200 Santa Clara
While the more Spanish styled Mediterranean Villa at 299 Santa Paula Avenue remains on the market asking $4,950,000 (versus $5,900,000 a year ago), the more Tuscan styled Mediterranean villa down the street at 200 Santa Clara Avenue has just hit the market asking $2,798,000 having been purchased for $3,250,000 in May of 2005.
From the listing: “Built in 1929 this magnificent Masten and Hurd designed masterpiece has been exquisitely refurbished and renovated perfection with great care to preserve its historical design.” And sincere bonus points for an “Estate-of-the-art” line.
A sale at asking would represent a 14 percent drop below its 2005 value for this St. Francis Wood home.
∙ Listing: 200 Santa Clara Avenue (4/5) 3,513 sqft – $2,798,000 [MLS] [Map]
299 Santa Paula Avenue: Still Muy Sweet But Now Under Cinco [SocketSite]
Mi Casa Es…Muy Sweet (And Large): 299 Santa Paula Avenue [SocketSite]

18 thoughts on “More Mediterranean Villas For Less Money In St. Francis Wood”
  1. One of the few downsides of a neighborhood like St. Francis Wood with tasteful older buildings and old money is that it attracts arriviste along with their cement lions and ceiling can downlights. In Redwood City or San Jose this might blend, but here it is just a mess.

  2. I actually like this house. there are some things I’d change of course (I’d put up better mouldings, rip out that hood and put in a new one, etc) but I like it.
    the only thing I really don’t like is the corner lot.

  3. And the neighborhood/fog.
    I’m sure there are easily-discoverable socio-economic and cultural reasons for this, but it always strikes me as odd that physically poor areas like SFW and Forest Hills (terrible weather, no views) became luxury neighborhoods while the areas with the best weather in the city (e.g., Mission, Noe) were traditionally working-class or worse.

  4. it always strikes me as odd that physically poor areas like SFW and Forest Hills (terrible weather, no views) became luxury neighborhoods while the areas with the best weather in the city (e.g., Mission, Noe) were traditionally working-class or worse.
    this is a total guess… but a lot of American cities are like that.
    during industrialization times the more affluent could afford carriages and later cars. the poor/working class could not.
    Thus, there was the area of industry, and the poor nabes surrounded that (since the poorer classes had to walk or public transport it) and the richer nabes were further away (because the rich could use carriages or cars).
    Bayside in the SF area had a lot of the docks and shipping and factories. so I wonder if this trend held.
    Contrast this to Europe. Many of those cities had a royal figure (King/queen). so the king queen lived in the center, and the royalty in a ring around that, then the merchants, and stuffed far away were the peasants.
    just some thoughts, and although this is accurate for many Euro vs US cities, it might not pertain exactly to the neighborhoods you discussed specifically.

  5. exsfer: Actually, good public transit was one of things that set SFW and Forest Hill apart from other neighborhoods. The Twin Peaks tunnel was a part of the SFW advertising (see http://www.outsidelands.org/sfw_pamphlet3.php for an example). When most of this stuff was built, cars were still quite a bit of a hassle for everyday use.
    Of course, there are other factors as well, for example, that the houses in this area are detached, with more generous lot sizes than the bland crappy cookie-cutter Victorians in the older parts of the city. Not to mention that they did a pretty good job of marketing.

  6. SFW is not and never was “old money.” They lived in the northern part of SF or Hillsborough.
    SFW is an excellent example of the “garden suburb” movement, designed for the haute bourgeoisie of many cities in the US and notably England. SFW was one of the earliest.
    Except for the fog, which is probably exaggerated on this list, it is beautiful, comfortable, and luxurious. This corner lot is more desirable because it has the triangular small “park” in front of it.
    The prices are going down for the usual reason: they were too high and part of the bubble. The price per square foot is still not cheap.
    Herb Caen used to call this the “county” of SF. The “city” is where he lived and worked.

  7. It is a beautiful sunny day, same goes for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, in this nape of the neck for what it’s worth.
    The exterior of this house is really well done, I like it alot, better than 299 Santa Paul. This house is integral color stucco while 299 is sponged paint. But the inside is a real let down.
    I was in it last time it was on the market. It seems to me that was around 2007, did it come up for sale around then and not sell? OR was it really that long ago…time flies.

  8. A little more on the “garden suburb”movement. SFW was designed by Olmsted and Olmsted, Landscape Architects, the sons of Frederick Law Olmsted of Central Park fame.

  9. Last night the list price for 200 Santa Clara was increased by $82,000 (3%), now asking $2,880,000.
    A sale at asking would now represent an 11 percent drop below its 2005 value for this St. Francis Wood home.

  10. The owner of 200 Santa Clara went on a buying spree in 2004/5. He also purchased 170 San Leandro Way at the beginning of 2004 (from the same seller as 200 Santa Clara… uh-oh!) for $1.63 million. It recently sold for $1.5 million. Also purchased was 423-25 35th Street for $1.7 million in Oct. 2005; it’s currently listed for $1.799 million.

  11. Great corner lot, nice house. I too think the renov is not to my tastes; The ask/ft² is top dollar (cant believe they actually increased the price). Fred’s right, Santa Clara is quite traffic heavy for the Wood there.
    Not sure about the no-views comment. there are many absolutely stunning views in SFW.

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