A billboard of itself

Perched on Dolores at Cesar Chavez is a house with the kind of cardboard cornice you see everywhere. But the fun thing about this one is the shamelessness of its pretense. On the south end, an ornamental bracket props up the unapologetically decorative end of the sham.

The longer you look at this façade, though, the more ironies appear. There’s a wonderful play between the asymmetrical mass of the house and the symmetrifying feel of the Italianate cornice. It was built up board by board, but it has the appearance of a box that has eroded. But most perfectly balanced is how the whole composition can feel alternately deadpan or whimsical. That’s a subtlety in execution rare in any style.