Edwardians are more common here than Victorians, because so many earlier houses were lost to the 1906 earthquake and the fires that followed. Later, from the 1920s through the 1960s, the western neighborhoods filled with modest houses that typically put two bedrooms and one bath over a garage. In homes like these there is rarely a room to spare, which is exactly why a bed that folds into the wall makes so much sense.
- Edwardian and Victorian flats: a back bedroom or front room that works as an office all week and a guest room on the weekend.
- Two-bedroom homes in the Sunset and Richmond: the second bedroom can be a nursery, office or guest room without choosing just one.
- Studios and one-bedrooms: a bed that disappears turns a bedroom back into a living room.
Because the bed cabinet can be designed together with closets and shelving on the same wall, a Murphy bed in San Francisco often doubles as the storage the older building never had.