A sensitive expansion and renewal of one of San Francisco’s oldest Victorian houses, which preserves its original charm
Architecture by Jack Byron
Landscape architecture by Margot Jacobs
Project by suprstructur
Photography by Adam Rouse
This pre-earthquake Mission townhouse was found in remarkably original condition. Rather than keeping the street facade and dropping a new building behind it, the development approach retained the original building with its intact architectural detailing, and contrasted it with a clean, contemporary three-storey addition.
From the original Victoria rooms with their high baseboards and crown moulding of the 'front house', one steps down into the 'new house' with its floor-to-ceiling, retractablle windows out to a level yard. The yard is designed in a minimal aesthic with redwood, gravel and Japanese mapel trees.
kitchen
Constrasting front and rear building facades tell their own stories: the 1875 Federal-style facade is more reminiscent of Georgian period architect with its restrained and well proportioned series of windows. The rear facade was purposefully unadorned and was inspired by contempotary Dutch architecture.
