Purchased for $6.1 million in April of 2017, the extensively remodeled and light-filled Victorian at 2838 Sacramento Street, which is a block away from Alta Plaza Park in Pacific Heights, has since been upgraded, with a further refined living room, built-in sitting area, and a newly landscaped rear garden (with putting green).
The four-bedroom, four and one-half bath home measures roughly 3,605 square feet, not including its outdoor space nor garage.
And having returned to the market listed for $5.85 million last month, a sale is pending.
If you think you know the market in Pacific Heights, now’s the time to tell. And if you’re banking on indexed appreciation, the Case-Shiller index for Bay Area single-family homes is up around 17 percent over the same period of time (with the top-tier up 14.9 percent).
So many stairs. My knees hurt just thinking about it.
there were just as many stairs last time it sold.
I kinda [hate?] that block with all those beautiful Victorians ruined by their box-wart garages stapled to the front
The technical term is “snout garage.”
Poor streetscape is a problem on almost every block of SF. At least on this block the sidewalks are wider than most.
I say this one goes for six and a half and the buyer is the genius who took a quarter billion dollars off Uber to run their Prop 22 campaign.
Agreed. What’s the point of historic preservation when you have ugly additions front and center?
I am done with stairs. Where I live now there are 62 steps between my washer/dryer and my bedroom, a half flight less than my age in years. The first thing I looked for on the floor plans for this house was the elevator.
Gorgeous! I love the colors, I love the floors and mouldings, I love that there are (sort of) separate rooms. What a fabulous house in a great location. (Yeah the garage out front is ugly, but it gives you the lovely sunny terrace.) Wish I could afford this place.
A peculiar renovation – dazed and confused. All of those soffits and crown moldings weigh heavy and make the ceilings feel low. One of the virtues of SF Victorians – high ceilings and a general airiness of the spaces – has been lost here. The modern aluminum frame sliding doors are also an odd choice – like some “improvement” out of the 1960’s.
Sliding doors can easily be replaced, especially if you already have enough money to afford to purchase this house. I would not necessarily choose all the design elements, but I like the crown moldings (I am so tired of “minimalist” white spaces—the home’s bathroom is my least favorite room) and the ceilings still look very high with them.
This Victorian was built for a modest middle class family. It sits in what was subsequently named Pacific Heights, in a street that was not originally including in the designation. So the best use is to expand it, which they did with the garage and the additional third floor.
The reason the remodel is so awkward, and to some unappealing, is that the original constraints persist. There is now no hallway on the main floor beyond the living room, the master bedroom is on the third not second floor, and there is a shortage of at least one bathroom forcing the “media room” label. So while it may a $6 million house, the valuation is due to the current real estate situation in SF, and not to its intrinsic merits.
Almost anywhere else in the world, even in NY or Paris, this price would get you something that “looks like” the money it costs. There have been other houses, further up hill into Pacific Heights that were and are better at a similar figure.
For those curious about the type of people who first lived here, tho this address didn’t leave much info behind, it’s twin, 2830, did: in the 1890’s – apparently the buildings predate the listed date of 1900 (common, I guess, given the loss of records in 1906) – it was home to Bartley Clyne, a printer, his wife Minnie, and their 4-5 children (4-5?? I’ll get to that in a minute). Given the size of the brood, we can assume the couple had the privacy of their own bedroom, and given the number and mixed gender of the children they must have had (at least) two as well. So at least three bedrooms. And perhaps one for funerals: after losing one child at their previous home in 1889, they moved here…perhaps hoping to leave behind bitter memories and ill-fortune; it followed them there: they would lose another child in 1896, and Mrs. Clyne herself would succumb two years later. So many rooms for the living…and one for the dead.
6.1M
Perhaps the market is not so weak after all. But if the market for PacHts houses ever falls, this will be first.
The resale of 2838 Sacramento has yet to close escrow. But a sale at $6.1 million would represent total appreciation of 0.0 percent since the second quarter of 2017, not accounting for the value of the recent refinements.
And on a price per square foot basis, the average sale price in Pacific Heights has, in fact, slipped around 2 percent over the past six months and is actually down around 5 percent over the past year.
UPDATE: Refined Pac Heights Victorian Drops Nearly 10 Percent