Last May, when an 1889 Queen Anne Victorian sold for just over $2.5 million, it was a total jackpot. Though the property had been carved into several units, all the trimmings were still in place: parquet wood floors, bay windows accented with stained glass, original fireplaces, and a knockout entryway covered in wood carvings, alongside some admittedly kind of crazy-looking patterned wainscoting. At the time, the house hadn't changed hands in more than 100 years. The bathrooms definitely needed work, as did the kitchens and attic. The buyers did more than update, though. In the process of converting the house into the six-bed, seven-bath single-family home shown here, they ripped out the parquetry and put in generic new stuff, replaced the mantlepieces with horrible steel thingamajigs resembling flat-screen TVs, and—as far as we can tell—trashed the wood carvings.
Nevertheless, the listing promises that the slaying "maintained the late 1800's heritage while adding today's most in-demand features, finishes and fixtures." Which would be almost convincing in the absence of the original pictures. Sure, the stained glass is still there in the bay windows, quite a few of the moldings stayed put, and the facade changed from stone gray to sky blue. The elaborate wainscoting has been gone over with what must have been several layers of white—which is a coherent way of minimizing sensory overload, we get it. But. Did. They. Have. To. Take. Everything? The new ask is $6.595 million, an increase of $4,073,500 over the last sale price.
A few more before photos:
· Swanky Multi-unit Victorian Hits the Market [Curbed SF]
· 1533 Sutter Street [Vanguard]
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