2201 Baker Street

Okay, so it’s “almost fully” gutted, unreinforced masonry, and over five thousand square feet of really raw space for $2,490,000. And in case you were wondering, 2201 Baker was built as a single-family (around 1904), was converted to a boarding house in the 1940’s, and then was apparently Ellis Acted in 2002 (“details not yet verified” according to the listing).

No word on whether or not the evicted tenants were responsible for any of said gutting…

18 thoughts on “Prime Pacific Heights Single Family For Under Five Hundred A Square!”
  1. A project for the very, very brave. I drive by this place every day and the debris from the gut is bursting out the garage door. I think the argument could be made that it should be demolished completely. Seriously scary.

  2. Wasn’t this place on the market a couple of years ago un-gutted for twice the price?
    Agree with Sleepiguy, time to tear this one down.

  3. It is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than it is to get a teardown permit in Pacific Heights unless your name is Larry Ellison.

  4. This used to be the boarding house known as “Baker Acres” as recently as 2003-4 by my memory. Westmont College used to rent out the apartment next door (3016 Jackson) for an Urban program for roughly 20 years. Students would dine at Baker Acres for breakfast and lunch (the food was pretty good) along with the boarders.
    Buyers might want to renogotiate the price, but the neighborhood is outstanding, especially so close to the Presidio. Could still be salvaged by the right person, but a demo would obviously be easier.

  5. Boy, when I was a kid, we’d be working at some dull grocery store job and an earthquake would hit. Not a real shaker, mind you, some piddly 3.2 that would just make the hanging lights sway.
    We were bored and wanted to get our pictures in the paper, so we’d knock a couple of expired jars of pickles or something off the shelves, and then call the newspapers desperately looking to make a story out of an earthquake that wasn’t. And that’s how we’d get our pictures in the paper and brighten up a dull day.
    Fast forward a couple of decades. I’d park a bulldozer outside this place and wait for some 4.0 earthquake to hit. Then, right after the quake, around 10 am, when everyone was at work and no one would complain about the noise, I’d tie a chain to a support beam, fire up the dozer and pull. In a few minutes, I’d have everything I need for a demo permit, after maybe a few sad sack stories to the planning department. I’d be all set.

  6. Tipster, thanks for the great comment and story about the grocery store. Good Friday post. And a great idea. Wonder how that would impact the Ellis?

  7. Tipster, that was a really funny post.
    Sadly some people actually do that stuff.
    In a one block street in the Castro someone recently paid $920K for a very dilapidated house. People were saying that it can’t be torn down. Few weeks later the leaking roof was completely removed and derbies were thrown all over the place.
    Neighbor called DBI and an NOV was issued, coincidently that same weekend rain was pouring. I bet that by the winter they’d be forced to tear it down.
    PropertyShark and some curiosity showed that a recently renovated SFH in cole (on the market for &lt$3M) was done by the same “developer”

  8. If that’s the same property I’m thinking of, Shrader st., then that developer is a crafty devil. The Shrader st. property was 2 units plus an illegal inlaw. Now it is a single family. How that happened, I do not know. The 2 to 1 permits went the way of the dodo in the mid 90s.

  9. I think it’s fairly despicable that anyone evicted tenants, then left the property vacant. There should be some kind of colossal fine that can be brought to bear in a case like that.

  10. toured this home and it’s CREEPY. I have never seen a home in such bad condiition in my life. It looks like the folks who bought it to remodel either ran out of $ or just walked away mid project. There are wheel barrows full of dirt and building materials just sitting in the lower level. The city may not allow the future owner to restore it to a single residence, which may be a good idea since the building would make a nice 4 unit TIC for a wealthy builder with a lot of vision. I believe it is still worth the money and have heard that there are multiple offers already.

  11. I love this building. Intact it was Gruesome. A Lemony Snicket boarding school. A series of unfortunate hovels. An homage to tuberculosis.
    Leprosy cell 4. Gutting it was the best thing thing to do to honor the building and it’s location. Burning it would not have done the trick. Its needs more light. I viewed it on tour, they already had offers.

  12. I lived there briefly when I first moved to SF in 1977. Baker Acres had quite a collection of colorful tenants. As I recall it used to have one of those awnings over the sidewalk by the front door. Would appreciate it if anyone who might have one could send me a photo of it prior to it being gutted.

  13. This place is coming on the market again soon from what I understand and from looking a Barbara Callan’s website.

  14. Sold in 2008. Check her site under 2008 listings. Also look at her current featured homes and you will see a sketch of the home as coming soon. Not sure if they are adding that greenery to the curbs or not. I hope so.

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