Ornate Noe Edwardian with Awkward Basement Sells for $4.1M

The stately Edwardian at 29th and Church in Noe Valley feels like the setting of an off-kilter upstairs-downstairs dramedy, with an unusual combination of country club-style decor upstairs and drab, drop-ceilinged office space downstairs, in the basement. Completed in 1910, the four-bedroom house was certainly designed for another mode of living: The kitchen is a tiny box fit only for a servant—definitely not modern-day entertaining—and there's an old Wedgewood stove parked in the dining room. The upstairs boasts intricate woodwork, a beautiful green-tiled fireplace, and hand-painted ceiling murals that, up close, look more like freehand studies than finished work. The downstairs reverses course completely, with institutional carpet, fluorescent lights, and a smattering of exercise equipment that could be a halfhearted attempt to show its potential as a gym. When we dropped in on the open house in April, we weren't sure what to make of it all.

Commenter Walter shed some light on the whole thing:

I grew up and went to school a few blocks away. This was a doctor's home and office, so the basement was always office like, although not open plan. The photos don't do the rest justice, and repainting is cheap. The buyers picked up the whole place—including a freestanding two-bedroom apartment out back—for $4.1 million, a scant $105K over asking. We're kind of dying to know what they have in store for the place, and how they might attempt to reconcile the home's split personality into one cohesive space. We'd hate to see a total gut job, as one commenter was pulling for, but something inventive would be a nice change for a place stuck in various iterations of the past.

The apartment out back:

· Ornate Noe Edwardian with Off-Putting Basement Asks $3.995M [Curbed SF]
· 263-269A 29th Street [Official Site]
· 263-269A 29th Street [Redfin]