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Built in 1903 and having recently sat vacant for half a decade, the three-story Noe Valley Victorian at 1436 Sanchez Street was purchased for $880,000 in 2009 and has since been rebuilt as a contemporary home targeting LEED Platinum certification, the eighth single-family LEED Platinum home in San Francisco if so certified.
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Bought as an uninsulated two-bedroom home with one bath, 1436 Sanchez now sports five bedrooms and three and one-half baths across an updated floor plan designed by eco+historical and Feldman Architecture with easy access to the outdoors:


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While not yet listed, 1436 Sanchez is about to hit the market for $2,695,000.
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Other features of the rebuilt home include a solar system and new roof deck, a gray water system for the garden, and a man cave (or Au Pair unit) on the lower floor.
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An nice overview of the project and process was chronicled on eco+historical’s site.
∙ Listing: 1436 Sanchez Street (5/3.5) – $2,695,000 [1436sanchez.com]
∙ Project: 1436 Sanchez Street [eco+historical]

57 thoughts on “A Noe Valley Victorian Aims To Be SF’s Eighth LEED Platinum Home”
  1. I like it, but in my opinion I don’t consider a 5BD, 3.5 bath anything close to being eco-friendly. Same for those green homes that are 5,000 sq ft with 4-car garages.
    In this case they certainly know their market. Noe calls an inlaw apartment an au pair unit. How fitting for the neighborhood.

  2. Hmmm…does the San Francisco Association of realtors have a style guide for listings? My impression was that an in-law unit wouldn’t have a kitchen (because the family in the main house would be cooking for the in-law residing in the secondary unit) but an au pair unit would.
    I can’t cite a source from where I got that notion, however, so I freely admit I could be all wrong.

  3. This house may indeed be as energy efficient as the listing implies, but there does not appear to be any portion of the Victorian house remaining at all. This is a new house.
    In any case, it is impossible to significantly improve the energy efficiency of a Victorian or Edwardian house without essentially replacing it. To insulate with a vapor barrier and house wrap you have to rip off all the interior and exterior wall surfaces, replace the windows, new ductwork, and with the new floor plan for ‘contemporary’ families, the old house is gone.

  4. Are there really 83 photos without a single one of the front of the house, or did I mss it somehow?
    [Editor’s Note: Yep and nope.]

  5. Over-designed, over built, floor plan ruined, too many bedrooms, overpriced.
    Once again, no entry hall or entry space: walk in and bam! you’re in the living room. Poor design, but it’s the trend.

  6. There are a couple large renovation projects happening on this block of Sanchez and both have incomplete garages right now, hence no pictures of the front.

  7. Yup, agree with cc–several renovations along Sanchez right now with unfinished facades. 1436 is nice enough though, and good curb appeal. I’ve peaked in the garage a few times while walking by and could swear it was a small, downwards sloping 1 car (and looks nothing like the floorplans shown online), so will be interesting to see if there was a disconnect between the plans (necessary to get SF approval for cars off street?) and the execution (to get LEED?).
    And the wide angle photos of the back are a bit too generous–the complex immediately uphill to the west seems like it’s right on top of 1436 when you look from the street. Nice to have separation from the neighbors on either side of Sanchez, but personally I’d swap in a heartbeat those 3 feet on the north and south and tack them on to the back if somehow possible. Who likes to look out a window when you have 3 feet then another house?
    All this said, I’d be surprised to see this one not clear above $3mm. There is not a single other renovated SFH with >2Br in Noe right now (just two lonely listing on upper Clipper). For all the bidders who lost out on the recent $3mm+ sales of 23rd street then Jersey street, here’s the chance!

  8. This house was an abandoned wreck for years, so it’s nice that something is happening with it, mixed bag as it may be.

  9. The gap between the kitchen cabinets and floor look like it would collect crud. It seems like they’re trying to emulate a furniture look. In a living room such a space beneath a cabinet will collect dust bunnies though that’s not too hard to deal with. But in a kitchen random chunks of food bouncing off the workspace could get lost and forgotten in that dark recess.
    “Hey, does it smell like something died in here here lately?”

  10. There are a couple more projects coming on soon that are a little less flawed, but it will be interesting to see where this one clears. Despite its flaws, the 3/2 up, and the in-law on the lower level are killer features right now.
    I’m curious how they got around the secondary means of egress requirement on the upper level. I’m going through the planning process right now on my fixer, and the prospect of two staircases eating in to the floorplan is a little depressing.

  11. noodle, you only need 2nd ingress if you have 3 stories in the back, here there is barely 1.5
    It’s 2278 sqft lot and you just can’t fix that, and it’s only 21′ wide which makes those 2bd upstairs tiny. My guess is overall size is around 2800-2900
    BUT he nailed all the desirable features and there is no competition. The 26th st four years old house probably cleared over asking and it’s flawed in other ways, so indeed this one will go over $3M

  12. “Are there really 83 photos without a single one of the front of the house, or did I mss it somehow?
    [Editor’s Note: Yep and nope.]”
    Now 86 images and #43 is the front.

  13. soccermom – yes, the gap under the cabinets. Does it function as a crud trap in a working kitchen?

  14. Over $3MM? No way. 290 Jersey only had 2 bids submitted and the winning one over reacted (maybe caused by missing out on other houses?) by $400k more than the other bid…and Jersey’s location is much better than this spot. This location is like the doldrums of Noe (no views, no real close walking spots.)
    Priced pretty well. Maybe $2.8 or $2.825…but all it takes is that one buyer to go nuts!

  15. @ RDF: then you really really do not know Noe Valley.
    This is a great street, very short walk to 24th St. restaurants and shops. It’s all flat.
    And 1 block to Church st. for the J and more shopping and eating.

  16. This part of Noe has by and large lost its “the flats aren’t as good” status. Nowadays the restaurants are better than 24th, the easily walkable Mission street stuff is much, much improved, the playground was refurbished, and Glen Park got nicer too. As far as hiking and outdoorsy stuff this area has always been superior to the 24th st village. This is all evidenced by the now fairly routine ~3m sales.

  17. Nowadays the restaurants are better than 24th…
    Given that the restaurant scene evolves so quickly it makes sense for buyers to ignore the current state of the food scene when making a buying choice. But that doesn’t stop agents from including photos of all of the great chow spots nearby in the listing photos.

  18. Indeed RDF does not seem to know Noe. Sanchez has become highly desired, one of few flat streets with no public transportation (i.e. noise from Muni trains or buses). 1566 Sanchez sold for $2.8MM a year ago in a less hot market, a couple blocks south of here (less walkable to 24th, more so to 30th, so location-wise, a wash) and about 500 sq. ft. smaller.
    Also, 290 Jersey never went on the market – it was sold off market, thus the low number of bidders.

  19. Whatever, dude. You talk so freaking much on here, about pictures! Lol + experience life + listen to people who know things occasionally

  20. “Given that the restaurant scene evolves so quickly”
    Scare tactics are dead. Fattoush never took a hit and it won’t either.

  21. next door sold for 1.4M last year – its a high end house (with legal vs finished basement), but 1.3M premium is still healthy price. 1.9M profit is a good return on investment as well.

  22. I know Noe just fine. Shopping and eating on Church? Maybe eat at Incanto, but that’s it. Martha Bros coffee is sad and depressing anytime you are there, and there is also…oh, right nothing else around.
    7-8 blocks is an OK walk like i said before.
    290 jersey had about 30 appointments for the off market sale of very qualified and interested buyers. only 2 offers. and one went a little crazy to win it.

  23. Anonchiban – I did listen to you. Just extrapolated your statement about the resto scene changing into a caveat about the “look at all of these great restaurants!” photos that are attached to some listings.

  24. Pictures can be deceiving, but if you see this home in real life you’ll notice that all the views from the windows are of brick walls … that’s why the blinds are partially down in most of the shots. great staging, lighting, etc. but the bones I don’t love it for the price.

  25. No, you just say stuff as it occurs to you without thinking too much about anything other than your liking to post. The photos you are on about almost always show restaurants all over the neighborhoods. Not just the parts of the neighborhoods where the properties are located. That’s the criticism. Overkill, sure, but not congruent with your obtuse point about “buyers + mutable nature of restaurants + caveat emptor.” So, again, your words had little to do with the things being talked about or anything relevant in the actual world outside of message board musings.

  26. @ RDF: too bad you have such a narrow view and negative attitude to Sanchez St. and the eating spots on Church.
    And since when is the Martha’s on Church and Duncan “depressing and sad”? They are packed in the mornings and most of the day. Great coffee, pastries and sandwiches. Great atmosphere.
    As for restaurants: Besides Incanto, there’s Erics, Thai food at 29th, pizza and indian food across the street, several sushi places, Toast at Day St. Pomelo, and La Ciccia.
    Enough for you? or you have more complaints to share?

  27. I live around the corner on Duncan Street and saw the garage today. It is a shallow, downward sloped, single car garage.
    I am not a fan of this style of gut and mega-modernize. All the homes are looking the same. However, I am not in the demographic to shop for this style of home but understand completely why those with newly vested stock options and expanding families would be very attracted to it.
    In addition our neighborhood is amazing.

  28. There’s La Cicca, Kama Sushi -amazing ramen, Regent Thai, and all sorts of wonderful, ever changing, diversity on Mission, just a few blocks away.

  29. We live next door to this – interesting to see the comments here. The garage is 2 car but tandem I believe (the rear vehicle is angled away from the door).
    Love the ‘hood – mission is 15mins walk away down fairly gentle slops. Could do with a bar around 30th St, but whose to complain about these things with Cask House opening up the other week on 24th at

  30. @fututist : you really need to get out more. I’m telling it like it is and you dont agree, so you write ‘your negative view blah blah blah’. The reason Martha’s is packed in the morning is because there are zero other options in this area. Martha’s would be a prime candidate fir Gordon Ramsey is he was to ever do a show titled ‘Coffee Shop Nightmares’.
    I’ll give you Indian Clay Oven as another dining spot, but your other rebuttals are horrible. You might as well come back with ‘there’s a red lobster that serves THE BEST seafood ever!’ come on man, this is SF and life is too short for your list of places.
    Anyway, this is getting off target a little. Some of the other posters are getting at my main point when they say ‘a short walk into the mission’ and ‘eating at 30th corridor’ and that is this location isn’t PRIME noe location $$$. So that’s why u say it’s should’t go over $3MM…unless you get someone a little hot for it and must have it.

  31. I just did a walk through of the house. I will be very curious to see what price this sells for.
    All it takes is one person who needs it now.

  32. @mrlambchop–I’ve got to side with @wendyrama on the garage…not a chance in hell you fit 2 cars in that garage (and no, 2 Smart cars don’t make for a 2 car garage). I walked by again yesterday when the garage was open, and yes, the layout matches the flooplans shown online, but you are never going to see 2 cars in there with the garage door closed. So I’m going to speculate that the plans required 2 parking spots to be created, and somewhere between approval and today the garage space miraculously shrank in size. The back corner of the garage will make for a great storage area, but never ever a parking space.

  33. Sounds like RDF needs to get out more… Completely outdated views on this neighborhood.
    I guess Mark Bittman and Frank Bruni (people who clearly know nothing about food) were confused in their praise of La Ciccia… https://twitter.com/FrankBruni/status/31450945749524481
    And while I agree wholeheartedly that Martha’s is low on the coffee totem pole, why would I go there when Spin City is on Sanchez and 26th (2 blocks from this house) and they serve Blue Bottle? Maybe you’ve heard of Blue Bottle?
    It’s about an 7 min. walk to 24th from this house (0.4 mile). La Boulange, Contigo, La Ciccia, Firefly, Incanto, Front Porch, Cask House, Lupa, Bacco, Mitchell’s, Pomelo, Chloe’s and Saru are all reachable on foot.
    It’s about a 20 min. walk to Glen Park where you can get decent coffee at Bello, amazing pizza at Gialina (Michael Bauer’s favorite pizza in all of SF), and solid comfort food at Chenery Park.
    There’s 2 farmers markets (one on Saturday and one on Sunday), Canyon Market, Whole Foods all within walking distance. Drewe’s butcher and Church produce are huge neighborhood favorites. (I won’t even get into the multiple organic doggie treat places on Church alone.)
    To claim that you know this neighborhood but then can only cite one restaurant that you could “maybe” eat at–which happens to be the only one with a TV personality chef–would indicate otherwise.

  34. Good comments Dave: I totally agree. It really seems that “RDF” whoever he/she is does not really know Noe Valley very well at all, and perhaps does not live in the neighborhood.
    I have lived and owned in Noe almost 30 years and it has everything you described, and more. Tons of restaurants, cafes and coffee places all within walking distance of the subject property.
    I still prefer the Marthas; been going there a lot time and do not understand the dislike from others. Cafe Xo at 30th and Church is ok, but not as good.
    I would hope that RDF does get out more. This is one great neighborhood.

  35. RDF over played his hand, he made a valid point, that location isn’t prime $$$, it’s *little* less desirable, whether this makes a difference in a world of zero inventory that’s a different question.
    RDF backed himself into a corner and thrashed La Cicia and Incanto which are very well respected Italians in a foodie city.
    I personally prefer the flatlands as walkability is more important than views BUT north of 25th is always better, you are much closer to the Castro and the better part of the mission. Can’t throw Bernal, La Cicia and make a case out of it.
    This specific location is a fine one, we are splitting hairs here. Arguing about prices is also silly, as someone already said if you have more than 1 bid and 1 party is desperate throwing extra $300K seems rational for someone with 10x of that to spare.
    Market/Sentiment changes a little and that extra markup/froth is gone. Which is precisely what happened to some of the over-priced apples from 2007-2008 until very recently.

  36. I’d like to echo the sentiment about this location being great in terms of access (we live around the corner from this house, 1/2 block off Sanchez) and appreciate so much the ability to walk for errands, exercise or use public transportation for commuting and getting around the city.
    But that said, the physical makeup of Sanchez Street could be so much better- more sidewalk planters and corners with bulb-outs for shorter crossings. The planning dept. created a comprehensive document for Mission streets and it seems to me the same is warranted for Noe.

  37. The issue of “location” is important and varies from buyer to buyer and type of buyer:
    Families with young kids or a nanny and stroller are all over Sanchez St. and Church St. all day long. Reason: No Hills. Extremely easy to walk.
    North of 25th is very hilly and not as easy to navigate as the flatter areas. Views are not always a prime reason for desirability and price.
    Agree with CC: yes, Sanchez St. and many other Noe Streets are still barren of trees and sidewalk landscaping. The sidewalks are enormous. For my own part, I have planted several trees adjacent to my house, along with sidewalk planting, in conjunction with the FUF. Getting other neighbors to participate was almost impossible.
    We still need to work on educating/informing our urban residents the importance of MORE trees and more greenery. Sad that San Francisco did not even place in the top 10 of major cities with lots of tree canopy.
    We have a long ways to go.

  38. I saw it today (live 2 blocks away and was curious). It is definitely an odd floor plan and not for everyone. The top two floors feel very cramped. Oddly, the downstairs in-law has the best feng-shui and that’s not where most people will spend their time. The square footage includes staircases (which suck out a lot of space) and edges of things. However, there were several stressed out people there viewing, and I have no idea how this will end up. It only takes one illogical person for this to sell quickly at market or even over. Personally, I didn’t think it felt like a $2.7 million pad. The outside spaces are miniscule and the upstairs is cramped, but whatever.

  39. went by the house today. it’s nice. Smallish bedrooms and not the best done bathrooms, but overall a nice house. we will see where the sale price falls.
    @someone – i didn’t thrash incanto. it’s a good restaurant…in fact someone thrashed me for only naming a restaurant with a chef that was on tv…and then proceeded to turn around and name drop other tv chefs/authors. i didn’t even think about La Cicca because that’s on 30th and not in this ‘micro’-hood.
    look, my point on the location compared with 24th street corridor which is the heart of Noe is that the price here probably won’t go above the houses over there.
    i gave my reasons: no views, and no real close walking spots (i was comparing this last part to 290 jersey, which obviously has walking spots right around the corner which is walkable to a mom and dad pushing a stroller full of kids and groceries needing to get home to change the kid’s diaper when those 7 short blocks all of a sudden feel like 7 miles compared to turning the corner at jersey and being home.)
    anyway, please see comments above about nice house.

  40. Since we are talking about over 2.5 million, all the hand-wringing over how great the neighborhood retail and restaurants are strikes me as funny when looking at this from afar. I find spending over 2 million so that one can be near Church and 24th street bizarre when I think of neighborhoods in Rome and London I have lived in for LESS. (Although both of my flats in those cities were smaller than this house, the neighorhoods were MUCH better).
    Some people on this site talk about the 24th street Whole Foods like it was Fortnum and Mason, and please, the restaurants nearby are not nearly as fantastic as San Franciscans keep telling eachother they are. I happen to think 24th street is one of San Francisco’s least interesting urban “High Streets” (you would say commerical strip perhaps?), and the fuss that was made over the opening of a Los Angeles chain juice bar a while back reminded me of how dead 24th street is.
    This whole discussion has reminded me of how much I miss London and why San Francisco can feel very provincial at times.

  41. I had the chance to swing by the open house and thought the home was very thoughtfully laid out with great attention to finish detail. Rooms are a bit tight on the top floor (with an especially small master for the price), but it checks the critical 3/2 up box that most Noe young family buyers must have.
    One entertaining misstep by the stagers–the bottom floor was set up as the kid’s space, complete with a National Geographic espisode playing on the large flat screen TV. Strangely, however, this episode showed a massive polar bear viciously attacking, clawing and chewing on the bloodied hide of a hapless walrus. But somehow the walrus managed to turn around and inflict a fatal wound on the bear with one of its tusks, and the narrator comments with appropriately reserved British tone that the “bear must now wander off and die.”
    Another guest who was watching and jostling for space to walk around in the packed house commented “hmmm, very appropriate, seems a bit like this open house.”

  42. “why San Francisco can feel very provincial at times”
    Provincial??
    Did you not see above that the hip coffee spot is a laundromat?
    Put a shot of mountain spring Tide in your ristretto and you’ll get a luxurious crema.
    Can you find that in Rome? No Sir, you cannot!!
    And to boot the Walgreens on Castro near 24th is on the very cusp of receiving a Michelin star for its exquisit selection of Hot Pockets.

  43. Congratulations to the developer. Cool that he has taken a concept (efficient older homes) and shaped projects around it.
    I can’t imagine there is much joy in having LEED certifiers add one more layer of plan-checking to a process like this.
    Kudos.

  44. We saw this house last weekend.
    I am not the least bit surprised that this went into contract so quickly. While it has a few quirks (no proper entry, awkward placement of the laundry in the lower-level family room, small backyard), the house is impeccably done. In particular, the distressed wood floors were beautiful. It also has the requisite 3/2 up that most families want.
    And for those saying that this is a less desirable part of Noe…have you spent any time around here lately? It is teeming with families, the Upper Noe Rec Center is a great space for kids, and it is basically flat to both the upper Church St. amenities as well as 24th Street (which is a very easy 10-15 minute walk).
    Couple the quality of this house/location with the lack of high quality (like this) inventory in the neighborhood, and you have a winning combo. I wouldn’t be surprised if this goes over, even at its $900 per square foot list price.

  45. It is funny to see so many dismissing the “Facebook effect” when Noe prices have shot up significantly since the FB lockup expired in November. In a relatively inelastic and illiquid market with small inventory just a few well-heeled buyers can make a huge difference.
    Does anyone have a Property Shark account that allows for unlimited searches? I am not willing to pay the $450/yr to satisfy my idle curiosity here.

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