Magical Parking Entries

A recent renovation to an historic San Francisco residence yielded a Haight-Ashbury garage access that is nothing less than brilliant. Faced with a lack of on-street parking, plenty of ground floor space for parking and a city ordinance that forbids the destruction of historic building faces -- especially those quaint Victorian bay windows that are so much a part of old San Francisco -- Beausoleil Architects and Double D Engineering schemed an inspired parking entry. They designed a garage door by folding wall sections to create a drive-thru opening without destroying the look of the original facade.

To accomplish the magical marvel, two floor-mounted hydraulic activators rotate the front garage walls on pivot hinges. The garage doors are constructed from the original wood and glass building materials, which have been mounted to a steel frame for strength and stability. While city planners would prefer that folks in San Francisco give up their cars, the innovative Haight-Ashbury garage door design met the criteria for historic architecture and was begrudgingly approved for construction.