Clarendon Heights, San Francisco: Hillside Homes & Real Estate Guide
Clarendon Heights is a small hillside area between Twin Peaks and Mount Sutro, on Clarendon Avenue and the streets that climb from Cole Valley toward Twin Peaks Boulevard. The Assessor codes it 5H, matching the MLS subdistrict, and its 2025 roll holds only about 400 parcels, which makes it one of the smallest areas in District 5.
The streets with the most parcels are Graystone Terrace, Clarendon Avenue, Corbett Avenue, Saint Germain Avenue, Villa Terrace and Mountain Spring Avenue, followed by Belgrave Avenue, Carmel Street, Palo Alto Avenue and Crown Terrace. The neighbors are Cole Valley and Parnassus Heights below, Ashbury Heights to the northeast and Twin Peaks to the southeast, with Midtown Terrace in District 4 nearby.
Clarendon Heights homes for sale
Clarendon Heights market report
A name from an 1894 water tank
In 1894 the Spring Valley Water Company built a 500,000-gallon tank on a knob above Belgrave Avenue and called it the Clarendon Heights Water Tank. The tank came down in 1957, the city rezoned the hilltop for houses in 1961, and after a 1975 charter amendment the city bought the land back; it became Tank Hill park in 1977.
Tank Hill is about 2.9 acres at roughly 650 feet, with wooden steps up from Twin Peaks Boulevard and from Belgrave Avenue. Wikipedia places the park in Ashbury Heights, while the Assessor puts the Belgrave Avenue parcels in 5H, so the park sits right where the two names meet.
Two larger landmarks frame the area. Sutro Tower, at 1 La Avanzada Street and listed in Clarendon Heights, rises 977 feet to the tip of its antenna and began transmitting on July 4, 1973. To the west, Planning maps about 79 acres of Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve.
Houses from every decade
Unlike most of District 5, this is not a pre-1906 neighborhood. The 2025 roll lists about 290 single-family houses, about 20 flats-and-duplex parcels, 56 condominium units and 15 apartment buildings, 11 of them with five or more units (93 units in all).
- The median house was built in 1954 and has about 2,640 square feet of recorded building area.
- The median house lot is about 3,600 square feet, the largest of any District 5 subdistrict.
- Across all parcels with a recorded year, about 135 were built before 1940, 100 from 1940 to 1959, 64 from 1960 to 1979 and 87 in 1980 or later.
- The oldest recorded years, 1900 to 1906, appear on Carmel Street, Clayton Street, Mountain Spring Avenue and Corbett Avenue; the newest houses on the roll, from 2020 and 2025, are on Mountain Spring Avenue.
Condo units have a median build year of 1975 and the apartment buildings 1951. Because a single block can mix a 1905 house with a 1950s one and a recent rebuild, comparable sales need careful matching on age and condition, not just size. Our San Francisco luxury homes guide covers the larger view houses.
Zoning: detached houses and the unit-size limit
RH-1(D), the detached single-family district, is the most common code on the roll, at about 180 parcels, followed by RH-1 (about 85) and RH-2 (about 85), with about 16 RM-1 parcels. That pattern is unusual for District 5, where most hill blocks are RH-2 or RH-3.
The Central Neighborhoods Large Residence SUD (Planning Code Section 249.92) limits a new or enlarged dwelling unit to 3,000 square feet of gross floor area, exempting expansions of less than 15%. Its perimeter follows Portola Drive, then the eastern fork of Twin Peaks Boulevard north to Clarendon Avenue, then Clarendon west to University of California land, so lots on the Cole Valley side of that line are covered; lots on or beyond it should be checked on Planning’s map.
With a median house already near 2,640 square feet, the cap leaves little room for large additions on many lots here. Planning’s map service also flags ground at 20% and 25% slope, worth checking early in any design. This is general information, not legal advice; check with a land use attorney or architect before planning work.
Landslide mapping, not liquefaction
An envelope drawn around the 5H parcels returns nine mapped landslide polygons on Planning’s seismic hazard layer and no liquefaction zone. The landslide areas follow the steepest slopes, so check each parcel; the Natural Hazard Disclosure will state the result for a sale.
On these lots the practical questions are retaining walls, drainage, foundation type and how a contractor will reach the site. For the 11 larger apartment buildings, ask whether DBI lists the building under its soft-story program, which covers older wood-frame buildings with five or more units and at least three stories, or two over a basement, permitted before 1978. Our hazard maps guide explains the lookups.
One bus line, with rail downhill
The 37 Corbett is the only Muni line through the area. SFMTA’s route page lists outbound stops on Carmel Street at Belvedere and at Twin Peaks Boulevard, and stops on Corbett Avenue at Clayton Street and at Graystone Terrace in both directions.
The bus runs about every 20 to 30 minutes, weekdays from 6 a.m. and weekends from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m. Rail is downhill: the N Judah leaves the Sunset Tunnel’s west portal near Carl and Cole streets in Cole Valley.
Selling a home in Clarendon Heights
With so few parcels, a Clarendon Heights sale is usually priced against a short list of local sales plus homes in Twin Peaks, Ashbury Heights, Cole Valley and Midtown Terrace. View, lot size, garage access and the age of the house drive most of the differences.
- Documents buyers expect: the 3R report, permits for additions and lower-level rooms, and any geotechnical or retaining-wall reports.
- For mid-century houses: records of electrical, plumbing, window and roof updates, since houses of that age may still have original systems.
- For expansion buyers: current floor area and recent permits, because the 3,000-square-foot cap and its ten-year look-back affect what can be added.
Our San Francisco selling requirements page sets out what the city requires before a sale closes. Diamond may refer you to partners we work with, such as home inspectors or contractors; you’re free to choose any provider.
Questions people ask
Is Clarendon Heights a real neighborhood name?
Yes. The Assessor and the MLS use it for subdistrict 5H, and the name goes back at least to the 1894 Clarendon Heights Water Tank on what is now Tank Hill.
Is Sutro Tower in Clarendon Heights?
Sutro Tower stands at 1 La Avanzada Street on the hill between Twin Peaks and Mount Sutro, and Wikipedia lists its location as Clarendon Heights.
How big are the lots?
The median single-family lot on the 2025 roll is about 3,600 square feet, the largest median of any District 5 subdistrict.
Is Clarendon Heights in a landslide zone?
Some of the steepest ground is mapped as landslide hazard; no liquefaction zone is mapped. Check the specific parcel.
Is there public transit?
The 37 Corbett serves Carmel Street, Corbett Avenue and nearby stops; the N Judah is downhill in Cole Valley.
If you own in Clarendon Heights and want a realistic read on value from the right comparable sales, we can help. Request a home valuation, compare it with Corona Heights on our SF District 5 page, or browse the San Francisco neighborhood guide.
Sources & notes
- DataSF / SF Assessor-Recorder: Assessor Historical Secured Property Tax Rolls, 2025 closed roll (parcel counts, property classes, build years, zoning codes and street addresses by neighborhood code, queried October 2026)
- San Francisco Planning: PlanningData map service (special use districts, Article 10 historic districts, landmarks, open space, area plans, cultural districts, seismic hazard zones; queried October 2026)
- San Francisco Planning Code (via GoCodebook): Sec. 249.92, Central Neighborhoods Large Residence Special Use District
- Wikipedia: Tank Hill (water tank and park history)
- Wikipedia: Sutro Tower (height, completion, location)
- SFMTA: 37 Corbett route (streets, stops and service hours)
- Wikipedia: Sunset Tunnel (portals and opening date)
- SF Department of Building Inspection: Mandatory Soft Story Retrofit Program
Last reviewed October 2026 by Matthew Martinez.
