Landmark commercial, mixed-use and Victorian-era buildings · CSLB Lic. #1082065

Historic Building Contractor in San Francisco.

Landmark commercial buildings, mixed-use blocks and Victorian-era apartment buildings carry a century of history, prior work and code changes. LPD Builders prices that history line by line, works within San Francisco’s preservation review, and keeps original fabric wherever the project allows.

Request a historic walkthrough What review does my project need?

Restored plaster ceiling and skylight at 601 Clement St

Historic and landmark buildings

New life inside old walls.

A brick shell in SoMa getting a new structure; a bank in the Inner Richmond keeping its dome. Both held to the original character.

63 Bluxome St, SoMa: new structure rising inside the kept brick shell

SoMa, San Francisco · New Build Redevelopment IN PROGRESS63 Bluxome StSteel and wood framing, new floors and roof built inside the historic brick facade.View project →

The restored dome skylight at 601 Clement St

Inner Richmond, San Francisco · Historic bank to clinic COMPLETED601 Clement StFormer bank branch converted to a clinic, with the dome ceiling and marble stair kept.View project →

1912

The year the former bank branch at 601 Clement St was built. LPD converted it into a clinic that serves San Francisco.

1910

The year 63 Bluxome St was built. LPD is rebuilding it from the ground up, adding a floor while preserving the historic facade.

Bay Area counties served, from San Francisco to Napa

What we restore

Original fabric first. New work where it has to be.

One general contractor across structure, systems and finishes, so a historic project never falls between trades.

Foundations and seismic strengthening

Foundation replacement, cripple-wall bracing and bolting, and soft-story retrofits for pre-1978 wood-frame buildings, designed with a structural engineer.

Structural repair and dry rot

Framing, sill and joist repair, with original structure kept wherever it can be saved and new work recorded for the next owner.

Wood windows and doors

Repair and reglazing of original sash first; where replacement is needed, matching profile, material and divided-light pattern.

Millwork, ornament and façades

Brackets, cornices, corbels, columns and trim documented, removed, stored and replicated from evidence, not guesswork.

Plaster and interior finishes

Plaster walls, cast moldings, ceiling medallions, stairs and mantels repaired or recast to match.

Electrical, plumbing and systems

Replacing knob-and-tube wiring and aging systems while protecting historic finishes, often the first step before tenants move in.

Lead paint in older buildings

Work that disturbs paint in buildings from before 1978 falls under the EPA’s lead-safe renovation rule. We plan containment and the required practices into the scope and schedule.

Accessibility in historic buildings

Accessible entries, lifts and restrooms fitted into historic interiors, as at 601 Clement St, where a mezzanine and accessible lift were added inside the historic interior.

Historic commercial conversions

Adaptive reuse of historic commercial buildings, with line-by-line pricing, long-lead procurement and unknowns flagged before contract.

San Francisco house styles

Know what you own before anyone touches it.

Each era built differently, and the right repair depends on it. Pick a style to see its era and the features we document before work begins.

Line drawing of a typical Italianate building front, with a timeline marking its era — Illustration of typical features; not to scale. The bar marks the era.

Line drawing of a typical Stick / Eastlake building front, with a timeline marking its era — Illustration of typical features; not to scale. The bar marks the era.

About 1885–1910

Queen Anne

Asymmetrical massing, corner towers or turrets, mixed shingle patterns, gables and wraparound detail.

What we document first: Turret and tower framing, patterned shingles, gable ornament and stained or leaded glass.

Date ranges follow SF Planning Preservation Bulletin 18. “Edwardian” is the common market term for San Francisco houses built roughly 1901–1915.

San Francisco preservation review

What review does my project need?

San Francisco rates every building A, B or C for historic status, and the rating shapes the permit path. Answer two questions for a plain-language starting point.

1. Your building’s historic status

Not sure? Check your status on sf.gov →

2. The work you’re planning

Likely path

May trigger a Historic Resource Review

For Category B buildings, changes visible from the street, especially to the front façade, may trigger a Historic Resource Review to determine whether the building is historic before the permit moves forward.

How LPD helps: we scope the work to fit the likely review, coordinate the architect and any preservation consultant, and price the review timeline into the schedule.

A planning guide, not a determination. Requirements depend on the specific building and scope; confirm with SF Planning before you design. Sources: sf.gov historic status, Article 10 FAQ, Historic Resource Review application, Secretary of the Interior’s Standards.

How we work on historic buildings

A century of history, priced line by line.

Document before demolition

Photograph, measure and catalog ornament, trim and finishes before anything is removed, so it can be repaired or matched exactly.

Repair before replace

Following the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards: keep original material where it can be saved, and match it from evidence where it can’t.

Unknowns priced before contract

Old buildings hide prior work. We open up and investigate where it matters, and flag what remains unknown in writing before you sign.

The right team around the building

We coordinate the architect, structural engineer and, where needed, a qualified preservation consultant, and manage the permit path alongside the estimate.

Selected historic work

Proof, building by building.

Plaster ceiling and skylight at 601 Clement St during construction

Historic conversion · Inner Richmond, San Francisco

601 Clement St: a 1912 former bank branch, now a counseling clinic

The basement, ground floor and a new mezzanine of a 1912 former bank branch became an outpatient counseling clinic for a nonprofit owner: counseling rooms, 43 new door openings, all-gender restrooms, an accessible lift, new HVAC, sprinklers, fire alarm and electrical, and a full roof replacement with four new skylights. LPD enlarged the old vault opening with a new steel header, kept the original marble stair and stone wainscot, and restored the plaster ceiling and skylight surround. Pricing was reconciled line by line through every design revision.

Crane setting structural steel at the historic brick facade of 63 Bluxome St

New Build Redevelopment · SoMa, San Francisco · In progress

63 Bluxome St: a new structure inside a brick masonry shell

Inside an existing unreinforced-masonry building: braced brick walls, a new perimeter foundation and slab, shotcrete walls with 446 lineal feet of pilaster boundary elements, steel columns, new upper floors with a penthouse, a new elevator, 2-hour rated walls, three new skylights, a new roof and new storefront. Underway, with weekly owner, architect and contractor meetings.

Arched lobby window and frosted-glass doors at 601 Clement St

Original marble stair and wainscot at 601 Clement St

Seating nook with stone wainscot at 601 Clement St

601 Clement St: arched lobby window, original marble stair, and a seating nook with stone wainscot. More on the building from the owner’s project page.

Incentives for historic owners

Restoration can pay you back.

San Francisco owners of historic buildings can reduce the cost of restoration through property-tax, tax-credit and seismic programs. LPD can prepare the contractor cost plans and estimates these programs require.

Property tax

San Francisco Mills Act

A property-tax reduction for owners who commit to restoring and maintaining a qualifying historic building under a 10-year contract. Applications run January 1 to May 1, and each one needs a 10-year rehabilitation and maintenance plan with contractor estimates. We can prepare that cost plan.

State tax credit

California historic tax credit

A state credit for rehabilitating certified historic buildings. It was recently extended; we confirm the current rates and eligibility before you apply.

Income property

Federal historic tax credit

A 20% federal credit for rehabilitating certified historic buildings that produce income, when the work meets the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards.

Seismic

Soft-story seismic programs

San Francisco requires seismic retrofits of many older wood-frame buildings with five or more units, and has offered fee waivers for voluntary soft-story work (ask us what applies today). We scope and build retrofits with a structural engineer.

Terms change; we confirm current rules before you apply. Sources: SF Planning Mills Act, National Park Service tax incentives, SF soft-story program.

Where we work

San Francisco’s historic neighborhoods, and beyond.

We walk and price historic buildings in every one of these districts. Pick one to ask about a building there.

Landmark districtAlamo Square →Designated 1984; Italianate through Classical Revival.Landmark districtLiberty Hill →Mission District, designated 1985; Italianate, Stick and Queen Anne.Landmark districtDuboce Park →Designated 2013; Queen Anne houses from about 1899–1905.Proposed districtHaight-Ashbury and Lower Haight →Proposed historic districts in the City’s current citywide survey.Landmark districtsBush Street–Cottage Row and Webster Street →Western Addition landmark districts of Victorian-era houses.Landmark districtsJackson Square and Telegraph Hill →Among the city’s oldest surviving buildings.NeighborhoodPacific Heights →Victorian and Edwardian buildings; not a landmark district, but many buildings are rated historic.NeighborhoodNoe Valley and the Mission →Dense blocks of Victorian and Edwardian flats and mixed-use buildings.

East Bay and Marin

East BayOakland →City landmarks, preservation districts and survey-rated buildings.East BayBerkeley →Landmarks and Structures of Merit need an alteration permit.East BayAlameda →Pre-1942 buildings can use the California Historical Building Code.MarinSan Rafael →Victorian Village and city landmarks, near our office.

District details from SF Planning Article 10 and 11 districts.

Questions owners ask

Historic Building Contractor in San Francisco.

New life inside old walls.