Russian Hill: Handsome, Old School, & Renovated

We've been in this building before, a handsome old co-op on Hyde Street in Russian Hill, diagonally across from the tennis courts at Sterling Park and a block from the tourist madness of the crooked part of Lombard Street. Our second co-op of the day, the old-school form of apartment ownership where buying one can approach the discomfort of joining a private club; there's an interview and many buildings have a no-financing requirement. So start rooting about in the sofa cushions and get ready to pay cash. You're buying stock and being granted a proprietary lease, unlike a condominium where you're actually buying assembled building materials. In this case, building materials assembled to form a two-bedroom/two bath apartment and asking $1.795M plus HOAs of $992.00 per month for the privilege of living there. But if you can pass muster, there are advantages. For starters, there's that unobstructed view of Coit Tower from the enclosed terrace.

Built in 1913/14 and designed by Scottish architect T. Patterson Ross. He was responsible for a number of buildings along this ridge, which had been completely destroyed in the 1906 fire and soon filled up with similar residential buidlings during the post-quake boom. In this well-renovated traditional apartment, the kitchen's been opened up to the dining room, and someone had the good sense to install a La Cornue range. The rooms have high ceilings and thick plaster walls, bays and heavy moldings, and except in the kitchen, no recessed lights punctuate the ceiling. Ross was also the architect who, when working on a Shriner's Temple, was asked to include some Islamic inscriptions for the facade. The members later found out the text over the entrance said

Great is Allah and Great is Ross the Architect

He was later permanently disabled by falling bricks on a job site, but we're not sure there's a connection. There's an open house on Sunday, August 8 from 2-4PM.
· 2164 Hyde Street [Redfin]
· Russian Hill Classic [Curbed SF Archives]
· North Slope history [Russian Hill Neighbors]
· Pedigreed Poodles Welcomed in Pacific Heights Co-op [Curbed SF]

2164 Hyde Street, San Francisco, CA