118 Cervantes
A few numbers for 118-120 Cervantes Boulevard: a total of 2 parking spaces, 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, and 2992 square feet; a 4.8kw photovoltaic system (façade and roof) with solar assisted heating (water and interior); and asking $3,000,000 for the whole shebang.
118 Cervantes Boulevard: Kitchen
And while legally two units, from the listing: “…top floor (or apartment with separate street entrance); also accessed via the Mezzanine/Den; can be a family room, homework or conference room, secondary eating area; partial kitchen and laundry….”
∙ Listing: 118-120 Cervantes (4/4.5) – $3,000,000 [118cervantes.com] [MLS]
118 Cervantes: From Architecture Watch To (Almost) On The Market [SocketSite]
Architecture Watch: 118 Cervantes Boulevard Gone Green/Modern [SocketSite]

35 thoughts on “118 Cervantes Boulevard: Listed, Numbers, And Your Peek Inside”
  1. Interesting- the thing that has bugged me the most about the facade of this house– the black window surrounds (ha! you all thought I was going to say the solar panels– too easy) bugs me just as much from the inside… details details. 3041 Laguna, linked above, did not make that same mistake– so I’ll sink the extra 3/4 mil and go with that one.

  2. That’s quite nice on the inside. I particularly like those back-lit kitchen cabinets. I guess they were built over a window to let in the outside light. It makes the kitchen a lot brighter as well as creating an interesting visual effect.
    And though I’m no fan of staging, I like the choices made here. (But still groan at the though of paying for the cost of staging)

  3. The house fits perfectly into the neighboorhood from a form perspective:
    *Two stories over a garage.
    *Eyes forward windows are the prominent feature. In this case the windows are nicely divided into an interesting geometry.
    * Blank “garage wall” at the pedestrian level (although the garage door almost looks like a window).
    *Requisite curb cut.
    *”Soul patch” landscaping.
    *Vestigial human entry point. This is all the more noticeable due to the modern design. Visitors (friends and relatives) must contact the commander (owner) and ask that she lower the ladder so they can enter the mothership.
    I don’t believe that the house fits in from an achitectural point of view. Having said that, I think it still works quite nicely because it brings a nice energy to the street (and neihborhood). The surrounding houses seem to be dead (sedentary) while the new house looks as if it could get up and walk away at any moment.
    The inside is wonderful: sleek lines combined with warm colors and materials; indeed, a very nice balance.
    The cost: Over priced for a liquefaction zone (whatever happened to location, location, location)! Who wants to be the only house left standing if all your neighbors are gone?

  4. “Who wants to be the only house left standing if all your neighbors are gone?”
    Or worse: what if the neighbors rebuild something hideous and out of character!

  5. i think it will fly off the shelf due to the wow factor.
    that said, my main complaint is that they had to design around the laws keeping this a 2-unit building. two front doors, two of the bedrooms appear to be on the garage level, and the open living space on the top floor with the second eating area (required by building code, unwarrentedinlaw) can’t be put to good use.

  6. The fascade does look like a mini boom box that Sony sells but to be honest it has grown on me from the first posting last week. Inside is very well done and actually the back of the house is visually more appealing.

  7. 4.5 bathrooms for 4 bedrooms, what’s up with that ?!
    Is this like some senior housing where the residents have to “GO” all the time ?!!
    This is ridiculous. Just like the 3Million they are asking for it. Quit feeding this rise by buying into such high prices people ! And you wonder why SF real-estate is not coming down…

  8. if asiago can be bidet police I’m going to pipe up about the oven placement.
    That’s a really bad place for them. If you’re making a cake or whatever, you have to walk around the island to put them in. But I suppose modern people don’t eat cake.

  9. kthnxbye’s comment about the poor placement of the oven…. My Mom is convinced that the poor design of kitchens is done by men who have never cooked.
    As far as the back side of the house… to me it looks like a backside.
    All in all I much prefer this over 3041 Laguna.

  10. Keeping the two units can be done in a few different ways. I would have created the apt. downstairs with a kitchen for guest, more like an in-law place vs trying to make a house that can be divided into two for code reasons.
    This house would work for two families that want to live together but have their own spaces.

  11. Oh, this is too funny… They shot the front facade at solar “high noon” so that none of the front panels are in shadow (like they are most of the time). Who says SS doesn’t influence the market?

  12. one problem may have influed their decision marina boy. the current building code does not let you cut the size of dwelling unit by more than 25% so stuffing the second unit behind the garage can’t happen much anymore.

  13. Just got back from the open house, one of the nicer places I’ve seen and fits into the neighborhood much better than I was expecting. Didn’t like the master on the main floor and it is too bad they didn’t figure out a way to put the second unit below rather than above. A couple of strange little nooks and crannies but overall much better design than 95% of the spec homes I’ve considered.
    (Not related to 118 but it made me chuckle when I overheard the agent telling someone how one of her recent listings sold for $300K over asking! The market is hot, hot, hot…)

  14. overall I like the place. Much more than I thought it would
    It’s very bright and airy.
    As with much of the modern stuff, many of the rooms are somewhat bland (white and boxy mainly) but the loft adds a lot and the staircase is nice, and the bland modern background works well as you can really individualize it with your interior furnishings bringing color and interest.
    very nice.
    The kitchen, although it looks ok, is a complete disaster from a work standpoint. All glam, no function.
    Horrible work triangle.
    People have become obsessed with islands even when there really isn’t room for one or a reason to have one.
    in this case, the fridge and the ovens are on the other side of the island. So you constantly have to walk around the island to get food, walk back round to the sink to wash/prepare the food, then to the stove to cook it (or around again to the ovens)

  15. We walked through 3041 Laguna this weekend….The Cervantes property is definitely a much better looking and functioning ‘Modern Green’ house.
    Laguna is very ‘busy’ with patterns and different types of finishes. The staircase is by far the highlight of the house, it is spectacular. The highlight of our tour was the neighbor (drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette) in the apartment building behind Laguna yelling across the backyard asking questions about the property. The stagers also placed some very clever screens in front of windows in the bedrooms, in order to shade the unsightly view. The $4m price tag seems a bit ambitious for the location, which overlooks numerous run-down apartment complexes.
    Our overall opinion is they were trying too hard to be ‘Green’, we also question if the 12 solar panels will really power the entire house.
    [Editor’s Note: Received as a tip, added as a comment in light of the first comment above.]

  16. EBGuy, once you see this place you will realize they could have tucked the second unit behind the garage no problem. They would have had to just be more creative with the space planning of the garage and the way the connected the smaller unit to the larger one. You can really tell they are just really wanting this to be used and sold as a single family home. You can take out the kitchen things and turn it into an art studio or prep room no problem.
    For a modern piece it’s not bad at all!

  17. 3041 Laguna closed escrow on 5/14/09 with an MLS reported contract price of $1,000. We’re guessing there might have been a typo (or an awkward attempt at keeping it “confidential”).

  18. 3041 Laguna sold concurrent with their first open house. Either someone was waiting for it to finish, or they fell in love quickly. Either way the folks in Cow Hollow near this property are thrilled to see the market holding up here. And judging by all the facelifts going on around the area, its looking pretty good.

  19. We drove past Laguns yesterday and it was empty. I wonder if the sale fell through.
    Also Cervantes is Act Cont. I can’t wait to see the sale price.

  20. The neighbors were reported to be quite happy that 3041 Laguna sold so quickly at a $4M ask, as indicative that property values were holding up. I wonder how happy they were at the actual sales price, that showed their property values had sunk like a rock!

  21. I live in the neighborhood, and the outside looks like one of those lofts-in-a-boxes that line the streets of SOMA. Plus, like most lofts, you can see the entire inside from the street through the wall to ceiling windows. I am not surprised that this has sat on the market for so long.

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