Sunset District looker asks $995K

Here’s another San Francisco gem back on the market for the first time in decades, this one listing today for $995,000 (which is what passes for a modest San Francisco listing in 2017).

True, 2301 25th Avenue is not spectacular in scale, offering three beds, one bath, and about 1,400 square feet. Nor is it exclusive or secluded, sitting at the corner of 25th and Santiago. And there’s no prominent history attached.

But behind its intricate Mediterranean facade of arches and tile roofs, this circa 1926 house is quite simply a looker, a head-turner, an exemplar of clean, clear-eyed, old-fashioned home design that has endured decade after decade.

The late owner, Leo Mullin, was a teacher for 40 years, the child of Irish immigrants in the late 1920s, and grew up in Noe Valley but lived most of his life right here in the Sunset and Parkside neighborhoods.

Much has changed about the surrounding area since the last nail went into this place in 1928, but the house (only two years older than its former owner) appears to be hanging tight, still keeping its endless banks of windows beaming out onto the street.

The kitchen and bathroom could use an update, but in a time when so many neighboring homes are getting hit with the three R’s—renovation, remodel, and reconstruction—a few dated touches are comforting.

The real kicker is the backyard, home to what looks like the world’s smallest, easiest, most adorable hedge maze.

There wasn’t really enough room back there to get lost in, but by golly if an old school San Franciscan wants a hedge maze he’s going to use every last square foot available, and in a drought-friendly design to boot.

• 2301 25th Avenue [Jason Chan]
• Mullin Obituary [Duggans-Serra]