After both world wars, San Francisco reinvented itself as it faced the challenge of housing the many people who flocked here. The largely middle class newcomers did not need and could not afford houses with the grand floor plans of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Largely on the city’s West Side, San Francisco responded to the challenge with a variety of new styles that not only reflected the city’s changing makeup but helped define how America would house its burgeoning middle class. James Dixon, a local architect and an expert on the city’s housing styles, will explore the laboratory of innovation that built much of the city we know today.