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That's my kind of house!

Great views and it looks like it comes with the orginal bathrooms and kitchen.....

Very nice mid-century that hasnt been skrewed up, why cant there be more of them!

Yeah, that is just a gem. I want to park my 59 Caddy with the fins right out in front. Sigh.

...looks like it comes with the orginal bathrooms and kitchen

and original railings too. There's no way those railings are code compliant, though I understand why you'd want minimal view blockage from the railing. Guess it's ok as long as you don't have children or large drunken party guests.

Clean and simple, very nice. The MLS description is even written in passable english. Would love to see a floor plan.

Holy cantilever batman! Better have that exposed lumber double checked. Unfortunately, it's often not exposure resistant.

The place has got character... as well as the rot issues I mentioned (or so it seems from the permit history) - and a long way to fall when the big one comes.

I frickin love that neighborhood

I agree, a lot of nice original details to work with on this one. A beauty that has not been marred by a home depot granite kitchen.

The kitchen is actually pretty nice for a mid century. I'm impressed! Would be great to see the floor plan.

Does anyone have any sales history on this place?

I've really liked this house for a long time (I live in the neighborhood), and was quite pleased to see it during the open house.

I used to walk by it all the time and admire it from the outside, and I would occasionally see the owner, a lady of very advanced age, being helped out the front gate on occasion.

Looking it over on the inside, I got the definite impression that she had either lived there for a very long time, or was the original owner.

Everything seemed to be original, and apart from having to update a few things - an electric 4 burner cook top, for instance, that could easily be upgraded to gas via a drop-in that wouldn't look too far out of place, new shower heads, etc - the place is just great. The tile work in the baths, and on the Edna Mode-style floating stairs, should never be touched.

If anybody messes with it more than paint and maintenance, they should be hunted down with saps.

All that said, it ain't perfect.

The garage is small, for one thing.

The bedrooms are kind of small, and both of the full baths are located in the downstairs hallway.

It's not a family kind of place. I couldn't see 3 or 4 kids running around the place, and there's no yard, just gardens.

I took a walk down the side steps to check out the back garden. The steps must be replaced (treads coming up, handrail falling off etc.), but the back garden is quite nice. Looks like there's automatic drip irrigation systems front & back (which makes sense cause there's no way that old gal I saw could maintain the garden they way I;ve seen it look over the years).

Not sure about the build quality as far as earthquake resistance goes, but you have easy access to 75% of the underside of the house (if you had to do it), so upgrading would probably be easy.

^ or if you wait until after the next big one you'll have easy access to 100% of the underside of the house.

(sorry, props to the original builders for engineering a house with that aggressive location)

Folks this is on solid rock - that's why its a hill. Last thing one needs to worry about in this location is an earthquake. Now the aftermath fire....

"...an electric 4 burner cook top, for instance, that could easily be upgraded to gas via a drop-in..."

I guess that depends on your definition of "easily". If there's no gas pipe nearby, then a new gas line needs to be run all the way to the range. Even if the nearby oven is gas, you still might need to run a new line if the existing line doesn't have enough excess capacity.

If running a new gas line requires a lot of walls to be opened up, converting the range from electric to gas could run up a plumbing bill of thousands.

Who needs a gas-range when all the cool kids have induction ovens these days anyway?

That said, this house is genuinely tasty, and the first thing in this price range with a view anywhere close to what I currently get out of my Santa Cruz crib.

And this coming from a guy who was initially tempted by 43 Topaz Way (until I actually saw it that is)...

Regarding the kitchen: I'm hosting a dinner party soon in which I will cook the entire meal on an open wood fire (seasoned hardwood of course -- no pine or green wood).

The last course is roasted marshmallows (with a glass of cognac). Forget about induction. That's a fad. The new new thing is wood burning campfires for cooking.

You heard it here first.

I love how even the plastic straws (see the photos on the site) are aqua. Or is that teal? Sorry, I just don't feel this place at all.

Love it. Want it. What's the neighborhood like?

GG Heights is very safe and clean, quite foggy and windy in the afternoon. It feels very "out there" to me, being above the Sunset, so not really walkable to anything. Great views from almost every home.

Lots of 50s homes, not very interesting to me, but nice if you are into that kind of thing.

I have only spent a few hours in the neighborhood, mostly hiking up and down the hills and visiting the parks. You should check it out yourself if you are interested. Both Grand View Park and Golden Gate Park are worth a visit. Bring your hiking shoes. There are some really great mosaics on the steps up to Grand View Park from the 14th Street side.

It always cracks me up when they post pictures of random parks and restaurants nearby. This listing had a few of them but I've seen some where 90% of the photos were of the neighborhood...It's like someone will say "Well the house is a piece of crap, but look at that cool park 2 miles away!..."

There is a Muni trolley line nearby. I wonder if it gets noisy.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1971+14th+ave+sf+ca&sll=37.750918,-122.440503&sspn=0.012063,0.019312&ie=UTF8&ll=37.748865,-122.470458&spn=0.012063,0.019312&z=16&iwloc=A&layer=c&cbll=37.748869,-122.47057&panoid=d9VLD7DPHRxsP9-JsriPCA&cbp=12,252.55,,0,5.3

That's an electric bus line, and not particularly nearby. The "noise" up there is going to be naturally generated, by the Pacific Ocean.

"That's an electric bus line, and not particularly nearby. The "noise" up there is going to be naturally generated, by the Pacific Ocean."

Actually, as someone currently living in a similar kind of property (slightly inland view property with a major road between me and the ocean), I'll bet there's a nearly 24/7 dull roar from Highway 1/19th. It's easily addressed with extra thick glass and good insulation, but I used to hear it in every room of my house with the original craptastic aluminum slider windows it had.

I checked out this house recently. The house does have nice views, but the wind is insane here. I froze up there. Maybe I caught it on a particularly windy day but it would be difficult for me to live there. The location also felt VERY out there to me...

One other thing that is a positive is I think if someone wanted to expand the house they could add on to that area under the house in the back...can be another bedroom or den. This house is just not my style, the weather is tough and the location is not desirable.

Please allow me to fold up my cane and we'll begin the inspection. Not overspanned on the roof sail-thingie framing, 4 ft. max. opening on the 42" high railings, all glass within 18" of floor/subject to human impact is tempered of course .... hey, I see no problems.

I live in the neighborhood. Its a nice house with really nice views, albeit small.

The neighborhood is kind of private and up there. Families and older folks live in the neighborhood - its really quiet up here and a nice place for families. There seems to be a little mini-resurgence going on just two blocks away on Funston Ave. There are two whole house remodels going on @ Funston and Quintara, and a lot for sale as well!

http://www.funstonlot.com/ (No, that's not my lot)

1971 14th Ave. is now contingent.

Closed escrow at 1,046,500.