Elegantly updated Edwardian in Prime Central Richmond

Although downtown San Francisco was well established by the 1910s – having been built up, demolished by earthquake, and rebuilt again – the fringes of the city remained rural and undeveloped.

In the Richmond District, the landscape was dominated by shifting sand dunes rather than the countless blocks of houses present today. In 1916, very few people lived so far from the city's core, but a few entrepreneurial citizens aspired to change that and began a trend of speculative development that would shape much of San Francisco's western neighborhoods. The house at 560 18th Avenue was built in late 1916 by James Welsh, a 35-year-old contractor of Irish descent from New York. Welsh lived just down the street at 543 18th Avenue with his wife, Josephine, and their two young children. Walsh"s own house had been completed only a year earlier, probably built by himself, and he had multiple other properties under construction along the same block of 18th Avenue, indicating a substantial speculative development undertaking. This was a common arrangement, especially in San Francisco's western neighborhoods during the 1910s and 20s. Speculative developers, who, like Welsh, were often simply entrepreneurial carpenters would buy up groupings of empty lots and build a series of cookie-cutter houses, which they could then sell for profit. No architect was involved in the design of 560 18th Avenue; Welsh employed day labor to do the construction, and the cost was $3,000 for the “two-story and basement frame residence.” Speculative building was not customized, nor intended for any specific buyer. Once completed, the house at 560 18th Avenue was put on the market and eventually sold to Morris and Mabel Oppenheim. Morris was an attorney in the firm of Ackerman & Oppenheim and also served as a judge for the City & County of San Francisco's Police Court. The Oppenheims had two children, Helen and Morris, Jr. They lived at the property into the late 1950s.

In the early 1960s, the house was occupied by Reverend James S. and Magdalene F. Nakamura. James was a pastor at the Christ Episcopal Mission. Around 1965, the house stood vacant, and was then purchased by Nicolai D. and Valentina A. Suhonos. Nicolai worked as a machinist at the Bethlehem Steel shipyard and the couple had two sons, Constantin and Walter; both students in the early 1970s. The family had immigrated from Primorsk in far-western Russia in 1963. Nicolai and Valentina lived at 560 18th Street until Nicolai's death in 1994. Valentina then moved to Contra Costa County to live with one of her sons, but the family continued to own the house until Valentina's death in 2001. At that time it was sold to Shane T. and Yolanda Hiller. The house's architecture is Edwardian, which was popular in the 1910s and into the early 1920s. The Edwardian style referred to King Edward VII and the architecture produced during his reign in Britain (1901-1910), which eventually became fashionable in the States. It was characterized by relatively flat rectilinear facades, smooth stucco cladding, and Classical elements, like applied medallions and cornice moldings.

The front facade of 560 18th Avenue adopts a common organization seen throughout the Richmond District; that of a street-level garage (considered the basement) with an elevated entry (at the first story) accessed by a set of stairs. It is not as common to see the stairs ascending parallel to the facade, however; with a landing situated above the garage. The basement level is clad with brick to differentiate it, through rustication, from the more formal stucco-clad facade above. A tradesman's entrance, usually located in conjunction with the garage door, is situated at the base of the entry stairs. This was a secondary entrance to the property that gave tradespeople and household help access to the utilitarian basement and backyard areas of the property. Metal railings lead the visitor to the recessed primary entrance under a broad triangular arch with heavy moldings. To the right of the multi-lite, glazed, wood entry door, which is also surrounded by heavy moldings, the facade features a wide, single-lite window in a triangular arch opening that echoes that of the entry. At the second story, a broad, full-width bow window is fenestrated with a series of six single-lite windows. A molded belt course spans the facade above the windows and the facade is crowned by a prominent molded stucco cornice. Although contractor James Welsh varied the openings and ornament on each of the buildings he built along 18 th Avenue, certain similarities like the overall facade organization, facade-paralleling entry steps, curved bow windows, and series of multiple individual windows in a row, can be seen on other houses on the street and suggest Welsh's construction.