Forest Hill, San Francisco


Forest Hill is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. Forest Hill is one of eight master-planned residence parks in San Francisco. Forest Hills is located near the middle of the City of San Francisco, southeast of the Inner Sunset and northeast of West Portal. Boundaries are roughly Seventh Avenue/Laguna Honda Boulevard to the north and east, Taraval Street to the south, and 14th Avenue to the west.
The area south of Dewey Boulevard is known as Laguna Honda or the Forest Hill Extension. The name Laguna Honda means "deep lagoon" in Spanish and presumably refers to the Laguna Honda Reservoir at the intersection of Laguna Honda Boulevard and Clarendon Avenue.

History

Forest Hill was purchased by a private firm from the heirs of Adolph Sutro. Ground digging to develop the neighborhood began in 1912. The streets in Forest Hill were originally built for horse and carriage, making them unusually wide. These streets in Forest Hill did not conform to San Francisco's standards regarding width and grade, and therefore were not initially approved nor maintained by the City until 1978.
Landscape architect Mark Daniels developed the master plan for Forest Hill. Several homes and the neighborhood clubhouse were designed by California Arts and Crafts Movement architect Bernard Maybeck.