Note: This guest post is contributed by Kitty Holman, who writes on the topics of Online Nursing Schools.  She welcomes your comments at her email Id: kitty.holman20@gmail.com.

Some of the most incredible real estate in San Francisco includes the historic Victorian homes that have been meticulously preserved by various owners for many years. Here we will explore five fantastic styles characteristic of these beautiful homes and the features with which you can recognize them.

1.)          Italianate style. Italianate style Victorian homes are known for their rectangular shape, flat roofs, overhanging eaves, square cupolas, and ornamental paired brackets and cornices. Other indicators include wood frame and arcade porches peaked with balustrade balconies, also often rectangular.

2.)          Gothic Revival style. These houses are usually recognizable by their sharp angles and rooflines, reminiscent of Old World cathedrals. A sense of height is created in these Victorian homes due to their pointed pinnacles and parapets. Even the exterior window moldings are sharply arched into points.

3.)          Queen Anne style. These Victorian homes are the fanciest, most embellished and most detailed of all the Victorians. Stained glass windows, towers, spindles and stunning balconies are only a few of the excesses you may find in these homes. More flourishes are evident in a Queen Anne’s intricate and whimsically carved gingerbread trim and patterned masonry. These opulent homes were the most innovative of their time, with many characterized by an overall asymmetrical shape.

4.)          Stick style. You can always spot a stick-style Victorian home by the ornamental stick work that decorates the sides of their exteriors. Another feature of many of these homes is false fronts, which give the illusion of height. Like Italianate style Victorian homes, these homes often feature flat rooflines and square features. However, they are generally simpler and less opulent than, say, Queen Anne or Gothic Revival style homes.

5.)          Second Empire. Three things to look for in these Victorian homes are: a Mansard roof (that means they have two slopes on each of the four sides, with the lower slope steeper than the upper slope), Dormer windows that are set vertically into those lower slopes, and distinctive rounded cornices.

A reader asks:\Was there a reason for having the “one inch” rule or “no common wall” ordinance when it comes to building homes in San Francisco?

Our reply: Over the years the building codes for San Francisco have been modified many times as have the zoning laws which also determine what can be built on a lot. So what was able to be built even 20 years ago cannot be built today. I am not aware of the “one inch” rule and a search of the Building Department’s database revealed nothing.

Several years ago we demolished a property and built a new one in San Francisco’s Noe Valley. In this case we were able to build to the lot line. But practically speaking we had to deal with other properties that were built to their lot lines (and they were also leaning onto our lot). As a result, we had to build a slightly smaller home which was only 24 feet 9 inches wide on a 25 foot wide lot!

Actually, there are existing homes in San Francisco that have “common walls”. We sold one in lower Pacific Heights, and there was a common wall agreement recorded on the title. That home was built in the late 1800′s. Another common wall development we know of in San Francisco, is what is called a PUD (planned unit development) in the Twin Peaks area.

- Janis Stone

A reader asks: I’ve always wondered this. Why are buildings considered single family homes in San Francisco and not town homes when most of them are built side by side with no yard?

Our answer: San Francisco is one of the most unique and architecturally interesting cities in the world. Part of the charm comes from the way San Francisco has made use of maximum number of properties in such a small amount of space. San Francisco proper is only 7 miles by 7 miles so the city planners have allowed most houses to be built to the lot lines. Some neighborhoods such as St. Francis Woods are zoned as R1-D which means they have to be detached single family homes and cannot be built to the lot line. The lots in that area are much larger and can accommodate bigger detached homes. Most other areas the average lots are only 25′ wide and 100′ deep so a builder has to build across the whole lot in order to get a reasonably sized home.

San Francisco does have some “townhouses” but these are classified as condominiums and not single family homes and they share common walls. The short answer to your question is, town homes share a common wall whereas San Francisco’s single family homes actually have separate walls.

- Janis Stone