The 4,000-square-foot Victorian at 1120 South Van Ness Avenue has been remodeled. But as illustrated by the master bath, this isn’t your typical gut job. And many of the home’s original details, and rooms, and remain intact.
In the yard behind, the outdoor kitchen includes the modern grill and fridge. And it isn’t a gas pit around which people will gather, but rather a real wood-burning fireplace.
The indoor kitchen features a rather nice gas grill, and a wood-burning oven, too.
On the market in the Mission between 22nd and 23rd and listed for $3,595,000.
Okay white box haters, here you go:
Original details intact? Check
Upgraded systems? Check
Lots of small rooms instead of a few spacious ones? Check
Outcome? To my eyes, quite weird.
The bullnose granite counters in the kitchen don’t help, and the tile looks sub $1.50psf from the home depot. Schizophrenic modern shower in the Master bath.
I guess for the space at the price in the neighborhood it probably trades around ask, but the new buyer likely wants to make some changes.
Old and modern can live rather well together if done right. This is not one of those times.
Hot mess.
It comes off completely amateurish and cheap on the inside.
combining old and new can be the most rewarding, but is also the most difficult. this house is almost there. they just need better art and that wood burning oven looks totally out of place/ impractical. it clashes too much. if you want the antiquity of the place to stand out, keep the modern interventions subtle and complimentary. the kitchen needs less variation of materials. the bathroom doesn’t need an accent wall and they should stick with only one finish for all of the hardware. it give the place a piecemeal effect instead of a cohesive one.
“they just need better art” Seriously, seriously?
For everyone who wants to buy an old place and “fix it up while we live there” and “just go one room at a time,” while you, “make careful economic choices.” Be careful you don’t wind up with this.
Gramma and common courtesy say I should keep my mouth shut if I can’t say something nice, but this is why developers who can come in and ‘re-do’ a house in one fell swoop (with like, real plans, a real architect, a coherent design) will do far better on average than weekend warriors.
Roger, Roger?
Covered marble slab in the kitchen is a nice touch, island sink as well. The granite countertops have to go.
Perfect neighborhood for the “entertainer’s” backyard.
I am no decorator and no real estate professional, but could someone please tell me what is wrong with granite countertops? Is it a matter of taste, or too common?
Functionally, nothing. Granite is great in the lobbies of almost all of Donald Trump’s hotels and event centers.
Appearance is the problem then.
What is preferred?
This is your question to answer Conifer.
My impression is that the market certainly prefers marble in terms of natural stone, or perhaps a flavor of soapstone more commonly in new kitchen installs. Also the selection of quartz composites (Caesarstone a name brand example) is robust and the material is very durable and easier to care for than marble.
Nothing says cheap kitchen like that pinky granite. You could source all of the stone for this kitchen, in prefabricated slabs that could be readily cut for those drop in sinks, for less than $800 in the Chinese Bayview. Call it the same for labor. It would even be difficult to find those rounded bullnose edges, they are so unpopular.
Wow, this is truly hideous. I would happily take a “white box” over this. And the woodburning fireplace and oven are totally irresponsible. It would be nice if the code didn’t even permit you to restore pollution-centers like that once they are in disrepair.
The interior is a bit of a jumble, but I am digging the backyard a lot.
I like the original architecture. Most of you seem to be saying, make the whole thing a white box. Could the critics who are expert please post photos of your homes to guide the rest of us?
This is Joshua’s listing from earlier this year. 2775 Clay
https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Francisco/2775-Clay-St-94115/home/951431
Has this house been whiteboxed? Some might say yes. I think the use of classic choices (shaker cabinets etc) will let the home age more gracefully than the really minimal condo-poggenpohl homes.
It felt new and modern and classic without sacrificing every bit of its soul. This house felt big and open , but still had spaces divided visually and conceptually. I would quibble with the “too-modern” bathroom vanities and the fireplace but on most other counts this house was very well done.
I don’t think it turned into a bland white box. I thought it was re-booted as a beautiful new home.
Soccermom’s .02
I’m not even sure the design choices would have survived a white boxification. The sinks chosen for all the bathrooms? All weird, trendy, and already dated looking. A bathroom with wood floors and a rocking chair and a fireplace? Throwing a bathroom into a parlor is not “putting contemporary fixtures into a Victorian,” it’s just throwing a bathroom into a parlor. Weird.
Certainly not some choices I would make, but the layout stayed, as did the woodwork (presumably painted by previous owners) — double yay. I don’t hate the wood oven because I suspect they opened the wall and found a big, brick chimney and used it. Looking again, I like the oven, but I’d make it a pizza oven.
Granite in the kitchen, yes. That granite? No. Nuh-uh.
Geez. Its just a few freakish fixtures here and there that need to be replaced, and maybe the kitchen could be toned down, but this is a nice house. It is like the houses my interesting friends live in.
They kept the softwood floors, doors, windows, and trim. They kept aspects of the Victorian layout. These are cool things and more functional than most white-box people admit.
What is wrong with this place is the price.
Well, a lot of problems here, but few that can’t be corrected. The price seems high, but the Mission is hot right now. Best weather in San Francisco so the back yard can actually be used.
UPDATE: The sale of 1120 South Van Ness has closed escrow with a reported contract price of $3,500,000, rouhgly 3 percent under asking and $875 per square foot.