1320 California St, San Francisco, CA 94109

The three-story, five-unit multi-family residential building at 1320 California Street in Nob Hill, built in 1914, has undergone several significant safety improvements in recent years, most notably completing its mandatory Tier 3 soft-story retrofit program that involved multiple permit revisions between 2017 and 2022, ensuring compliance with San Francisco's seismic safety requirements. The building's safety systems have been actively maintained and updated, with the most recent being a voluntary fire alarm system upgrade in late 2022/early 2023 that included comprehensive replacements of various components and the installation of new monitoring features, though the building has experienced repeated false alarms and smoke detector malfunctions, as documented in several fire incident reports.

Historically, the property has faced some compliance challenges, including a period of non-compliance with the soft-story retrofit program in 2019 and boiler permit issues in 2017, though these violations were subsequently resolved. The building has also undergone various structural and systems improvements, including lightwell infill work (2021), elevator installation (1984), reroofing (2002), and garage door opener installation (2006). Recent activity at the property has primarily involved addressing parking-related issues outside the building, with numerous citations issued for driveway blocking between 2023-2024, though these are not directly related to building conditions.

While the building's maintenance history shows attention to regulatory compliance and safety upgrades, the presence of multiple elevator emergency responses and false alarm incidents suggests some ongoing challenges with building systems reliability. The property has also been the subject of several planning actions, including approved variances for adding ADUs and modifying unit configurations. Multiple routine inspections conducted in 1999, 2007, and 2014 indicate regular oversight by housing authorities, with all identified issues eventually resolved.