Mars Street

A short, steep street running from 17th Street down to Corbett Avenue, cut through the Park Lane Tract when its lots were divided in 1885. It is unusually well photographed: views survive from about 1895, from the April 1906 earthquake refugee camp on the slope below, from 1912, and from either side of the street rebuilding of the 1920s.

Lots dividedPark Lane Tract, 1885

Built up by 19056 houses west side, 3 structures east

Improvements approvedApril 7, 1922

Contract awardedClarence B. Eaton, June 21, 1924

Stair at the Corbett endShiloh's Way

The 1922 order, made under the Street Improvement Ordinance of 1918, covered Mars from the south curb of 17th Street to a point 150.68 feet north of Corbett Avenue: grading, two manholes, a catch basin and culvert, a reinforced concrete retaining wall with stairway and railing, stone sidewalks, a brick centre strip and asphalt either side of it. Part of the cost fell on the property owners, payable in ten instalments. The corner at 17th Street, planted with five sweetgums in the early 2000s, is known locally as Sweetgum Corner.

• 4 Mars Street
  A one-storey house of 1907, recorded as standing intact as built in a photograph of about 1921.
• 11–23 Mars Street
  Moved here from Falcon Street, a street the Market Street extension erased; its lot is still empty in 1921.
• 32 Mars Street
  The smallest house documented here, built in 1925 on a lot photographs show open four years earlier.
• 33–37 Mars Street
  Three units on one parcel, standing in 1921 and greatly altered since.
• 41–43 Mars Street
  The earliest construction date the assessor gives on the street, 1890.
• 46–48 Mars Street
  Among the earliest here, with a rear cottage; in photographs of 1895 and 1906.
• 52 Mars Street
  Photographed in 1895, 1906 and 1912, and greatly altered after the street was rebuilt.
• 56 Mars Street
  In photographs of 1895, 1906 and 1912; assessed by Planning and found not to be a historical resource.
• 64 Mars Street
  Built between the April 1906 photograph, where it is absent, and the 1912 one, where it appears.
• 75 Mars Street
  Rebuilt and enlarged from 2010, beside the public stair called Shiloh's Way.