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about us
The Victorian Alliance of San Francisco (VASF) is the City’s oldest not-for-profit 501(c)(3) all-volunteer organization committed to restoring and preserving historically significant structures.
The VASF was founded and our work began in 1973 when urban development legislation slated extensive areas of San Francisco’s historical buildings for demolition.
The VASF’s work extends beyond San Francisco to the Bay Area and fosters and promotes the value of all historically significant architecture, landscapes, and artifacts, enriching the these California communities and beyond.
Our name speaks to our beginning: It was an era when neglect and the wholesale destruction of Victorian buildings were commonplace. Once the staple for housing, by the early 1970s, the rate of loss, accelerated by misguided “urban renewal” programs, galvanized a small group with goal of saving San Francisco’s architectural legacy.
VASF has evolved into a dynamic social organization with advocacy, grant funding, and educational outreach to support our mission statement. We actively support the preservation efforts of individual citizens and our elected and appointed representatives.
As members, we continually meet, share our hands-on restoration knowledge, lobby, educate, hold fundraisers, tour prominent sites, and make grants to various preservation and restoration projects.
We welcome anyone interested in and committed to restoring and preserving the historical architecture, landscapes, and artifacts from the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Our members are homeowners, renters, artisans, crafts persons, architects, historians, artists, business leaders, and families. We welcome all communities and anyone interested in and committed to restoring and preserving historical architecture, landscapes, and artifacts of the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries.