunnel opened in 1918, hundreds more went up during the 1920s under Leonard & Holt, many of them smaller and more modestly priced than the first houses.
The MLS and the Assessor spell the area “Ingleside Terrace.” The 1911 development, its association and the city’s landmark records use “Ingleside Terraces.” They refer to the same tract.
Urbano Drive, the sundial and the old gateways
Urbano Drive is the oval. Inside and around it, Assessor addresses run along Entrada Court, Lunado Way and Lunado Court, Moncada Way, Mercedes Way, Paloma, Cerritos, Estero and Pico avenues, Borica and Corona streets and Head Street, with the tract’s Ocean Avenue frontage on the north and Junipero Serra Boulevard on the west.
Sundial Park, City Landmark No. 293 since 2021, is a circle 155 feet across. Its concrete gnomon is 28 feet long and 17 feet high on a 34-foot base marked with Roman numerals, and it was dedicated on October 10, 1913. URICO advertised it as the largest sundial in the world, a claim the fact sheet calls inaccurate. A reflecting pool, a seal sculpture and the flower bed at its base were gone by the end of the 1920s; otherwise the park is largely as built.
George Leonard designed entrance gateways on Junipero Serra Boulevard and Ocean Avenue with Colusa sandstone pillars and an ironwork arch, and the Ashton Avenue entries had stone benches, pillars and planters. The Junipero Serra arch came down in the 1920s.
A second landmark sits nearby: the Joseph Leonard/Cecil F. Poole House at 90 Cedro Avenue, a 1911 Craftsman house designed by Leonard and designated Landmark No. 213 in 2000.
Lots and houses on the 2025 roll
The Assessor’s 2025 closed roll lists about 740 parcels in subdistrict 4E. Nearly all are houses:
| Measure (4E, single-family parcels) | Value |
|---|---|
| Single-family parcels | 689 |
| Median lot area | 5,998 sq ft, the largest median in District 4 |
| Median building area | 2,130 sq ft |
| Median recorded year built | 1924 |
| Recorded before 1930 | 624 (about 91 percent) |
| Recorded after 1945 | 26 |
| Recorded as one story / two stories | 321 / 337 |
The roll shows what the 1911 plan intended. Building setbacks in the original restrictions kept houses at least 14 feet apart and 12 feet back from the sidewalk, and the lot widths were planned well above the city’s standard 25 feet. The fact sheet lists Craftsman, Edwardian, Mediterranean and Spanish Colonial Revival houses among the styles.
The tract is close to evenly split between one- and two-story houses on the Assessor’s count, while in Westwood Park and Miraloma Park most houses are recorded as one story. Story counts in old records can lag later additions, so the permit file, not the roll, settles how a house was enlarged.
The homes association and the original restrictions
The Ingleside Terraces Homes Association was formed in 1938 as a permanent body to protect the neighborhood’s residential character and look after its parks and courts, according to the fact sheet. It took over landscape maintenance from URICO and enforced the neighborhood restrictions. Costs later led it to remove or replace some original features, including the entrance-gate lights and the Ocean Avenue benches. The sundial is the association’s logo and still hosts neighborhood gatherings.
URICO’s deed restrictions covered single-family use, side-yard clearances and street setbacks. They also contained a racial covenant that barred people of African and Asian descent from buying, owning, leasing or occupying property in the tract. The fact sheet notes that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1948 decision in Shelley v. Kraemer made such covenants unenforceable, though they stayed on the books until the 1968 Fair Housing Act.
That language can still appear in recorded documents. California lets an owner record a Restrictive Covenant Modification that strikes unlawful discriminatory wording (Government Code section 12956.2). Other restrictions may still bind a lot, so read the preliminary title report and ask the association what it currently administers. This is general information, not legal advice; ask a California real estate attorney to review what the recorded documents for your lot still require.
Historic eligibility, zoning and the Ocean Avenue edge
Planning’s California Register layer shows an Ingleside Terrace Historic District, eligible but not listed, with a period of significance from 1910 to 1930 and Joseph Leonard named as architect. It is not an Article 10 city historic district.
The residential blocks are RH-1(D), one-family detached, with a 40//40-R-4 height district on Planning’s current maps, and every point we checked lies inside the Family and Senior Housing Opportunity Special Use District. That SUD and California’s SB 9 can each open a path to more units on some house lots, but both carry historic-resource limits, which matter in an eligible district. Our SB 9 lot split guide covers the state rules; check a specific lot with Planning before paying for its potential.
Ocean Avenue is different. At the point we checked on the 2100 block, Planning now maps RTO-C (Residential Transit Oriented, C) with a 40//65-R-4 height district; Planning’s zoning layer was re-edited in January 2026 as the Family Zoning Plan took effect. The Assessor’s older zoning field still lists about 35 Ocean Avenue parcels as NC-1 or NC-2, so confirm current zoning on Planning’s map rather than on a tax record.
The liquefaction band through the old infield
Planning’s seismic hazard layers, which carry the state’s mapped zones, show no earthquake-induced landslide zone in Ingleside Terrace. They do show one liquefaction zone: a narrow band running east to west through the middle of the oval from near Ashton Avenue, covering part of Sundial Park and lots around Entrada Court, then continuing west across Junipero Serra Boulevard toward Lake Merced.
Most of the tract lies outside it. Parcels we tested on Estero Avenue and on the southern and eastern stretches of Urbano Drive were outside the band, but its edges cross the middle of several blocks, so check the exact parcel. A lot inside a mapped zone must be disclosed at sale; our Natural Hazard Disclosure report guide and San Francisco hazard maps page explain the reports and maps.
Getting around
The K Ingleside runs along two sides of the tract. SFMTA’s route page describes it heading north up San Jose Avenue, turning onto Ocean Avenue and then onto Junipero Serra Boulevard, and continuing to West Portal Avenue and the subway; southbound trips end at the Balboa Park BART mezzanine. Its stops include St. Francis Circle and Ocean Avenue at Lee Street.
That gives houses near the Ocean Avenue edge a Muni Metro line at the door, with BART at Balboa Park at the eastern end of the route. Houses on the far side of the oval have a longer walk, which buyers tend to measure.
Selling a house in Ingleside Terrace
Buyers here compare lots as much as houses. A wide lot on the oval, a house near the sundial, and a house facing Ocean Avenue’s commercial edge are different offerings, and a 1912 Leonard Craftsman is a different project from a 1920s period-revival house.
- Permit history. Pull permits for rear additions, raised rooflines and lower-level rooms; a two-story house that began as one story should have the paperwork to show it.
- Recorded restrictions. Order the title report early and share the CC&Rs and any association correspondence.
- Hazard status. State whether the lot is inside the mapped liquefaction band and include any geotechnical or foundation reports.
- Historic status. Planning’s property records show whether a project on the house would draw historic-resource review.
- City requirements. San Francisco adds its own sale steps, from the 3R report to transfer tax; our selling requirements guide lists them.
Current 4E figures appear in the market report on this page. Buyers comparing residence parks often look at Balboa Terrace across Ocean Avenue and St. Francis Wood to the north, and the San Francisco guide covers the rest of the city.
Questions people ask
Is it Ingleside Terrace or Ingleside Terraces?
Both. The MLS and the Assessor use “Ingleside Terrace” for subdistrict 4E, while the 1911 development, its homes association and the city’s landmark records use “Ingleside Terraces.”
Was Ingleside Terrace really a racetrack?
Yes. The Ingleside Racetrack opened on the site in 1895, and Urbano Drive follows the oval of the old track. Joseph Leonard bought the land in 1910 and began selling lots in 1911.
Does Ingleside Terrace have a homes association?
The Ingleside Terraces Homes Association has existed since 1938 and has maintained the parks and enforced neighborhood restrictions. Ask it about any current dues or approvals, and read the recorded restrictions in the title report.
Is Ingleside Terrace a historic district?
Planning has found it eligible for the California Register, with a period of significance of 1910 to 1930. It is not listed and is not a city Article 10 district, but eligibility can still shape what may be demolished or changed.
How large are the lots?
On the 2025 roll, half the single-family lots are larger than about 5,998 square feet, the highest median of any District 4 subdistrict. Individual lots vary widely around the oval.
Is Ingleside Terrace in a liquefaction zone?
Part of it. A narrow mapped liquefaction band crosses the middle of the oval, including part of Sundial Park and lots near Entrada Court. Most of the tract is outside it, so check the specific parcel.
If you are weighing a sale, request a home valuation and we will compare your house with sales of similar lots and eras in 4E, or read how we sell San Francisco homes.
Sources & notes
- San Francisco Planning: Ingleside Terraces Sundial and Sundial Park, Landmark No. 293 designation fact sheet
- DataSF / SF Assessor-Recorder: Assessor Historical Secured Property Tax Rolls, 2025 closed roll (parcel counts by class, build years, stories, median lot and building area, zoning codes, street and block listings and subdistrict extents for 4A, 4E, 4H, 4P, 4R and 4S; queried October 2026)
- San Francisco Planning: PlanningData map service (zoning, height and special use districts, landmarks, California Register historic districts, seismic hazard zones, FEMA flood zones, supervisor districts; queried October 2026)
- San Francisco Planning Code (via GoCodebook): Sec. 249.94, Family and Senior Housing Opportunity Special Use District
- California Government Code section 65852.21 (SB 9 two-unit projects), via California Public Law
- San Francisco Planning: SF Family Zoning Plan
- California Government Code section 12956.2 (Restrictive Covenant Modification), via California Public Law
- SFMTA: K Ingleside route page
Last reviewed October 2026 by Matthew Martinez.
