San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
1929 Presidio Heights mansion tops priciest listings at $45 million
A palatial Presidio Heights mansion vaulted to the top of the most expensive homes on the market in San Francisco after it was listed for $45 million last month.
The six-bedroom home at 3450 Washington St. is also among the top five priciest houses for sale in the city when private “off market” listings are included, according to Compass agent Antoine Crumeyrolle, who is representing the sellers.
The 9,865-square-foot home was commissioned by Elsa Guggenhime in 1929 and built by the noted Bay Area architect Albert Farr, who built many homes in San Francisco’s Russian Hill, Pacific Heights, Sea Cliff and St. Francis Wood neighborhoods.
Crumeyrolle said the owners bought the home under an LLC to protect their privacy and declined to provide any further details. Real estate news website The Real Deal identified the owners as Vlocity co-founders Mark Armenante and Young Sohn.
University of Phoenix founder John Sperling and his son Peter owned the property before that, according to the San Francisco Business Times. In 2010, the San Francisco Decorator Showcase was hosted there, Crumeyrolle said.
Crumeyrolle says he has already given eight showings to qualified buyers since it’s come on the market, and that buyers seem to be particularly interested in the fact that the home has been completely upgraded to modern standards, but still retains its 1930s-era French-Normandy-style charm.
The estate was renovated “down to the studs” by Matarozzi Pelsinger, according to the listing. Along with six bedrooms, seven full baths, three half baths and a three-car garage, the home’s four levels also include a sauna, steam room, “intimate cigar room,” a 3,000bottle wine cellar, a fitness room, seven fireplaces, four decks, and an entertainment room — with views of the Golden Gate Bridge.
“All of the (the old) was preserved but just perfected,” said Crumeyrolle. “You have this grand scale, but with all of the amenities that someone would expect at that price range.”
Unlike the Washington Street mansion, which the listing touts as combining “Old San Francisco extravagance and elegance,” many recent ultra-luxury home sales in San Francisco have been more modern designs, such as 2712 Broadway St., which sold for $42.9 million in 2017, according to Zillow.com.
Other top real estate sales this year include 2790 Broadway in Pacific Heights, which sold for $34.5 million in July, followed closely by 3450 21st St. in Dolores Heights, which sold for $31 million and was owned by Facebook bilionaire Mark Zuckerberg.