Telegraph Hill, San Francisco: Homes, Stairs & Real Estate Guide
Telegraph Hill is the 285-foot hill at San Francisco’s northeast corner, topped by Coit Tower and Pioneer Park and bounded roughly by Broadway or Vallejo Street, Sansome Street and the Embarcadero, Bay or Francisco Street, and Powell Street and Columbus Avenue. In the SFAR MLS it is subdistrict 8G of District 8, and that code also takes in the upper Grant Avenue blocks most people call North Beach. Many of its homes sit on stairways rather than streets.
The hill was first called Loma Alta. A semaphore set up in 1849 signaled arriving ships, and in 1853 the first telegraph in California replaced it, which gave the hill its name. Today it looks west over North Beach toward Russian Hill, north to the North Waterfront and south to the Financial District and Barbary Coast.
Telegraph Hill homes for sale
Telegraph Hill market report
Stairways instead of streets
The east face is so steep that public stairs do the work of streets:
- Filbert Street Steps: about 400 wooden steps connecting the two drivable parts of Filbert Street, through the garden Grace Marchant began in 1949 that now bears her name.
- Greenwich Steps: down the east side below Pioneer Park, alongside the Filbert Steps.
- Calhoun Steps and Vallejo Steps: shorter stairs from a dead end of Union Street and between two drivable sections of Vallejo Street.
Some houses can only be reached on these steps. For an owner that affects groceries, furniture, contractors and any future construction staging, and for a buyer it belongs on the list next to price and view. Walk the route from the nearest street at least once with whatever you would normally carry.
Coit Tower, Pioneer Park and the hilltop
Pioneer Park dates to 1876, when the hilltop land was bought and donated to the city to mark the national centennial. Coit Tower, a 210-foot Art Deco tower funded by a bequest from Lillie Hitchcock Coit, was built in the early 1930s on the site of the old signal station and is a designated city landmark. Its interior murals are by more than 20 artists.
Other designated landmarks on or at the foot of the hill include Julius’ Castle at 302-304 Greenwich Street, a 1923 building at the dead end of Montgomery Street, and the 1913 Belt Line Railroad Roundhouse complex at the Embarcadero and Lombard Street. The 39 Coit bus runs from North Point and Stockton up to the tower.
Housing on the hill
About 1,660 parcels carry the 8G code on the Assessor’s 2025 roll, counting each condo unit separately:
| Property type | Approx. parcels | Recorded built 1906 or earlier |
|---|---|---|
| Condominium units | 705 | About 40 (about 330 are recorded after 1979) |
| Flats and duplexes | 335 (plus about 20 of 5-14 units) | About 85 |
| Apartment buildings | 250 | About 55 |
| Single dwellings | 105 | About 40 |
| Flats over a store | 45 | Not tallied |
| Vacant residential lots | 27 | n/a |
Two things stand out. Telegraph Hill has a higher share of very old houses than Russian Hill or Nob Hill: nearly four in ten single dwellings carry a build year of 1906 or earlier, and a quarter of the flats do. And its lots are small. The median flats parcel is about 1,400 square feet with a building of about 2,500, and the median house sits on about 1,570 square feet.
Old wood-frame buildings on tight, sloping lots bring their own inspection list: foundations, drainage, retaining walls, and the history of any added units. Our guide to Victorian and Edwardian homes covers the older stock, and the condo guide covers the newer buildings.
The Telegraph Hill and Northeast Waterfront historic districts
The Telegraph Hill Historic District is an Article 10 city historic district created by Ordinance 442-86 and adopted on November 13, 1986. Planning’s record lists 101 properties, 80 of them contributors, and notes both early buildings from before the 1870s and Second Bay Tradition houses, including work by Richard Neutra.
Nearby, the Northeast Waterfront Historic District, adopted in 1983, covers 50 properties of warehouses and other commercial buildings tied to the old working waterfront. Within an Article 10 district, exterior changes generally go through historic preservation review before a permit is issued, so ask Planning about the process before planning work on a contributing building.
Zoning, height limits and the residential SUD
RH-3 is by far the most common zoning code on 8G parcels (about 785), followed by C-2, RM-2 and RM-1; the North Beach and Broadway NCDs cover the commercial blocks on the hill’s western and southern edges. Planning’s height layer shows mostly 40-X and 40//40-R-4 labels across the hill.
The hill’s RH- and RM-zoned parcels sit inside the Telegraph Hill-North Beach Residential Special Use District, Planning Code section 249.49, which runs from Bay Street to Broadway between Columbus Avenue and the Embarcadero and Sansome Street. It was written to limit garages and off-street parking:
- Parking is capped at 0.5 spaces per dwelling unit.
- Adding a garage to a building with two or more units requires a mandatory discretionary review hearing at the Planning Commission.
- The Commission can approve it only if the garage removes no ground-floor commercial space and no unit floor area, the building has not had two or more evictions in the past 10 years, and the project is consistent with the Planning Code’s Priority Policies (section 101.1).
- A garage cannot front an alley or a street narrower than 41 feet; those applications are disapproved without a hearing.
For a buyer, that means the parking a property has today is likely the parking it will have.
Cliffs, landslide zones and the bayside base
Ships once took ballast rock from the bay side of the hill, and the old quarry faces still show from the Vallejo Steps and Broadway. Planning’s copy of the state seismic hazard map shows landslide zones in three places: the east face between about Montgomery and Sansome Streets from Green to Lombard, the north and northwest face from about Grant to Montgomery north of Greenwich, and a smaller area near Vallejo Street between Kearny and Montgomery. A large landslide struck the Broadway side of the hill on February 27, 2007.
Liquefaction is a separate question. A point check at Sansome and Union, at the east foot, found no liquefaction zone, while the low ground toward Bay Street near Stockton is inside one. Check the parcel on our San Francisco hazard maps guide, and for a hillside home ask for any geotechnical reports, slope repairs and retaining-wall permits.
Getting around
Besides the 39 Coit, the 8 Bayshore ends at Kearny and North Point, and the 30 Stockton and 45 Union/Stockton run along the hill’s western base. The Powell-Mason cable car ends at Taylor and Bay, a few blocks west. Muni lines follow published route lists; check SFMTA for current service.
Driving is the hard part. Several hilltop streets dead-end or turn into stairs, Coit Tower is reached by Telegraph Hill Boulevard, and the residential SUD limits new garages, so parking deserves a close look in any purchase.
Selling a home on Telegraph Hill
Buyers compare views, access and condition. Have the following ready before the first showing:
- Directions and photos of the approach, including the number of steps from the nearest drivable street.
- The permit history, especially for decks, view-side windows, foundations and any added units; our unwarranted units guide covers the common problem cases.
- Any geotechnical, drainage or retaining-wall reports, and the natural hazard disclosure showing landslide or liquefaction zones.
- Historic district status and any approvals for exterior work, if the property is in the Article 10 district.
- For condos, the association package; for flats, the rent roll and lease records.
San Francisco’s 3R report, energy and water rules and transfer tax are covered on our seller requirements page. The market report on this page shows current Telegraph Hill figures.
Questions people ask
How tall is Telegraph Hill?
About 285 feet. Coit Tower, 210 feet tall, stands on the summit in Pioneer Park.
Are there homes you can only reach by stairs?
Yes. Several houses along the Filbert Street Steps on the east face are reachable only on foot.
Is Telegraph Hill a historic district?
Part of it. The Telegraph Hill Historic District, adopted in 1986 under Article 10 of the Planning Code, lists 101 properties, 80 of them contributors. Other blocks are outside it.
Can I add a garage on Telegraph Hill?
Rarely. Under the residential SUD, parking is capped at half a space per unit, a garage in a building of two or more units needs a mandatory discretionary review hearing at the Planning Commission, and garages cannot front alleys or streets narrower than 41 feet.
Is Telegraph Hill in a landslide zone?
Parts are. Planning’s copy of the state map shows landslide zones on the steep east and north faces and near Vallejo Street between Kearny and Montgomery. Check the parcel.
Is upper Grant Avenue part of Telegraph Hill on the MLS?
Mostly yes. Assessor parcel codes, which follow the MLS letters, put most Grant Avenue blocks between Broadway and Filbert in 8G.
What bus goes to Coit Tower?
The 39 Coit, which runs from North Point and Stockton to the tower.
If you own on Telegraph Hill or are weighing a property there, we can review the access, records and pricing with you. Request a home valuation. For the wider area, see our SF District 8 guide and the San Francisco real estate guide.
Sources & notes
- DataSF: Assessor Historical Secured Property Tax Rolls (2025 closed roll), parcel counts by subdistrict code
- San Francisco Association of Realtors: SFAR San Francisco MLS district map (via Reineck & Reineck)
- San Francisco Planning: PlanningData map service (zoning, special use, height, landmark, historic district, seismic hazard and FEMA flood layers)
- San Francisco Planning Code Sec. 249.49, Telegraph Hill-North Beach Residential Special Use District (GoCodebook mirror)
- SFMTA: Cable cars
- Wikipedia: List of San Francisco Municipal Railway lines (route termini; status information dated July 2022)
- Wikipedia: Telegraph Hill, San Francisco (background)
Last reviewed October 2026 by Matthew Martinez.
