Modernized Liberty Hill contemporary
Tom Tashjian bought 385 Liberty St. in 1999 and spent many years weighing design ideas before committing to a modernization of the Liberty Hill home. During that time, he consulted with builder Gary Foley and designer Jon Taylor. Foley and Tashjian have worked on several homes during the last decade, including 80 Laidley St. in Noe Valley, which sold for $5.4 million in May.
Foley and Tashjian worked intermittently on the Liberty Street home for several years starting in 2013.
They would focus their attention on other projects, always coming back to the four-story contemporary.
“With every project I did, I was always thinking what I could bring to 385 Liberty,” Tashjian said.
The five-bedroom boasts an array of high-tech amenities, including integrated speakers, solar power and an elevator. Spread across four levels, the home includes a two-car garage, as well as a view terrace off the owner’s suite.
Out back, a terraced landscape offers Trex decking and a custom pergola.
Its signature design element is an angled, geometric window along the facade that frames the San Francisco skyline.
“Downtown is right in your face,” said Frank Nolan of Vanguard Properties, who is listing 385 Liberty St. for $6.995 million.
A pair of bedrooms occupy opposite sides of the floor plan on the second level. A media room stands in the middle and includes a wet bar, a walk-in closet
and a laundry room.
The home’s heartbeat resides on the third floor, along with the great room, chef ’s kitchen and garden access. Here’s where the angled window brings the cityscape into view and a bar stands off the dining area. The butler’s pantry features a kitchenette and a powder room rests across the hall.
Three bedrooms — including an owner’s suite that opens to a private terrace with city views — occupy the top floor.
White Dove marble adorns the master bathroom, a lavish space defined by a soaking tub, floating vanities and a walk-in shower. This marble is an elegant finish that softens some of the home’s other design elements, Tashjian said.
“Some view the design as handsome and masculine, so it’s important that we put softer elements in as well,” he said. “Same with the white oak flooring, it’s a warming touch.”
The home resides in Liberty Hill, a neigh-
borhood standing southwest of Mission Dolores Park and east of Twin Peaks. Seventy percent of the homes here are Victorians — four out of every 10 homes are Italianate Victorians.
This particular block has a row of contemporary homes standing shoulder-to-shoulder with 385 Liberty St.
Despite the name, the Liberty Hill district is one of the flattest neighborhoods in San Francisco. Instead,
the neighborhood’s name comes from two roads in the district, Liberty and Hill streets.
Dolores Heights, near 21st and Sanchez streets, is the closest hill to the Liberty Hill district.
Despite the neighborhood’s relatively level topography, the backyard features an upslope. Tashjian worked with the landscape to create a terraced backyard that’s accessible off both the second and third levels.
The backyard hosts a custom pergola and a porcelain patio whose dark tiles soak up sunlight and retain heat well into the evening.
Doors off the kitchen and great room open to the backyard, where the patio sits in a sort of valley protected from wind. A six-foot gas fire pit with built-in benches rests along the back wall.
To the left is a stairway to an upper terrace that looks over downtown.
“The property is fully developed going back to the back border,” Tashjian said.
See more at www. 385 liberty.com.