464 Tehama
As we wrote in 2007 when 464 Tehama last hit the market and our post was originally simply titled, “No Words (Just Drool)“:

Okay, so we’re adding a couple of words. As a number of plugged-in readers have noted, the architect was Jim Jennings, the interior is featured on the cover of “Creating the New American Townhouse,” and it was one of Architectural Record’s 2002 Record Houses. And yes, we’re still drooling.

Asking $3,250,000 at the time, it sold for $3,200,000 in 2007 having been purchased for $2,375,000 in 2006 (keep in mind the legal address is 967 Howard).
Back on the market in 2010 and asking $3,600,000.
∙ Listing: 464 Tehama (3/4) – $3,600,000 [MLS]
No Words (Just Drool) [SocketSite]
Jim Jennings Architecture: Soma House [jimjenningsarchitecture.com]
Architectural Record: Record Houses 2002 [Architectural Record]

45 thoughts on “464 Tehama Returns (As Does The Drool)”
  1. That’s a lot of money to spend in that neighborhood. The house might be great, but that is a crap neighborhood. 6th and Tehama is ground central for all sorts of idleness, drugs and inebriation. I’d take my ~$4M and buy almost anywhere else.

  2. There are some really great properties in the $3-$4 million range that don’t come with the problems of this neighborhood. I’ll take the under.

  3. I would offer to pay for the mental treatment of the architect of this home who decided to put such a lovely house in THE WORSE NEIGHBORHOOD in all of San Francisco. Are you kidding me? Who wants to pay $3.6 mm to live on 6th & Howard? I’d pay to meet that guy! I’m still laughing. This is like the emperor’s new clothes. What a joke!

  4. Emperor’s new clothes indeed. This house is UGLY.
    My clinical laboratory has a warmer feel than this sterile space.

  5. Interesting that the listing contains zero photos of that curbside facade featured here.
    At this price the seller is seeking a buyer wowed by the architecture and build quality. Its eventual sales price will tell us nothing about SF or SOMA RE trends.

  6. To call this a townhouse is an affront to human beings everywhere. This “house” is a middle finger to the city. A real townhouse interfaces with the street, with a stoop and windows. It is interesting to look at as you pass by. This turd is the imperial star destroyer of architecture. Don’t want to look at it. Don’t want to linger in front of it.
    You can buy this house and pretend you live in outer space. Your illusion will be shattered when you walk out the door onto the depressing, inhuman streetscape you are helping to perpetuate.

  7. This entrance is a very unfortunate invitation to bladder relief.
    Wild guess scenario:
    – Lowered to 3.15M in June ’10 trying to catch the last of the spring buyers
    – Lowered to 2.85M in August ’10
    – Withdrawn in late August ’10 without a sale (and probably one or 2 “serious offers” that didn’t pan out).
    – Re-listed for 2.75M in October ’10
    – Lowered to 2.40M in January ’11
    – Buyer found at 2.25M in February ’11
    – Last asking lowered to 2.20M in March. Fishing for back-up offers.
    – Closing in April ’11 for 2.25M, 150K over asking and 525/sf where this pretentious albatross belongs.

  8. nice property, but location does not seem to merit $3.6 million. $3.6 million seems like it could buy equally nice property but in more desirable location.

  9. @lol the Howard St façade no longer looks like that, it’s flush all the way across and instead of intentional corrosion it is cleaned and sealed or coated somehow. It’s the perfect evidence that the architect had no consideration of place when designing this wreck.

  10. Some greenery out front would really help soften the exterior design. It’s cool but not very welcoming…

  11. @sfquestion: If you honestly think this is the worst neighborhood in San Francisco and that’s not just hyperbole, you should explore your city a bit more.

  12. This place has an interesting sales history:
    Jun 29, 2007 Sold (Public Records) $3,200,000
    May 03, 2006 Sold (Public Records) $2,375,000
    Oct 28, 2004 Sold (Public Records) $2,200,000
    Feb 14, 2003 Sold (Public Records) $900,000
    Jun 11, 2002 Sold (Public Records) $2,500,000
    Jul 23, 1999 Sold (Public Records) $1,150,000
    That 2003 sale at $900K looks more like a re-fi. The 2002 sale was at $3.01M adjusted for inflation, 2004 at $2.5M, 2006 at $2.55M, and 2007 at $3.34M.
    That last buyer was the biggest chump because the real work was done in 2003, according to the permits (under 967 Howard). According to the Howard permits, the only recent work done on this property was in 2009 to add a fence at $25K. There was one permit in 2001 for 464 Tehama as well.
    The front curb makes it look like a $3.6M urinal for sure. The inside would be more sterile if it wasn’t for the warmer wood in contrast to the otherwise incredibly sterile look. This house is definitely form over substance (considering the terrible functionality of some of its spaces), but what an ugly form.

  13. Oh and besides my last question, I love the pictures on MLS. Maybe I have just worked with too many Victorians over the last 10 years.

  14. What location would be worse in SF?
    Oh, come on. There’s no serious contest there. This isn’t a great location but at least it’s walkable to plenty of stuff. And there are even trendy bars and galleries in this actual neighborhood. Hunter’s Point is a different world entirely.

  15. This makes the Hotel Utah look like a steal @ 2.38. I think I prefer the ambiance of the Utah over this pretentious urinal. And its got more rooms, lol.

  16. Interesting that the listing doesn’t use the above (or any) photo of the front.
    I often wondered about this place as I walked past. I thought it was a business.

  17. If I had $2.8 million, I would put an offer in. The place is SICK and the neighborhood is in transition and I like that. I bought a house in a neighborhood in transition 6 years ago and my house has doubled in value (according to comp sold this week). Do you know how close this is to Westfield?

  18. Here’s a simple build test (algorithm)that can be used for this type of architecture:
    If a picture of the front of the house would look amazing as a hanging art piece inside the house: do not build the house!

  19. But the unwritten rule in SF is that you can only build something new and interesting on the very worst lots.
    I am still waiting for Infinity 3 to break ground on the 2000 block of Broadway.

  20. so the main entrance and garage looks like its on the tehama side. what exactly is this on the howard side? does the window looking thing open up like a door?

  21. I like the design. I wonder how much the views from the windows of the building next door intrude upon the privacy of the courtyard space. The introversion effect of the interior space would be an interesting experiment for me, a view hound. I do like how the available light has been maximized, although I’d consider adding a few more clear glass skylights and clerestories to let in some blue sky.
    It’s fascinating to hear comments about how minimalist designs are so cold and uninviting. To me, this provides a canvas for imaginative owners to display art and embed color that contrast with the open and white spaces.

  22. Beautiful house, decent location. Not the best since it’s right by 6 street but most likely you will not get robbed walking around. 6 is turning into a decent location with restaurants opening up.
    The only problem is there’s a lot of burglary around that area to commercial buildings. They gain access from the roofs and break into the building via a window or door on the rooftop. My only concern is if someone wanted to gain access to this place, they can easily get onto the roof of a neighbor and jump down into the open courtyard between the garage and entrance of the house.
    Jim Jennings did an excellent job with this building.

  23. OK, my point of view on worse neighborhoods:
    Bayview
    Hunters Point
    Crocker Amazon
    Visitacion Valley
    Ingleside
    Sunnyside
    I suspect those aren’t going to be too controversial.
    I would also add (these may be controversial):
    The southeast quadrant of the Inner Mission
    Outer Mission
    Southern bit of Hayes Valley, aka the Lower Haight
    parts of the Western Addition

  24. I walked thru in 2007 and I thought it was fantastic. Really a brilliant space. When you’re inside, you don’t care where it is. It’s truly an oasis.
    As for the neighborhood, I’ll refrain from the school girl hair-pulling. There’s no way I can top the slapstick already posted.

  25. The courtyard is definitely under designed. I like the interior. Very minimal. It’s a really sleek place but it feels very boxed in. Almost like it’s crappy outside so let’s just stay inside feel. Which at this location, is true. If this house is at Pacific and Divisidero, it’ll likely go for more than $5M. But at this location, $3M is not likely. After all, real estate is all about location, location, location.

  26. “…the neighborhood is in transition…”
    and it always will be. Until the SRO’s are torn down, 6th street will remain what it is. In all seriousness, I do not expect 6th street to gentrify in my not-inconsiderable remaining lifetime. It could, however, get worse.

  27. Scooter: It’s nearly impossible to objectively compare neighborhoods because people value different things, that’s why we choose to live in specific areas versus others. That list you presented may make sense to you (i.e. personal bias) but trying to build some consensus around neighborhoods is a far trickier matter because the needs of citizens vary greatly. There are a lot of people who live in the mentioned “worse” areas for which the 6th and Howard location is simply a non-starter.

  28. willow- you may have a point.for example the tenderloin has had wackjob homeless people kill about 4 people over a 5 month period. the last occured in febuary when a homeless man bludgeoned someone to death with a boombox.some people may prefer the predictable nature of violence in bayview.gang bangers attacking each other (and leaving others alone) vs the random violence of the mentally disturbed people in the tenderloin area

  29. Sunnyside doesn’t belong on that list. Monterey is kind of a bleak commercial district, but Joost is quite nice and all the area behind the City College is nice.
    Some of the housing stock needs work, it is true, but Sunnyside is a quiet area with a relatively low crime rate.

  30. Ditto NVJ on Sunnyside.
    Lived here since 2002. Very quiet and peaceable neighborhood, inhabited by a combination of blue-collar retirees and newer buyers who are largely white-collar professionals, including our two-lawyer household. Our closeknit group of neighbors include professors, writers, artists, a nurse, a priest and IT professionals.
    The only oddity is that is strangely a very white neighborhood, in comparison to other places I’ve lived in the City.

  31. meep: I get your logic but it wasn’t exactly what I was thinking. People choose to live in San Francisco (or not) for a variety of reasons and select neighborhoods based on factors such as cost, school district, weather, proximity to transit, diversity etc. Would I live in Crocker Amazon? Probably not but who am I to say that it is better or worse than any other part of the city. (Particularly in comparison to a somewhat marginal area like 6th and Howard!) Everyone has their own little personal scorecard on what they are looking for in terms of housing but to come up with a list of “bad” areas I think is a little presumptuous.

  32. the original owner spent 6 to 7 million to construct. the last owner replaced the front facade with a stainless steel panels because of the graffiti problem. they have also added a metal screen in order to prevent the homeless sleeping in the front porch. the “pond” in the courtyard used to be a jacuzzi.

  33. “the original owner spent 6 to 7 million to construct”
    i call bs on that.
    On that we can agree, kid char. Concrete is expensive, but you’d have to be a lunatic to spend that much on this house at this location.

  34. I hate to say it, but I think iknow is close to being right. This was a Ryan construction and at market peak, they really wouldn’t take jobs with LESS than a 5 million budget.

  35. Actually, lol pretty much nailed it, except that they had the good sense to accept the June offer. Nice work by the seller.

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