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After a two year listing hiatus 3022 Washington (a.k.a. Engine Company Number 23) returns to the market asking $4,400,000 (versus $4,850,000 in February 2007).

Engine Company Number 23 was retired as a firehouse in 1964 and was then purchased by world-renowned designer John Dickenson….Former owners have also included former Governor Jerry Brown as well as world-famed advertising guru Hal Riney…. The current owner, who is a collector of rare and fine objects has brilliantly refined and maintained the property to its present glory.

Said current owner remains John Traina (of whom you’ve might have heard). And we remain smitten with that wood burning stove (a John Dickenson original).

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The quote of the day from the Wall Street Journal’s coverage of the property’s listing:

Original elements in the ex-firehouse include “brass poles that are popular with the younger set,” Mr. Traina says.

So we’ve heard.

Full Disclosure: The co-listing agent for this property advertises on SocketSite, but we would have written about it regardless (as we did in 2007).

44 thoughts on “3022 Washington Returns With The Traina Quote Of The Day”
  1. all I can say is… wow. I’m speechless!
    the interior decorations are so taste specific and so jarring that it is hard to see the actual property behind the furnishings. it’s very 80’s-safari fabulous. As example, it’s hard to comment on the wood floors when a Rhino is stampeding and a Zebra is leaping off a balcony to trample you!
    I would seriously consider a stager in this case. The furnishings are top notch I’m sure, and they are quite visually interesting… but this place doesn’t look like a home… it looks like a museum or something.
    is that a bed in the kitchen? That’s a thought.

  2. Wow.
    This is the sort of garish ridiculous interior that one might read of in Suetonius or Petronius around the time a self-absorbed and preposterous Rome went obliviously & permanently around a navel-gazing bend.
    One can only hope some day that stylistic zebras get their revenge….

  3. I’ve always had a hunch that rhinos and zebras wouldn’t look good together in one room. Now I know for sure.

  4. I think that the jarring, shiny, cluttered living room decoration is designed to divert attention from the fact that you have a giant burning chrome piston in your living room.

  5. “hunch that rhinos and zebras wouldn’t look good together in one room.”
    that’s hilarious. This listing is begging for comments like this.
    Cool house…crazy furnishing.

  6. Those furnishings are insane (why do the animals change between pictures 4 and 5?) and is it just me, or is the kitchen outside?

  7. Just out of curiosity, where would someone get this kind of interior decoration??? Who thinks of this stuff?
    I was under the impression you couldn’t import dead rhinos anymore. Why is there a rhino in the middle of the living room at all? Can you rest your drinks on it? Or perhaps the kids can climb on its back and play… Do they dress it up for Halloween and Christmas? Perhaps its part of an African-themed nativity scene during the holidays. Is the owner, by any chance … “the other way” if you know what I mean.
    So many questions!
    When is the open house?
    The polished fireplace is pretty sweet.

  8. Is the outdoor kitchen the only kitchen!??!?
    This place reminds me of going to Banana Republic in the early ’80s, but for the most part, it appears it could look pretty tasteful with a different set of furnishings. Except for that chrome fireplace. That would have to go!

  9. If the new owners are getting rid of the fireplace, let me go on record as saying that I’ll come by with my truck, anytime, and pick it up at no charge.
    Same goes for the rhino.

  10. I can’t imagine cluttering my home with dead beasties and horseheads, but ya gotta admire this kind of over-the-top flamboyance.
    Still, reorienting the jumping zebra between photos 4 and 5 is a (minor) listing foul. Made me think they’d horizontally flipped an image.

  11. Wow. Someone really took advantage of those great deals when the Liberace & Hemmingway Furniture Warehouse had their going out of business sale.

  12. “Still, reorienting the jumping zebra between photos 4 and 5 is a (minor) listing foul. Made me think they’d horizontally flipped an image.”
    They did more then just reorient the zebra, they also appear to have moved the rhino and one of the horses. Very strange.
    Overall my opinion is this place hurts my eyes.

  13. “Still, reorienting the jumping zebra between photos 4 and 5 is a (minor) listing foul. Made me think they’d horizontally flipped an image.”
    They did more then just reorient the zebra, they also appear to have moved the rhino and one of the horses. Very strange.
    no way. My guess is that they’re alive. they simply moved themselves here and there as animals are wont.

  14. When I cook a nice meal and drink a good bottle of wine, I usually can’t be bothered to make it all the way to my room to go to sleep, luckily this place has a bed right in the kitchen to take care of that lifelong problem of mine.

  15. Sure beats having to drive all the way to Vallejo to visit Marine World Africa USA. The interior design was inspired by two of my favorite divas: Eartha Kitt and Liberace,

  16. I was under the impression you couldn’t import dead rhinos anymore.
    You just import a live one and stage a little “accident” when it tries to slide down the fire pole, silly.
    Some people have no imagination.

  17. it’s safe to say the interior styling might not be everyone’s taste, but lets try to remember you’re not buying the furniture… let’s keep it positive

  18. Do interior decorators have a professional organization? Because they really should give out awards at the end of the year.
    “And this years winner for over-the-top real estate staging is…John Traina!”
    The translucent (crystal?) dresser with gold hardware in photo #9 reminds me of something that Tracey Ullman’s character in the movie “Small Time Crooks” would have bought.

  19. There’s always Old Engine 33 at 117 Broad. You can park up to 6 vehicles inside and the place is a mere mil.

  20. Wonderful residence. Decorations are terrible… sort of a “1970’s meets old black and white Tarzan movie” theme.

  21. Gues What?! 40 years from now, people will be shocked by the strange taste of current fine “luxury” residences. Our current obsession with stainless steel and DWR-Room & Board furniture might seem very tired to someone in the future. I find many of the current staged homes on the market to be as tired and out-of-date as this interior. I would imagine that this was the talk of the town when originally created, and it is an interesting window for what was happening in the 70’s. I still am a Michael Taylor fan myself, who was creating interiors in San Francisco in the 70’s that seem to have aged very well and are still sought after by certain buyers.

  22. Great. Will some of you pay for a new laptop now that mine has coffee all over the screen and keyboard?

  23. it’s safe to say the interior styling might not be everyone’s taste, but lets try to remember you’re not buying the furniture
    True… but the problem is that this furniture is so out there it is very difficult for average homebuyers to actually see the house.
    This is one of those times where staging could markedly raise an offer. Even emptying it would raise the offer substantially.

  24. I remember this property from when it was listed two years ago.
    If you can see past the amazing furniture (which I recall was much more sedate in the previous listing), what you really have on the ground floor is the most beautifully finished garage in San Francisco, with a couple easily resolved non-code compliant openings between the garage and the living spaces.
    If you keep two, three, maybe with a squeeze four prime autos, a collection in other words, this would be a fabulous home. I would set up a giant projection screen and invite friends to the “drive-in” movies. With assigned seating in the Rolls, Ferrari, Bentley and old fire truck.

  25. “When I cook a nice meal and drink a good bottle of wine, I usually can’t be bothered to make it all the way to my room to go to sleep, luckily this place has a bed right in the kitchen to take care of that lifelong problem of mine”
    LMF@O / Oh man! I was having a bad day until I read the
    above posts 🙂

  26. Between this and the 2151 Green FBI post that went up today I think today tops as one of the most funny and bizarre SS reading day’s on record. The post on the cat lady house last month actually ended up being pretty fascinating as well. These areas are suppose to be the “Real SF” and other hoods are called crazy? um, ok.

  27. Just out of curiosity, where would someone get this kind of interior decoration???
    I don’t know about the animal-theme stuff, but that living room looks like it came out of X21 on Valencia…

  28. The banquet/sofa near the small kitchen is in the guest house at the rear of the property as I recall. It could, however double as a bed. There is a spectacular kitchen in the main residence and an outdoor kitchenette. If you had ever attended a charity, political or social event there YOU WOULD GET IT. ITS A PARTY PAD. Perhaps a little editing could go a long way but the place is rare and in my opinion rather chic! Perfect for a bachelor, bachelorette or a with-it COUPLE.

  29. If you can find a way to block out the Jungle nightmare decor, the house looks seriously beautiful, and I bet that shiny fireplace is breath taking with out all that other glitzy crap around it.

  30. Must be firehouse day.
    And wow, after looking at the pictures, someone has no taste.
    Bought for $1.139 in March 1995.

  31. Sold Price: $3,362,500
    Original Price: $4,400,000 -24% change
    DOM: 264
    Real Original Price: $4,850,00 -31% change
    Listed Feb 23, 2007
    Real DOM: ~1085
    Almost 3 years to the date. Talk about splitting hairs on the final sale price. Agents earned their money here I’m sure.

  32. Pacific Heights. A unique property. 3 years for the seller to recognize he couldn’t get his 1350/sf (maybe he was too late in the bubble?). Instead he gets a much-closer-to-reality 925/sf. It is the time of price discovery. 925/sf is still a great price, I agree with anonn. But it shows people have started reconnecting with mother earth.
    Now, any takers for the 65M french limestone pastry up on Broadway?

  33. I wouldn’t be so quick to ascribe flat dollars per foot valuations to something like a firehouse or a church. They’re always going to trend lower by and large.

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