As we wrote at the end of 2008:
A plugged-in reader answers our prayers by directing us to the website for the unlisted but on the market 601 Dolores. Born the Mission Park Congregational Church in 1909 and more recently called the Golden Gate Lutheran Church, 601 Dolores was purchased in 2007 and transformed into a single-family home.
Think complete seismic retrofit; restoration of wood-paneling, original doors, hardware and historic stained-glass; add new mechanical, electrical and four wood burning fireplaces.
“Modern” kitchen, marble baths and a new tower interior with arched mahogany windows and roof-top deck overlooking Dolores Park. Oh, and parking for five.
Asking $9,950,000 at the time and officially listed for such on the MLS in February 2009, the MLS listing was withdrawn in November 2009. The website for the property is still live, however, only now it’s asking a righteous $7,490,000.
Comments from Plugged-In Readers
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Just another $2.5M price reduction. Cool showers tho and awesome location! Perhaps condo subdivision is the way to go?
Seriously, how does a big masonry building like this get seismically retrofitted? I don’t see any steel framing in any of the pics, perhaps its behind drywall? I lived thru Loma Prieta and there’s a lot of potential energy in all that brick!
Big reduction and new realtors as well. These guys justs sold 732 Lyon St. in app. 1 week. Perhaps they can do it again? (I doubt it…)
Got to question the rationality of developing this into a SFH. Even assuming the re-do is out-of-this-world great … who really wants to live in a building that looks like a church? Must be a small market the seller’s going after.
I can’t possibly imagine the buyer for this thing… Same with the converted firehouse on 22nd. People just don’t want to spend millions to live in converted buildings.
Tear it down, and put up condos… Love the brick through!
ditto prior 2 posts. am i seeing correctly that the “master bedroom” is open directly over the “living room”. sex noises heard by your guests and god?
and paint all the woodwork white.
Feh.
Maybe change the zoning and make a Bed and Breakfast. Or maybe another sex video production site a la the armory.
Oh come on…there’s a huge market for converted buildings. In the east, where there a lots of great old church buildings, and not the seismic issues that we have, there are lots of fantastic conversions.
The problem isn’t the idea, but the execution. Turning this into a single family was insane. It SHOULD have been cut up, sensitively, into several units. My understanding is that the building’s interior is landmarked, and that they were not allowed to do anything to cut up the sanctuary. That makes the entire project ridiculous as a living environment, and completely uneconomic.
If this project had been developed as condos, it would have been an enormous hit.
Somebody might like living in a place that looks like a church on the outside, but the inside as well?
While, sleepiguy, I agree that this particular conversion has a startlingly small market and would have been better off subdivided, should those magic numbers hit tonight you will promptly see that firehouse on 22nd go off market. For under asking, though.
plain weird; the pulpit is still there, right off the alter. great location; poor execution/business plan.
R. Kelly may be interested as he once lived in a converted church:
http://www.inreview.com/topic-22551.html
http://www.avclub.com/chicago/articles/you-dont-turn-down-an-invitation-to-r-kellys-house,30654/
“R. Kelly may be interested”
He could probably reconfigure the mezzanine so as to optimize urination on underage girls. He could even put in a hot tub so he can re-create the set of the video. The church probably has good acoustics so he can sing the song that was on Chappelle.
Yep, an extremely unique character will be a proud owner of this unique home.
I’d buy it in a minute if I had the cash@ This is one of my favorite houses in SF. I just wish it still had the original stained glass windows; pretty sure they were stolen.
sfrantim – I’d gladly live here though this is way over my affordability limits. If I could afford $7.5M it would be a different house though.
I agree with curmudgeon, this would have been successful subdivided into condos. There’s plenty of parking for that too. One advantage of making this condos is that you don’t feel so much like an oddball living in a former church since the rest of the HOA is in the same boat … er … um nave.
altar.
The original stained glass windows have been restored and have been hung inside the property.
“People just don’t want to spend millions to live in converted buildings…”
Actually, just $3.36MM…
[Editor’s Note: 3022 Washington Returns With The Traina Quote Of The Day.]
601 Dolores has been listed anew on the MLS and is once again official inventory.