I enjoyed this home tour! I love how unexpectedly airy the interior is! That being said, Im sure I'm in the minority here. Although I'm happy there are people who want to preserve older homes and stay true to the original concept, I don't automatically hate homes that don't conform. I don't need every room awash in color to find it interesting or antiques that "tell a story". A room that's "boring" to me is one that is cluttered or too many clashing patterns. It makes me uninterested in the rest of the home. This home stays true with the exterior and has, I'm willing to bet, a much better flow on the inside now.

I think with the modern addition it's completely appropriate, and certainly a much more practical dwelling. And pretty!

After a recent trip to SF, I came back and looked at a lot of real estate. What I found is that a lot of the houses below $1M were very small and in dismal condition on the interior. I think this is a preferable direction rather than doing some sort of diluted traditional neo-Victorian interior. If it can't be authentic, my choice would be contemporary, as was done here.

I don't know why they put that garage door on the front. I don't know why the adjacent neighbors objected, considering the height of their properties.

The garage door is odd. And you would have thought that might be tough to get approved since it does impact the facade.

I agree that the completely modern interior seems better than a re-muddled nod at a Victorian. And this looks quite livable.

And, oh yes, it's amazing how small and dismal a $800,000 plus property in San Francisco can be.

By what I saw in San Francisco, many homes had garages in the basement "walk out", or maybe better called drive out since there are no personnel doors.
I have to admit they could have found a more suitable garage door style considering the amount of money they put into the interior. As you'll see in the link below, not all homes have garage doors that truly fit the exterior, but there are many that do have garages under the home.
Also with the age of most of these homes it makes you wonder about what was there before the garage doors were needed. In all my reading about Victorian homes, I have never come across that information. Granted, I wasn't looking for it.
Our 11 year old home is built in the Queen Victorian Style with steeply peaked gables with scale siding. I've loved Vix since my childhood when the streets of my hometown and Omaha were lined with beautiful Victorian homes. Most of Omaha's grand ladies have been since torn down.
Oddly enough, my favorite style of furniture is MCM, but we are keeping the bones of our home to match it's exterior using seven inch tall base and wide door and window trim.

Here is a link that might be useful: San Francisco Victorian Houses. Many with Garages

I don't know what it says about me that the most noteworthy aspect of this house is the way they used plug mold on the island. Probably that I am obsessed with minute details of kitchen remodeling...

Loved it!

Finally spotted a drain in the patio...phew.

I am a sucker for what I am now going to call the railroad kitchen - giant galley in the middle of a row (or narrow) house.

This post was edited by robotropolis on Wed, Jan 28, 15 at 8:11

Lovely home. I have no concerns, particularly given the state of the house. I like the patio and back garden. The price is a bit shocking, I thought we had high house prices here.

I believe the last time I was in San Francisco, I read something that there was not a single property for sale under $250K, in any condition, and that most sales under $1M were so competitive that people were coming to closing with at least 50% down.

San Francisco is incredibly expensive. Rents recently exceeded Manhattan. We came here from DC and housing prices are very high even in comparison to DC. And property in the city and many surrounding areas typically comes with very little land and is often in not great shape.

Another interesting thing is that SF has a Byzantine school assignment system so you are quite likely to not be able to use your neighborhood school. So people with kids may be driving thirty minutes or more across the city to get their kids to their assigned public school or they may be paying high prices for a house and then private school tution on top of it.

It is too incongruous to me. I love the outside, but the inside is just too stark. It has a "wow" factor to me, but not in a good way. I would rather see either a modern traditional interior or a warmer contemporary interior.

I like modern homes, especially MCM, but not this interior. It has no life, no warmth, even with that beautiful wood in the main area.
Diane

If the owner invited me in for a tour I would be so disappointed. I just like old things, up to 1940s. I was around for part of MCM--still have the chest and dresser from my parent's first BR suite, but I'm not to the point where I appreciate it, except for rising values.

In hilly So.Oh we have a lot of drive-out garages, many still with the carriage style doors, and steps leading up to the front door.

Nope. The 'before' pictues of the interior was more appealing than all the 'updated' pictures. Re-finish those hardwoods, clean up the walls and 12" baseboards and I would be more than thrilled.

I hate it . It reminds me of way to many of the hospital lobbies I spent alot of time in while my dh was going threw heart surgerys. A home should feel warm and inviting this does not.

I wonder if there's a difference in reactions partially related to whether or not you have lived in a city.

I don't tend to the modern. But I think having lived in San Francisco makes me more sympathetic to a desire for a clean, uncluttered, open living space. Many properties here have very small lots. In fact many "single family homes" in SF are really row houses with mere inches or no distance at all between them. That means no light coming in from the sides. And it contributes to a cramped feeling that I think can come from living in a dense urban place. I certainly can see how something that might feel cozy in a small town setting with a decent size lot and light coming in from all sides and generally more space in daily living could feel unpleasantly tight in a more urban setting.

I will also say that it is very possible that not only had many details already been stripped from this particular house but it is also very possible that everything needed major updating. We purchased a 1926 French Revival outside of the city and it needs everything. I spent over a grand just updating the wiring and having fixtures installed and removed for ONE room. (Outlets were two pronged, fixtures were original painted over sconces installed in very awkward places, etc). So restoring a place like that would probably have meant way more work than putting up some trim and painting it. I'm guessing, but the modernization route may have been cheaper than the restoring route--especially in a HCOLA.

I've been in three Victorians remodeled in a completely contemporary manner like the one linked (all in San Francisco - one I would have bought if it had had a garage, one was the home we lived in until 1986, and was completely redone in 2013, one is a gigantic Victorian in Japantown that was redone this year, and should have been converted to 3 condominiums instead). My take is that it can be done well and it can be done badly. The one we would have bought - it was just genius the way they used rooms, materials, light, finishes, etc. (like the one linked). The one we used to live in - slightly lower-end remodel (although more expensive property, which by the way sold one week after it went on the market, at $2.0 million) -- it looked great but on closer inspection, wasn't actually done as nicely. The giant one -- just awful (at an asking price of $6.0+ million). They could have made it so great, but didn't. All white, and not in a good way. Bland. So, in the end, I think it's all about how it's done, and I love the one that's linked.

I love both modern and Victorian but not really together. That being said, this is well done. I like the kitchen. But I would hate to have a Victorian and not have a clawfoot tub and beautiful tile bath, etc.