If you’ve spent enough time in San Francisco, you’ve likely seen a few of these century-old bungalows. They’re small, oblong structures, shaped like boxcars. Shabby and short, they stick out among the rows of ornate Edwardian homes and two-story dwellings that line the city’s residential streets.
These are earthquake cottages, or earthquake shacks. They were constructed 120 years ago, after the 1906 earthquake and fires leveled most of San Francisco, leaving 225,000 residents without homes. To meet the sudden need for housing, the city, with the help of the army, built 5,600 of these tiny, 250-square-foot homes in city parks. At one point, 16,000 people lived in earthquake cottages.
After the city rebuilt, some opted to turn their cottages into permanent homes. Some of them, using horses and carts, lugged the structures from parks to vacant lots. Others broke down their cottages, carrying them piece by piece. In total, more than 5,300 earthquake shacks were repurposed as full-time homes…