What $4,400 rents you in San Francisco right now

Welcome to Curbed Comparisons, a regular column exploring what you can rent for a set dollar amount in different neighborhoods. Is one person’s studio is another person’s townhouse? Today’s price: $4,400.

↑ It’s been nearly five years since the finishing touches went up on 616 20th Street in Dogpatch, with a facade that turns heads whenever pedestrians pass by. Naturally, this is another Stanley Saitowitz building. “A variation of the bay windows at a comprehensive scale, oriented away from Third Street and toward the bay” was the principle behind the design, Saitowitz writes, creating a kind of optical illusion of two utterly different looks for the building from two different perspectives. The two-bed, one-bath apartment, presently on offer for $4,400/month, is a 748 square feet start to finish, arranged around a central “pod” that fixes the machinery of the appliances in the center of the space and separated by distinctive etched glass pocket doors.

↑ The towering, rounded wedge-shaped Yerba Buena building at 300 3rd Street doesn’t boast a starchitect-designed facade, and indeed the entire building looks only blase from the street. But one has to admit that once inside to the one-bedroom, one-bath apartment, presently on offer for $4,350, the bulging circular bay windows make for an arresting effect. The ad credits the interiors to a “designer remodel,” but doesn’t namedrop precisely which designer they mean. And like the Saitowitz building, there’s no word on whether or hot the designs included room for pets.

↑ Swinging back to the other end of the spectrum, here’s a house on the edge of Duboce Triangle (misnamed “Hayes Valley” in the ad, go figure) that puts up a simple, squarish exterior but goes bold with a beautiful sky blue paint job that argues that you can always add a little bit something special to even the most unassuming house. The top-floor flat here comes with two beds, two baths, and 1,500 square feet for $4,295, promising a “flat that feels like a house.” Whether or not that feeling also includes the fuzzy good vibes of animal companionship is once again left unsaid.

↑ This building in SoMa at Lucerne Street takes the tall, blocky, and squarish vibe in a different direction—namely, right back to being tall, blocky, and square. Can’t win them all, but the actual loft for rent boasts soaring ceilings, tall windows, and overarching upper space that such a vertical axis promises. It’s two beds and two baths, marketed as an “artist’s loft with 20-foot ceilings, skylights, and ceiling-to-floor windows offering plenty of natural light.” Which SoMa artists can swing $4,400 these days is hard to imagine, but bless whoever is trying. Small miracle: cats and dogs both permitted.

↑ And finally, renters who demand maximum return on both their exteriors and interiors may trek to the Sunset where a gorgeous two-bed, two-bath house on Moraga Street seeks $4,400. The gutsy but refined exterior (marred only a little by the ill-fitting garage door) opens up into tasteful, neutral-toned interiors that still maintain some period details like stained glass, coved ceilings, and envy-inducing crown moldings. Still mum about pets, though.