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Duboce Triangle, San Francisco: Flats, Condos & Real Estate Guide

By Matthew Martinez, Founder, CEO & Managing Broker, Diamond Real Estate Group. California DRE #01869679.

Duboce Triangle is the wedge of blocks bounded by Duboce Avenue on the north, Castro Street on the west and Market Street on the southeast, just below Buena Vista Park. MLS listings file it under subdistrict 5J, a code the Assessor shares, and the 2025 roll holds about 835 parcels, most of them flats and condominium units in buildings from around 1900.

The name honors Victor Duboce, a lieutenant colonel of the First California Volunteer Infantry in the Spanish–American War. A 2006 city neighborhood map drew the northern line at Waller Street, taking in Duboce Park, but the MLS and Assessor stop at Duboce Avenue.

Duboce Triangle homes for sale

Duboce Triangle market report

Built almost entirely before the earthquake

Few San Francisco subdistricts are as uniformly old. Of about 65 single-family houses on the roll, 56 carry a recorded build year before 1906, and the median house dates to 1900.

Property type	Parcels (2025)	Median recorded build year
Single-family houses	about 65	1900
Flats and two-unit buildings	about 140	1903
Condominium units	about 410	1906
Apartment buildings, up to 4 units	about 30	not retrieved
Apartment buildings, 5 or more units	81 (about 840 units)	1905

The condominium median of 1906 shows that most condo units here are in converted older buildings rather than new construction. Wikipedia describes many of the buildings as 1906-era flats in the classic revival style, and the oldest designated house is the Duboce Triangle Greek Revival Home at 2173 15th Street, built in 1875 and made a city landmark in 2026.

Our guide to Victorian and Edwardian homes covers what to look for in houses and flats of this era.

Duboce Park, the tunnel portal and the historic district next door

Duboce Park, about 4.3 acres in Planning’s open-space layer, lies across Duboce Avenue on the triangle’s northern edge. The Sunset Tunnel’s east portal opens on the park’s south side at Duboce and Noe streets; the tunnel opened on October 21, 1928, runs 4,232 feet to Cole Valley and carries only the N Judah.

The Duboce Park Historic District, designated under Article 10 of the Planning Code, covers 87 properties, 79 of them contributors, built mainly from 1896 to 1913. Planning’s description ties the area’s building boom to cable car lines of the late 1880s, with most of it complete by 1906.

Planning’s map places that district on the blocks just north of Duboce Avenue, outside the 5J line. Inside the subdistrict, preservation review applies to individually designated buildings such as the 15th Street Greek Revival house; for any other address, check Planning’s records.

Zoning: RH-3 blocks and the Upper Market corridor

On the Assessor’s roll, RH-3 is by far the most common residential code, at about 305 parcels, followed by the Upper Market NCT (about 70), RH-2 (about 65), RM-1 (about 45) and RM-2 (about 30), with a few NC-3 parcels. Condominium parcels show no code, so multi-unit zoning is under-counted.

The Upper Market Street Neighborhood Commercial Transit District (Planning Code Section 764) runs along Market from Church to Noe Street and onto the side streets. It requires ground-floor commercial space on Market and Church, sets no minimum car parking, allows up to 0.5 residential spaces per unit as of right and bars new driveways onto Market Street east of Castro.

Area plan: a point near 14th and Sanchez streets falls in the Market and Octavia plan area on Planning’s layer.
Unit size: the triangle lies inside the perimeter of the Central Neighborhoods Large Residence SUD, whose 3,000-square-foot unit cap matters most to the few single-family owners planning additions.

This is general information, not legal advice; confirm a lot’s districts on Planning’s map or with a land use attorney.

Transit at the triangle’s corners

Few District 5 neighborhoods have this much rail within a few blocks. The N Judah runs along Duboce Avenue to the tunnel portal, and Church and Castro stations on the Market Street subway sit at its corners, with the F Market & Wharves ending at 17th and Castro.

22 Fillmore: stops at Church and Duboce and at Church and Market, then runs east on 16th Street toward Mission Bay.
37 Corbett: runs along 14th Street with stops at Church, Sanchez, Noe and Castro before climbing Roosevelt Way.
Bicycles: the Planning Code describes Market Street as a major bicycle corridor.

Check SFMTA for current service before relying on a line.

Liquefaction mapping and the older apartment buildings

Planning’s liquefaction layer, which reproduces the state’s seismic hazard zones, includes a band that crosses the triangle from about Noe Street east to Church Street, roughly from just south of Duboce Avenue to near 15th Street along the 14th Street blocks, and continues east toward Mission Dolores. A test point near 14th and Sanchez falls inside it; the edge is irregular, so check each parcel.

A mapped zone does not mean a building will fail, but it shapes what buyers ask about foundations and what a structural engineer will look at. Our hazard maps guide covers EQ Zapp and the other lookups.

The 81 buildings of five or more units deserve a second check. DBI’s soft-story program applies to wood-frame buildings with five or more units, of three or more stories or two over a basement, whose construction permit was applied for before January 1, 1978; ask whether the retrofit is complete and signed off.

Selling a home in Duboce Triangle

Most sales here are condominium units, TIC interests or flats in two- to six-unit buildings. Buyers compare light, floor height and layout from one floor to the next, and they read the building’s paperwork as closely as the unit.

Building documents: HOA budget, reserves, minutes and CC&Rs for condos; the TIC agreement and loan terms for a tenancy-in-common share.
Unit history: permits showing how and when the building was divided, and whether any unit is unwarranted; see our guide to unwarranted units.
Tenancy status: rent ordinance coverage of any occupied unit in the building.
Seismic file: the liquefaction disclosure and, for larger buildings, soft-story compliance.

Our TIC guide and condo guide explain those documents, the San Francisco multifamily guide covers whole buildings, and the selling requirements page lists the city’s sale-time items. Diamond may refer you to partners we work with, such as TIC lenders or inspectors; you’re free to choose any provider.

Questions people ask

What are the boundaries of Duboce Triangle?

Duboce Avenue on the north, Castro Street on the west and Market Street on the southeast. A 2006 city map extended it north to Waller Street to include Duboce Park.

Is Duboce Triangle a historic district?

Not as a whole. The Duboce Park Historic District sits just north of Duboce Avenue, and a few buildings inside the triangle are individual landmarks.

Are most homes condos?

By parcel count, yes: about 410 condominium units, compared with about 140 flats parcels and about 65 single-family houses on the 2025 roll.

Is Duboce Triangle in a liquefaction zone?

Part of it is. Planning maps a liquefaction band roughly between Noe and Church streets, around 14th Street from just south of Duboce Avenue to near 15th Street. Check the specific parcel.

What transit serves Duboce Triangle?

The N Judah on Duboce Avenue, Church and Castro stations, the F line, the 22 Fillmore on Church Street and the 37 Corbett on 14th Street.

If you are buying or selling a flat, condo or TIC share in the triangle, we can walk through the building documents and recent sales with you. Contact us, compare Corona Heights, Eureka Valley and Mission Dolores nearby, or step back to the District 5 overview and the San Francisco guide.

Sources & notes

Last reviewed October 2026 by Matthew Martinez.