| On
Saturday mornings in St. Francis Square, Chinese music
floats gently upwards from one of the courtyards in
the middle of the community. The music accompanies a
group of women engaged in a traditional Chinese dance,
a beautiful ritual that is as much a part of the landscape
here as the lush gardens and towering pines that define
the shared inner courtyards. Residents describe St.
Francis Square as a peaceful refuge amidst the busy
city of San Francisco. "Here," one resident said, "its
possible to come home from work, sit down on my balcony,
and look out on a huge mountain black pine, listen to
the birds that sing from its branches, and feel as though
I'm a million miles from the city." |
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St.
Francis Square, a cooperative apartment community, consists
of 299 family-sized apartments in three-story, walk-up buildings
that wrap around three shared, open squares. Each has a
personality of its own. In the first, a grove of pine trees
shades paths that wind from one building to the next. Neighbors
love to sit on benches here and enjoy the serenity of the
space. In the center of the community, the largest square,
which measures 300 feet by 250 feet, features a garden with
a fountain at its center as well as two basketball courts.
The third square, which is home to the playground, is a
favorite with children. Residents each have a balcony at
the back of their apartment, except for the first-floor
residents whose back doors open onto private patios. The
interiors of the apartments are oriented to the open space;
large window in the living rooms look out on the courtyards,
and bring a little of their enchantment indoors. Even the
fences that divide private patios from the shared squares
do not block the magic of that outdoor space from penetrating
the interiors; the fences are made of latticed redwood that
is easy to see through. This quality, residents claim, also
makes it possible to see children playing in every inch
of the property, so that they can be easily supervised.
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These
courtyards are the heart of St. Francis Square and have
become the staging grounds for many aspects of residents'
daily lives. As the morning sun breaks over the square,
men and women engaged in their daily ritual of Tai Chi
are silhouetted on the green grass of the courtyard.
These rituals, which seem to help slow the pace of urban
life and encourage a nearness to nature, reflect the
culture and spiritual beliefs of those who live at St.
Francis Square. |
In addition to organized dance and exercise classes, children
play on jungle gyms and basketball courts, adults chat on
benches amid flower gardens, and students do their homework
in the shade of towering pine trees. Social events such
as weddings are also frequently held in the squares; one
resident sent invitations to everyone within the community,
and they all came bearing gifts. Some brought homemade delicacies
and others provided roses from their gardens for the neighborhood
children who served as flower girls. The lush courtyards
and the activities they inspire imbue St. Francis Square
with a unique sense of place.
Given
the beauty of the open space in St. Francis Square, it is
difficult to believe that the apartments sell for only $120,000,
a striking contrast to the average selling price in surrounding
neighborhoods of $550,000. Especially in San Francisco,
a city of soaring housing prices, the limited equity policy
that has kept prices so low in St. Francis Square is a rarity.
However, the policy is in keeping with the development's
roots as a project launched by the longshoremen's and warehousemen's
union (ILWU). In 1963, ILWU, in conjunction with the Pacific
Maritime Association (PMA) was the first union on the West
Coast to invest its pension funds in affordable housing
for low-income workers. Evidence of these roots can be seen
in the continued limited equity housing, as well as the
continued residence of many union workers and organizers
(and, until recently, authors Alice Walker and Tillie Olson).
However, the union went beyond simply meeting the basic
requirements of low-cost housing. According to ILWU Secretary-Treasurer
Lou Goldblatt, their purpose "was to build a consumer-controlled,
non-profit development truly run by its inhabitants as a
democratic community, and to build a fully integrated project
which would represent all races and groups in the community."
Such attention to design has rewarded the investment with
national recognition, including awards such as the Rudy
Bruner Award for Urban Excellence.
Even
more telling than such awards is the fact that the residents
have stayed in the neighborhood. According to residents,
three generations of children have been raised in the community:
"a majority of people here have stayed since the beginning,
for 37 years," attests one resident. Today, 54% of the residents
are over 64 years old. As the neighborhood becomes more
elderly, residents feel the value of their especially close
community: there is an ever-present support network available
in case of emergency. For example, describes one resident,
"if someone hasn't picked up their paper for a few days,
there are caring neighbors to check in on them and make
sure everything is okay."
This
kind of collective care-taking extends to the maintenance
of St. Francis Square as well. Each resident contributes
funds for the salaries of two groundskeepers. Additionally,
individual residents tend to much of the gardening, though
occasionally they organize planting parties that help unite
neighbors in the nurturance of the courtyards, which form
the green heart of their community.
From
gardening, to wedding organization, to care of the elderly,
to childcare, the residents of St. Francis Square have spread
the burdens and rewards of the neighborhood evenly. St.
Francis Square Cooperative was conceived as a way to provide
affordable housing to for the hardworking people of San
Francisco's fishing and shipping industries. The original
founders may be surprised to see that the term "cooperative"
extends beyond the financial structure of the apartments;
it describes a way of life for St. Francis Square residents.
Link:
St.
Francis Square, CA,
which was a finalist in 1987 for the Rudy Bruner Award
for Excellence in the Urban Environment, was one of
the first low-income developments to incorporate shared,
interior space. This development became an international
example for low-income housing projects. This site
contains the application for the Rudy Bruner Award, which
includes a project profile, abstract, photos, magazine and
newspaper articles, list of awards, and fascinating personal
perspectives by the apartment manager and architect. <http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/bruner/1987/st_francis/maindex.html>
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