One of the historic homes I went searching for in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood was the Atherton House at 1990 California Street. I didn’t know anything about the house’s history, but that — and the scaffolding obstructing my view — didn’t stop me from admiring the place from the sidewalk. Built between 1881-1882, the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1979. In the mid 1920s it was divided into 13 separate apartments; but its fascinating back story the fact that it survived the 1906 earthquake and fire make this Victorian beauty something special.