# Rewiring a Victorian or Edwardian house in San Francisco

> Rewiring a Victorian house or Edwardian flat in San Francisco: high basements, stacked units, ornate plaster, Article 10 exterior rules and local costs.

URL: https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/victorian-edwardian-rewiring/

**Service**

Knob and tube replaced in pre-1906 Victorians and post-fire Edwardian flats, routed around ornament and stacked units.

Last Updated: October 30, 2026

**Where**

San Francisco and the East Bay: Berkeley, Oakland, Alameda and Piedmont.

**Local rules**

- An electrical permit from DBI before new wiring goes in, then a pre-cover and a final inspection.San Francisco Electrical Code 89.127
- A separate permit for each dwelling unit, except in single-family (R-3) buildings.DBI fee schedule
- Only owner-occupants of a single-family home may pull their own electrical permit.SF Department of Building Inspection
- No insulation around concealed knob and tube without a licensed electrical contractor's certification.California Electrical Code 394.12
- Up to $2,000 toward active knob and tube for income-qualified PG&E customers in an EASE Home project.BayREN

San Francisco still has a great deal of Victorian and Edwardian housing. The Census Bureau counts 45.2% of the city’s housing units as built in 1939 or earlier, against 8.9% statewide, and in Haight Ashbury the share is 71.2%. Rewiring one of these buildings is the same electrical job as any [knob and tube replacement](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/), but the building changes almost every decision around it: where cable can travel, how many permits are needed, which ceilings must not be cut, and whether anything visible from the street needs Planning review.

[Fog City SF Knob and Tube](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/) rewires Victorian houses and Edwardian flats in San Francisco and the East Bay, replacing their knob and tube with grounded circuits planned around the building’s floors, units and original finishes. The company plans and manages each job; the electrical work is carried out by licensed and insured electrical contractors, under DBI permits.

## Victorian vs Edwardian: what changes for the wiring

In San Francisco usage, a Victorian is a house built before the 1906 earthquake and fire, and an Edwardian is largely the rebuild that followed. SF Planning’s Inner Mission North context statement notes that of buildings erected from 1906 to 1913, more than 24,000 remain today.

The two differ in ways that matter to a rewire. SF Planning’s Eureka Valley context statement describes the blocks filling in by 1900 with single-story-over-basement houses, two-story flats and side-by-side duplexes, and notes that early examples usually sat on high basement stories, which let owners later insert garages. That high basement is often the best route in a Victorian: an open ceiling under the main floor. A house of that age may also have been built before it had electric service at all, in which case its first wiring was added afterward and then changed by every owner since. Testing, not the style of the facade, shows what a given house holds.

The post-fire rebuild produced flats. The Inner Mission North study describes two- and three-flat buildings and Romeo flats of usually four or six units, and notes that residential construction after 1906 favored flat roofs. Where a building has a flat roof, there may be no walkable attic over the top unit, so its ceiling circuits need another path, while the lower units are usually reached from the garage or basement.

## What happens on the first visit

The first visit tests every circuit and follows each one through the building. In a stack of flats, a lower unit’s ceiling often carries wiring for the unit above, so circuits are traced across unit lines, not just room by room. At the panel or fuse box, each circuit’s protection and the spare capacity are recorded.

The visit then surveys the building as a job site: the basement or garage ceiling, any attic or roof access, the walls that stack between floors, and the finishes. Medallions, cornices, picture rails, wainscot and built-in buffets are noted, with plaster condition and existing cracks. The result is a route plan and a written scope and price that lists each opening and who closes it.

## Tall rooms, ornament and plaster

Victorian and Edwardian rooms are tall, and their walls and ceilings are plaster on wood lath. Tall walls make vertical runs longer, and ornament limits where an opening can go. Openings are kept away from medallions and cornices. Where a baseboard can come off and go back, cable may run behind it. A picture rail can sometimes hide a horizontal run along the top of a wall. Built-ins are worked around, not through. Every opening is patched afterward, and the patching is its own line in the quote; [plaster-wall rewiring](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/plaster-wall-rewiring/) covers the method in detail.

DBI presumes buildings built before 1979 contain lead paint unless a certified inspector shows otherwise, and a century-old house may carry many layers of it on its walls and trim. Openings are cut with containment and cleanup planned in; the [lead and asbestos guide](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/guide/lead-and-asbestos-during-rewiring/) explains what that adds.

## Historic districts: what needs review and what does not

Rewiring the inside of a historic house in San Francisco needs no historic review. San Francisco’s Planning Code exempts interior alterations from Certificate of Appropriateness review in Article 10 landmark districts, and Planning’s own guidance says a Certificate is not required for interior alterations to non-designated spaces. Only listed publicly owned buildings have designated interiors.

The exterior is different. In an Article 10 district, a Certificate of Appropriateness is required for alterations needing a permit and other exterior changes visible from a public street. A rewire that also upgrades the service can touch the facade: a new mast, a moved meter or conduit on a street-facing wall. Planning offers a staff-level administrative Certificate for minor alterations, and whether a given service change qualifies is confirmed with Planning per address before the [panel upgrade](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/electrical-panel-upgrade/) is scheduled.

San Francisco’s residential Article 10 districts include Alamo Square, Liberty Hill, Webster Street, Duboce Park, Bush Street-Cottage Row, Blackstone Court, Telegraph Hill, South End, Dogpatch and Clyde and Crooks, plus Chula-Abbey Early Residential and Alert Alley Early Residential, both designated on February 13, 2026. DBI’s permit data places knob and tube permits filed from January 2016 to October 2026 inside several of them: 13 in Liberty Hill, 5 each in Chula-Abbey and Duboce Park, and 4 in Alamo Square. The [Haight-Ashbury and Alamo Square](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/service-areas/haight-ashbury-alamo-square/) and [Mission District](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/service-areas/mission-district/) pages cover those neighborhoods.

## Rewiring as part of a renovation

A Victorian renovated piecemeal carries wiring from every round of work. A kitchen redone in one decade and a bathroom in another may each have run new cable back to an old knob and tube ceiling splice. That is why a rewire and a renovation work best as one plan. Walls and ceilings opened for a kitchen, a bath or a structural repair become routes for the whole floor, new circuits for appliances are planned once, and nothing new is spliced onto old wiring at the edge of the work zone. [Remodel knob and tube replacement](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/remodel-knob-and-tube-replacement/) covers that sequencing.

Seismic work raises the same question in larger buildings. DBI’s Mandatory Soft Story Program covers wood-frame buildings with five or more residential units, two or more stories over a soft story, permitted before 1978. Retrofit work opens ground-floor ceilings that can carry wiring up into the units above, so the two are coordinated.

## Flats: permits and phasing

A building of Edwardian flats is several jobs under one roof. DBI requires a separate electrical permit for each existing dwelling unit outside R-3 occupancies, and each unit gets its own pre-cover inspection, final inspection and Green Tag. Work is sequenced so each unit loses power only for scheduled windows, announced to residents in advance. Where a tenant has to leave temporarily, Rent Board rules apply. [Apartment building rewiring](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/apartment-building-rewiring/) covers the phasing, and the [guide to living at home during a rewire](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/guide/living-at-home-during-rewiring/) covers single-family houses.

## How much it costs to rewire a Victorian house

For a single-family home, a typical San Francisco range for the electrical scope of a whole-house knob and tube replacement is $20,000 to $50,000 or more, with permits. A Victorian can sit higher in that range for reasons visible on the walk-through: three stories instead of two, tall rooms, ornament that limits openings and access that depends on the basement. A panel or service upgrade is separate, typically $3,000 to $10,000 in San Francisco. In flats, permit fees repeat per unit; current DBI fees for a residential permit covering more than 40 outlets and devices are $740 each. The [San Francisco cost guide](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/guide/knob-and-tube-replacement-cost-san-francisco/) explains each part of the price, and the [cost estimator](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/tools/knob-and-tube-cost-estimator/) gives a first number without a call.

**Scope**

## What's included

- A test of every circuit, following each one through floors and, in flats, through the units it crosses
- A route plan built on the high basement, garage, attic or roof access the building actually has
- A finishes survey: plaster condition, medallions, cornices, picture rails, wainscot and built-ins
- New grounded cable for every circuit in scope, with new boxes where the old devices cannot be reused
- A load calculation for the panel and service, and the panel work planned with the rewire when it is needed
- Old runs disconnected at both ends, removed where reachable, otherwise terminated
- DBI permits per unit, pre-cover and final inspections, a written circuit record and a labeled panel directory
- Patching of every opening, itemized in the quote

**Choosing the scope**

## What changes between a Victorian, an Edwardian flat and a 1920s house

| Compare | Victorian (before 1906) | Edwardian flats (post-1906 rebuild) | 1920s and 1930s single-family |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Typical form | Single-family houses and two-flat buildings, often on a high basement | Two- and three-flat buildings and Romeo flats of four or six units | Houses over an integral ground-floor garage |
| Main routes | High basement or later-inserted garage; attic where the roof allows | Garage or basement for lower units; top unit may have no walkable attic | Garage ceiling to the floor above; attic over the top floor |
| Wiring history | Wiring may have been added after the house was built, then altered many times | Wired as built, while knob and tube was standard | Late knob and tube or transitional cable, depending on the year |
| Finishes that slow the work | Medallions, cornices, picture rails, tall ceilings | Picture rails, wainscot, built-in buffets | Plaster in some houses, sheetrock in others |
| Permits | One, or one per unit in a two-flat | One per existing dwelling unit | Usually one |

**Read next**

## Related resources

- [Cost GuideHow much does knob and tube replacement cost in San Francisco?The ranges, what moves a house within them, and the parts of the price that come from public figures.](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/guide/knob-and-tube-replacement-cost-san-francisco/)
- [LearnDoes knob and tube wiring have asbestos?What the wiring itself is made of, which materials around it deserve a test before anyone cuts, and how lead-safe rules change the way openings are made and patched.](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/guide/lead-and-asbestos-during-rewiring/)
- [Decision GuideCan you live in a house while rewiring is under way?How an occupied rewire is sequenced, what a day without power in some rooms looks like, and when it is better to be somewhere else.](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/guide/living-at-home-during-rewiring/)
- [LearnHow does a San Francisco electrical permit work for rewiring?Who can file, what DBI charges, what each inspection checks, and why a Green Tag on its own does not prove the knob and tube is gone.](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/guide/san-francisco-electrical-permit/)
- [Decision GuideCan you replace a light fixture on knob and tube wiring?Why a fixture, fan or switch swap on old wiring so often turns into more, what an electrician looks for at the ceiling, and when the answer is a new circuit.](https://fogcitysfknobandtube.com/guide/knob-and-tube-light-fixture/)

**How a job runs**

## From the first call to the Green Tag.

### First call

Tell us what started this: an insurer's letter, an inspection report, a remodel, an attic you want to insulate.

The age of the house, the number of units and any deadline shape the next step.

### Walk-through

Circuits are tested to separate live knob and tube from abandoned runs, and attic, basement and garage access is checked.

Plaster, trim and finishes are noted, and you get a written scope and price.

### The work

The permit is filed with DBI. New cable is fished along the planned routes and openings are kept small.

The pre-cover inspection happens before anything is closed.

### Patching, inspection and the Green Tag

Once the pre-cover inspection passes, the openings are patched. Plaster patching is included and shown as its own line in the quote.

After the final inspection and the Green Tag, old runs are removed or terminated and the panel directory is updated.

**On the job**

## What this work looks like

A Victorian stair hall with a turned newel post and a small access opening above the baseboard

Two cloth-covered wires on porcelain knobs along a joist in the attic of a San Francisco Victorian

Old knob and tube wiring on porcelain knobs along the joists above the brick foundation of a raised Victorian basement

An Edwardian dining room with a built-in glass-front cabinet and a new outlet low on the plaster wall

**Questions**

## Victorian and Edwardian rewiring: questions

### How much does it cost to rewire a Victorian house in San Francisco?

For a single-family home, a typical San Francisco range for the electrical scope of a whole-house knob and tube replacement is $20,000 to $50,000 or more, with permits. Tall rooms, ornament, extra stories and limited attic or basement access push a Victorian toward the upper part. A panel or service upgrade is separate, typically $3,000 to $10,000.

### What is the difference between a San Francisco Victorian and an Edwardian when rewiring?

Mostly the building. Victorians predate the 1906 earthquake and fire and are often single-family houses or two flats on a high basement. Edwardians are largely the post-1906 rebuild, more often stacked flats with flat roofs. That changes the routes, the number of DBI permits and how much wiring crosses between units.

### Which San Francisco historic districts have the most knob and tube permits?

Liberty Hill leads. DBI's permit data places 13 knob and tube permits filed from January 2016 to October 2026 inside Liberty Hill, 5 each in Chula-Abbey and Duboce Park, and 4 in Alamo Square. In all of them interior rewiring needs no historic review; only exterior changes visible from the street, such as a new service mast or meter, go to Planning.

### Can a ceiling medallion stay in place when the light below it is rewired?

Often it can. Cable can usually reach the fixture through the joist bay from the floor above or from a nearby wall, so the medallion is worked around rather than cut. Where the old fixture has no box, a new one has to be fitted, and the plan says beforehand whether the medallion is left alone, removed and refixed or protected.

### Is it better to rewire a Victorian before or during a renovation?

During, or just before, is usually cheaper. Walls and ceilings that a renovation opens anyway become free routes, and new kitchen, bath and appliance circuits are planned once. Rewiring after the plaster has been restored means opening finished surfaces a second time, and splicing new work onto old circuits leaves the riskiest joints in place.

**Related services**

## Other work on the same wiring

### Plaster-wall rewiring

New circuits fished through lath-and-plaster walls from the attic, basement and garage, with small openings that are patched as an itemized line.

### Whole-house rewiring

Every old branch circuit replaced, new circuits added where the house needs them, and the panel sized for the load.

### Apartment building rewiring

Knob and tube replaced unit by unit or building-wide, with a permit for each dwelling unit and power-off windows announced to residents.