Alamo Square Victorian’s decaying facade restored, interior completely overhauled

Five years ago, 1164 Fulton was a mess. In fact, considering its proximity to Alamo Square’s the painted ladies, its shambles qualified as a civic disgrace.

The circa 1900 or so Victorian (the city does not record a precise date for it) had fallen into such disrepair that it was hard to even look at it. So much so that when it last sold in 2012 it cost less than a million dollars.

Since then, the owners (an anonymous LLC) poured a small fortune’s worth of new construction into the place, spending an estimated $450,000 restoring the facade based on historic photos.

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The owners also reduced the unit count from four to two. While it’s normally controversial to eliminate housing stock during a restoration, most of the previous units were owner-occupied; the prevailing density of the neighborhood is duplexes, and the parcel was reportedly overbuilt for its RH3 zoning.

Today the Fulton Street Home looks like its old self again, as stately and upstanding an old fashioned, Alamo Square Victorian as any in the neighborhood—at least from the curb, that is.

Head around to the rear and the home shows a completely different, utterly 21st century face—all tall windows, metal screens, and rooftop deck.

Jensen Architects redesigned everything behind the Fulton Street face, turning the interior home into a slick, sleek, almost museum-like setup, complete with living wall in the backyard, twisted Escher staircase, and that contemporary skin of metal screens covering the windows like netting.

While the most visible part of the classic house has traveled back to the 19th century, everything beyond the front door vaults forward into the future.

And the price for this case of designer future shock: $7.3 million. Which is about as contemporary as it gets.

• 1164 Fulton [Sotheby’s]
• 1164 Fulton Proposal, 2013 [SF Planning]
• 1164 Fulton Permits [BuildZoom]
• A Stunning Alamo Square Renovation and Hidden $7.3 Million Home [SocketSite]