Tasteful friends, 898 Francisco on Russian Hill is back on the market!

they painted every inch of wood except the floors.

What construction is going on directly next to it?

It’s beautiful.

They've been trying to sell this place for years. They updated it a bit recently. It's been on my dream list. A new park is opening across the street and it has amazing views. You do need to buy the backlot for 3 mill so some asshole doesn't build and block your view. Obsessed with the fireplace in the front room.

I remember this house from the previous Tasteful Friends. Posters didn't like the white-painted wood. IIRC, there was an issue with parking at that time. Now, I see on the floor plan that there is a long, narrow garage. I think it's tandem parking for 2 cars, but I could be wrong.

The floor plan seems reasonable compared to the SF house that was posted recently (forgot the address).

Pass. It feels depressing. No warmth at all.

Aren't people rich enough to live in a ten-million dollar house uncomfortable being so close to the street with so many windows?

It would make a great set piece for a home invasion movie.

Also, are wet bars between bedrooms a thing? It looks like something Lucille Bluth would put in.

Utterly charmless.

Mark Levinson, the stereo guy?

I like it a lot. But I actually hate that part of SF. I mean, the views are insane, but the neighborhood itself? Not for me.

At one time, this home was owned by movie star Nicolas Cage.

Hi R2. The area across the street used to be an open, but restricted entry, City water storage facility. Don’t quote me, but after 50+ years, they may be finally creating an open space/park for the public to enjoy.

So beautiful, where’s the rest of it?

Hi R2, the only thing I could find.

I hate this house. I find the two blocked windows in the front really disconcerting and ugly. It has incredible woodwork which is ruined by turning the whole thing into a lifeless, white box. And living on the cable car line in a tourist trap neighborhood is charming for about 30 seconds. Note to realtor: a picture of Ghirardelli is NOT a selling point for a $10M home. Heinous destruction of a classic home.

[quote] Note to realtor: a picture of Ghirardelli is NOT a selling point for a $10M home.

I think it's cool to be able to see Ghirardelli Square and the Fisherman's Wharf area. Call me corny, but I think it's a selling point.

R12 and R14, Thank you! It just caught my eye looking at the photos. Especially, with the price. I need to get back to SF soon.

There’s a new park being constructed across the street called Francisco Park.

Maybe another color besides white in there somewhere? it looked like at one time it had some charm but when you paint everything white it's got all the charm of a cookie-cutter apartment in a complex.

I will say i like the upper bedrooms that have sitting areas/nooks. i always thought those type of bedrooms make the comfiest. that wasn't the worst neighborhood when i lived there some 10+ years but if it's right on the cable car line, it's a pass for me.

The woodwork in the pictured dressing room makes it obvious how much the original woodwork of other rooms was obliterated.

Neighborhood? Perfect for me. Having lived by actual freight train tracks I know it becomes unnoticed background noise, as the cablecars would.

The white is of course overdone. One wonders what the woodwork looked like before it was assaulted. Nice built-ins for the most part. The mid-century furniture looks utterly out of place here and looks like a hipster trying too hard. The roof I fear will soon become a big expense-you can only keep patching so long. Finally, what is that HORROR next door? I wouldn’t want to have to look at THAT everyday. Sadly, a hard pass.

The painted woodwork make it impossible to enjoy the house. What a waste.

It's still a fine house in most respects, but clearly it was a much finer house before the last renovation (or two.) The dark stained floors and white-on-white everywhere is all a little Restoration Hardware for a $10M house — it's more what you might expect for a pair of young lawyers living in Buffalo (see link) at 5% of the cost. Some things are inexplicable: like the really cheap crank hardware on the casement windows and the miserable and cheap little skylights.

Short of an excruciating paint removal process, the interior could be made vastly more attractive and less dumbed down easily enough and with minimal architectural changes. It's a good house, despite its bad luck. The weightless white exterior bothers me much more, but of course that is easily fixed to your taste. The major shortcoming though is that the location is off for me: something a bit higher up the hill with a broader prospect would be better, and the house just sits there, bare-assed. The construction on the next corner doesn't help, but ignoring that the place just doesn't have the scope of views that houses uphill have. I know it's asking for a lot to improve upon these views, but there is little sense of enclosure or privacy here, something most uphill houses manage to preserve.

I said it before and I'll say it again. If I'm going to pay $10 million for a house, no one is going to be able to step off the sidewalk and come right up to my front door.

R24 Enjoy your gated home hausfrau...

Many thanks r18. Even as a kid in the 60s I wondered why such a perfect spot was all fenced off.

[quote]The beautiful original Gothic period detail in the living room.

Which they painted over.

I like it, but the roof gives me concerns, and I'd have to factor in several thousand to have someone strip the paint off and restore the wood.

Not that it matters but I have been curious about this house since I first saw it as a child - in the film What's Up Doc, where its very distinctive double gables make an appearance just before Steve/Howard and Judy launch their purloined Beetle into the harbor.

I think it's a wonderful home and the views are so iconic they almost look fake - but, yes, stripping off the white paint is a must. This place calls for William Morris papers, Stickley benches and Tiffany shades.

The buffalo house makes more sense.

@r2 they are building a new park that once finished will only make the house more valuable.