The grand manses of San Francisco are notoriously enviable—pocketed within the city’s rolling hills and overlooking the Bay, these homes are spacious without fail and almost always come with a little slice of history. Few and far between, we featured one such listing back in September, once owned by Vanessa Getty. Another has now made its way to the market, a sweeping and stately corner mansion and the crowning glory of Russian Hill’s Hyde Street. Asking $13.8 million, the home is as remarkable for its story as it is for its soaring scale.Constructed in 1900, the home was designed by legendary Bay Area architect Willis Polk, a wunderkind who assisted in San Francisco’s master plan. After original owner Frances Stevenson, a socialite and the widow of author Robert Louis Stevenson, sold the home in 1908, it was significantly expanded and transformed into a convent; the nuns in residence are said to never have been seen in public. The current owners brought in architect Joe Farrell to modernize the home’s amenities whilst maintaining Polk’s turn-of-the-century vision.As it stands today, the home, dubbed the Robert Louis Stevenson house, is indeed a lavish fusion of luxury sampled from several periods of San Francisco’s history. The Mediterranean exterior, with an arched entry and arched paired windows, Polk’s signatures, remain almost exactly as they were when he conceived them. A grand staircase ascends the home’s three levels, each steeped in terra cotta, French windows, and lush green spaces. The Golden Gate and Bay Bridges, Alcatraz, and Treasure Island are all within sight, the latter three in a 360-degree turn around the third floor great room.For more information on this sparkling San Francisco spread, Nina Hatvany of Compass has the historic listing.
