Honorable Mention: Pacific Heights

On a clear day in San Francisco, there are few better places to soak up a view of the bay than this light- filled Queen Anne style home in Pacific Heights. Just a block away from Alta Plaza Park this traditional Victorian was built by architect Samuel Newsom in 1889. With its asymmetrical façade and curved bay windows it embodies the quintessential San Francisco aesthetic, which has previously made it the perfect backdrop for a feature film and television pilot. It also caught the eye of Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid who owned the property in the 1990’s.

More recently, a young couple looking to lay down roots for their growing family purchased the residence in 2014. They brought in local architect Tim Murphy to breathe new life into all 4 stories to accommodate their entertaining and lifestyle needs. The re-design resulted in a gut renovation that continued for the next four years. Not a single surface was left untouched, but the clients made sure to retain many of the original details like the thick crown molding that haloes over each room. As part of its modern reinterpretation, the house acquired a brand new kitchen family room, master bedroom, and upstairs lounge. The owners approached NICOLEHOLLIS to bring the house to life with custom furnishings and interior finishes that would sustain the wear and tear of toddlers, golden retrievers and entertaining their friends and family.

The result was a top-to-bottom transformation incorporating the client’s youthful stylish aesthetic with functional materials and furniture layouts. A show-stopping Barnaby Barford mirror perches above a custom black marble fireplace surround in the formal living room. The newly re-located dining room opens up into a family room and adjoining kitchen with stunning views just beyond the Vitrocsa sliding glass doors. The expansive master bedroom is an ode to the wife and mother’s feminine sensibility with its dusty lavender palette and luxurious materials. A curved sofa by India Mahdavi and porcelain artworkby Fenella Elms contribute to the softness of the room. In contrast, an upstairs lounge embodies a much more masculine atmosphere with a vintage pair of Fritz Hansen chairs reupholstered in a deep green alpaca fabric and walls coated in Benjamin Moore’s “Iron Mountain”.

To accommodate the family’s functional needs, NICOLEHOLLIS designed several custom pieces like the Robsjohn Gibbings inspired cabinet in the dining room which opens up into a full bar with glass shelving and pull out drawers. A custom leather upholstered ottoman contains just enough padding at the corners to make it kid-friendly, while the boy’s bedroom features a custom full-size daybed with a pull-out trundle bed that’s intended to be grown into. Unique artworks throughout the house were sourced from various San Francisco based galleries, including a photograph by John Chiara and a painting by JMary from Almond & Co.