281 Chestnut
On the heels of last week’s AIA sponsored modern home tour in San Francisco, 281 Chestnut has officially hit the market with a list price of $5,995,000. Designed by Leddy Maytum Stacy, and completed in 2001, the home received an AIA Honor Award in 2002.

With exposure on four sides, daylight enters the house in a variety of ways throughout the year, raking along tall walls, projecting down the central stairway, and filtering from overhead.

Tall aluminum sliding glass doors at each end of the house provide maximum access to views and cross ventilation. Exterior materials were selected to weather naturally and accentuate formal organ-ization.

It consists of a main residence, a separate legal cottage, and a total of five parking spaces. And yes, it’s sure to be the envy of every valet in Telegraph Hill (as well as many others).
∙ Listing: 281 Chestnut (4/3.5) – $5,995,000 [MLS]
LEDDY MAYTUM STACY Architects: San Francisco [lmsarch.com]
San Francisco Living: Home Tours (A Chance To Comment In General) [SocketSite]

8 thoughts on “Speaking Of AIA Recognized Homes: 281 Chestnut Hits The Market”
  1. There’s starting to be a glut of 3+ million homes on the market post labor day… And very little has gone into contract.

  2. Not really. At $5.95M this is twice $3M. Since early August when the wind shifted six have sold for above 3M, and six are in contract. There are indeed 44 on the market for 3M or above.
    However, $5M+ and $3M+ are not the same animal. 5M is a different type property. There are currently only eight houses on the market between 3M and 3.5M. Of those, three are speculative stretches.
    Three to three and a half million is much more do-able for a somewhat sizeable demographic in this town. But it should be 3000 ft or more, pristine, large, and in Seacliff, areas 7, areas 8, or 5-E and F tho. With views.

  3. I just looked at all properties in neighborhoods that traditionally support higher prices. Between pricepoints 2.995 and 4 mil, since early August, there are 16. Of those, I count four sales, one pending, and three in contract. That’s eight.
    Of the remaining eight, only one has been on the market longer than 20 days, and that is 3383 Clay street. Two other longer ones are Castle street in North Beach and Miguel in Glen Park. All three of these properties are overpriced by about 10 percent.
    I also see three withdrawns, and one expired. All four of these, with the possible exception of 2640 Lyon street — which supposedly received offers — are overpiced.
    From this data it seems as if there is a balanced market for houses between $2.995M and $4M since August 9, when the bad news started to really build.

  4. That is one ugly, ugly house. Zero curb appeal. Interior as cold as ice. And for six million dollars, I would expect showers better than the standard hose over the tub with a shower curtain.
    They must be charging for the view because that is the only attractive thing about this “home.”

  5. I like some of this firm’s other design work but I fail to see what is so unique about this residence. Why can’t a contemporary home address the existing rich context of the immediate neighborhood, especially an area like Telegraph Hill? Why must so many new custom homes in San Francisco copy what is going on down in Venice and Santa Monica? If we are to re-establish a Nor-Cal school of modernist design, we need to stop trying to be L.A. and throw out the old issues of Dwell Magazine.

  6. I agree completely with the last several comments. Almost all of the so called new “modern” homes going up in SF look like they came from a recipe out of Dwell magazine. They’re trendy looking, and quite frankly not very innovative. Some firms simply want to be trendy, rather than explore modernism within the context of San Francisco architecture. And yes, this house looks like it came from Venice or Malibu.
    not very creative or “new” at all. As an architect in The City, there are many ways of integrating modernism with “warmth and humanism” into new residential design. This house does not succeed in that way.

  7. “there are many ways of integrating modernism with “warmth and humanism” into new residential design. This house does not succeed in that way.”
    Thanks noearch for understanding my point. The Bay Area has a history of modernism that fits our context and landscape and was created by architects and landscape designers who understood the unique character of this place and did not look to magazines or Los Angeles to be inspired by the latest trends. What has happened in the last two decades is truly sad as more and more designers are trying to “compete” with Los Angeles Sci-Arc professors. I find some of the most individualistic Northern California designs are now only being built in areas like the hills of Sonoma instead of the hills of San Francisco.

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