Silver Terrace San Francisco: Homes, History & Local Life |

Discover Silver Terrace, San Francisco: Homes, History & Local Life

The name Silver Terrace has nothing to do with precious metals. It traces back to Joseph S. Silver, a land claimant who fenced off a hilltop ridge in the southeast corner of San Francisco shortly after the Gold Rush, as part of the wave of American speculators who grabbed pieces of the old Mexican ranchos in the 1850s. The neighborhood named after him was photographed by Eadweard Muybridge in the winter of 1869 when a developer named Duncan & Co. was trying to sell lots there and hired Muybridge, then a commercial photographer, to make the scrubby marshland look like a viable future community, per San Francisco Story’s history of the neighborhood. The lots mostly sat empty until the 20th century.

Is Silver Terrace right for you?

Silver Terrace is a working-class residential neighborhood in southeastern San Francisco, between Bayview to the east and the Portola to the west. It is isolated in the way that many southeastern SF neighborhoods are: hemmed in by freeways, rail lines, and the tangle of industrial arterials that define this part of The City. What it offers in exchange is detached single-family home ownership at prices meaningfully below the citywide median, a tight-knit community, and genuine access to some underrated parks and recreation. Buyers here are often first-generation SF homeowners prioritizing square footage, a garage, and a yard over neighborhood prestige.

How do you get around Silver Terrace?

Silver Terrace is served by several Muni bus lines. The 44 O’Shaughnessy and 23 Monterey are the primary connections. The 9 San Bruno and 9R San Bruno Rapid run along Bayshore Boulevard at the western edge. The 54 Felton provides additional coverage. The nearest Muni Metro (T Third / KT Ingleside-Third) light rail stop is at Third Street and Williams Avenue, about a 9 to 16 minute walk from the heart of the neighborhood, per Moovit. There is no BART station in the neighborhood. The nearest BART is at Balboa Park or the Glen Park stations, both requiring a bus connection.

Walk Score: 87. Transit Score: 72. Bike Score: 70. Source: walkscore.com, Silver Terrace.

The neighborhood Walk Score is 87 overall.

For a two-career household, commuting from Silver Terrace is manageable by car via US-101 or I-280, both of which are accessible within minutes. Transit commuting to downtown SF is workable but requires bus-to-rail transfers. Caltrain access is inconvenient from here. Households with at least one car will find the neighborhood more livable than those relying entirely on Muni.

The history of Silver Terrace

The story of Silver Terrace begins with Joseph S. Silver, who claimed a section of the old Rancho de la Salinas y Potrero Viejo in the early 1850s, fencing off the ridge that now bears his name. As San Francisco Story documents in detail, Silver’s ownership was contested from the start. A neighbor named Horatio Paul (whose name survives as Paul Avenue) accused Silver of illegal land dealing in 1859. Speculators associated with Hunters Point cut a road across Silver’s plot the same year. Silver sued. His opponents called him “obnoxious to the whole community” in published newspaper notices. An altercation on the contested road in October 1859 ended with a woman emerging from a carriage and beating Silver with a riding whip. Silver won the case anyway.

Developer Duncan & Co. bought more than 400 lots in the adjacent Haley and O’Neill tract in February 1870 and launched a homestead association. To market the vacant land, they hired Eadweard Muybridge, then a commercial photographer and not yet famous for his motion studies, to document the site. Most of the lots were not built upon until the 20th century. Some of the oldest surviving residential structures in San Francisco, Victorian-era wood-frame cottages from the 1860s and 1870s, are hidden within the block pattern formed by 3rd Street, Phelps Street, and Palou Avenue, per the Bayview-Hunters Point Area B Historic Context Statement.

The 20th century brought major growth. During World War II, workers at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard moved into hastily built housing throughout Silver Terrace, Bret Harte, and the surrounding areas. Black workers, many arriving from the South during the Great Migration, made up a substantial portion of that wartime labor force. The neighborhood’s African American community deepened in the postwar decades as residents put down roots. The Bayview-Hunters Point historic survey notes that by 1950 the fast-growing Black population was concentrated in Silver Terrace and adjacent areas as the wartime boom transitioned to peacetime.

The Bayview Opera House at 4705 3rd Street, built in 1888 and now known as the Ruth Williams Opera House, is one of the oldest theaters in San Francisco and served as an emergency coordination center during the 1906 earthquake, per O’Grady Plumbing’s community guide. It remains an active community arts venue today.

What does the housing look like in Silver Terrace?

Detached single-family homes are the predominant housing type in Silver Terrace, and they are the reason buyers come here. The stock is a genuine mix of Victorian-era cottages (some dating to the 1860s and 1870s), turn-of-the-century working-class houses, early 20th century bungalows, and some postwar infill. Lot widths are typically 25 feet and homes range from about 1,000 to 1,800 square feet, with garages, small front yards, and rear gardens. Prices generally range from $750,000 to $1.1M for typical inventory, with a handful of larger or well-renovated homes reaching the $1.2M to $1.4M range.

Attached and multi-unit properties also exist in Silver Terrace, primarily two-flat Edwardian buildings along the main corridors. These are more common near the 3rd Street and Silver Avenue commercial areas than on the residential interior streets. TICs and small rental buildings are present but the neighborhood is predominantly owner-occupied single-family.

Larger multi-unit buildings are uncommon in the residential core. Some public housing and larger apartment complexes exist in adjacent Bayview-Hunters Point areas but are not characteristic of Silver Terrace’s residential streets.

Where locals eat, drink, and shop in Silver Terrace

Silver Terrace’s dining options are limited within the neighborhood itself. Daily commercial life runs along the 3rd Street corridor in adjacent Bayview (with soul food, brunch spots, taqueria options, and community cafes) and the San Bruno Avenue corridor in adjacent Portola (with Cantonese, Vietnamese, and small Asian groceries).

The Bayview Opera House / Ruth Williams Memorial Theater at 4705 3rd is the closest cultural anchor, a designated Legacy Business and the oldest theater building in The City, hosting community performances and events. The Bayview commercial corridor along 3rd has been gaining momentum over the last decade with new restaurants and retail, while keeping the long-tenured family-owned spots that defined the neighborhood through earlier eras.

Silver Terrace Pros:

Among the most affordable SF zip codes (94124) for detached single-family homes with garages and yards, offering real homeownership for buyers priced out of more central neighborhoods
Neighborhood Walk Score of 87, with bus lines running along the main corridors and light rail access a short walk from the core
Quick freeway access via US-101 and I-280 for car commuters heading to South Bay or downtown
The Bayview Opera House provides an active community arts venue within walking distance
Silver Terrace Playground offers athletic fields, baseball diamonds, basketball courts, and tennis in a well-maintained park setting

Silver Terrace Cons:

The neighborhood is physically isolated by freeways, rail lines, and industrial corridors, giving it an “island” quality that limits walkable connections to adjacent neighborhoods
Dining, nightlife, and retail options within the neighborhood are limite. Residents routinely travel to Portola, the Mission, or downtown for broader commercial options
No nearby BART statio. Transit commuting involves bus connections and longer overall travel times than neighborhoods served by direct rail
The housing stock includes older structures that may carry deferred maintenance issue. Buyers should budget for inspection and renovation

What’s the Silver Terrace market doing?

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Silver Terrace is one of those SF neighborhoods where the market data can mislead you because volume is low and individual sales move the median significantly. Understanding what you are actually buying here, structurally, legally, and in terms of neighborhood trajectory, matters more than citywide trends. I have worked across the southeastern SF neighborhoods and can give you a candid read on what the numbers mean on any given block. Reach out when you are ready.

Silver Terrace frequently asked questions

What is Silver Terrace like to live in?

Who is Silver Terrace right for?

What it offers in exchange is detached single-family home ownership at prices meaningfully below the citywide median, a tight-knit community, and genuine access to some underrated parks and recreation. Buyers here are often first-generation SF homeowners prioritizing square footage, a garage, and a yard over neighborhood prestige.

How do you get around Silver Terrace without a car?

Silver Terrace has a Walk Score of 87, Transit Score of 72, and Bike Score of 70. Silver Terrace is served by several Muni bus lines. The 44 O’Shaughnessy and 23 Monterey are the primary connections.

What kind of homes are in Silver Terrace?

What’s one thing people don’t know about Silver Terrace?

The story of Silver Terrace begins with Joseph S. Silver, who claimed a section of the old Rancho de la Salinas y Potrero Viejo in the early 1850s, fencing off the ridge that now bears his name.