A 1910 Edwardian home — sitting on a double lot with a sprawling hidden garden attached to it — just hit the market in one of San Francisco’s most coveted neighborhoods.
With a price tag of $4.7 million, listing agent Michael Bellings of Compass said he’s never seen anything like it. The handsome home with a period-faithful facade is on a quiet picturesque stretch of Clay Street.
Behind it, however, is something almost never seen in the area — a deep, terraced, secret garden spanning across the second expansive lot, which makes the property feel more English countryside than urban San Francisco.
The family who has owned the property for decades christened the outdoor space “Camille’s Garden,” and the name stuck. Multiple terraced levels step down into a lush, landscaped retreat, layered with mature trees and greenery, meandering paths and a fountain and pool.
The two homes have seven bedrooms, four bathrooms and span 4,026 square feet. Alex Rios & Team with Agent Stack Grand, glass-paned greenhouse
A traditional, grand, glass-paned greenhouse/conservatory anchors the garden in storybook fashion, completing the illusion that you’ve left the city entirely.
“I live a few doors down, so this property is even extra special to me as a neighbor,” Michael Bellings, who is co-listing the home with his brother Aaron Bellings of Compass, said in an email. “Aaron and I grew up in Presidio Heights (down the street from the property) and I’ve never seen a yard this big or this magical. It truly is one of a kind for Pacific Heights.”
The property’s garden isn’t just an add-on side yard; it’s legally a separate lot that has long been tied to the building and must be sold with it.
“As far as I know, this garden has always been connected to this property,” Bellings said. “It’s technically a different (lot), but it is directly connected to the building and it must be sold together per the title company. So I believe it’s always been connected.”
The main building contains two full-floor residences, each with its own relationship to the outdoors. The upper home is a grand four-bedroom, two-bath residence with formal living and dining rooms rich in original moldings and period detail.
A private rooftop terrace showcasing sweeping San Francisco views. Alex Rios & Team with Agent Stack Penthouse primary suite
A penthouse-level primary suite includes a walk-in closet and a large rooftop view terrace with sweeping San Francisco views, extending the home’s livable space out under the sky. An additional, flexible second living room off the kitchen is designed for more casual gatherings, providing a less formal counterpart to the front parlors.
Below, the lower residence is a refined three-bedroom plus office, one-and-one-half-bath home with direct, garden-level living and seamless indoor-outdoor connection.
Like the upper unit, it offers formal living and dining rooms with classic architectural elegance, but its most compelling feature is its immediate access to the terraces and garden just beyond its doors. Expansive patios at different levels of the building serve both homes, creating multiple vantage points onto the greenery.
Multiple terraced levels step down into a lush, landscaped retreat, layered with mature trees and greenery, meandering paths and a fountain and pool. Alex Rios & Team with Agent Stack Decades of work on garden
Both residences have newly renovated kitchens with breakfast nooks, updated for modern use while maintaining the building’s historic character. Original hardwood floors run throughout, and the property includes a two-car garage — another rarity in the dense, postcard neighborhood.
The garden itself is the result of decades of work, experimentation and, at times, obsession. Seller Roberto Martinelli, whose parents bought the property in the mid-1980s, recalled a very different landscape when they first arrived.
“The garden was connected when my parents bought it in 1985, (but) it was overrun with weeds,” Martinelli said in an email. “My mom organized fixing it up. She was inspired by traditional English gardens and old roses. My parents would go to Sonoma County to get fertilizer over the years. So many bags. The pots and decorations were brought back from Provence in France over the years.”
The classic greenhouse that now stands as a focal point among the terraces is a later addition.
For Martinelli’s mother, the garden was more than a backyard; it was a long-running, meticulously documented project.
“My mom kept a garden journal for decades that I have,” he said. “She was part of a club at the SF Botanical Gardens and was asked to be on the garden tour, but never did it. However this led to garden being featured in SF Fillmore magazine maybe around 2010. I wish I knew where that magazine was.”
the result of that decades-long stewardship is a series of outdoor rooms stepping away from the house — patios for entertaining, shaded corners for reading, and pathways that reveal new vignettes as you move through the space. Alex Rios & Team with Agent Stack Urban garden
Like many urban gardens, this one had a heyday — a period when years of planting and pruning came into full maturity. That peak period was between 2000 and 2018, Martinelli said.
“My dad started taking over as my mom’s ability declined,” he said. “He wasn’t allowed to do anything but lay dirt before then. We had a gardener, but he also wasn’t allowed to really do anything, and he kept it that way.”
The tightly controlled vision extended to the small circle of people permitted to work on Camille’s Garden.
“Over time my mom had vetted helpers to do work, including her Realtor assistant Paul Lowsley-Williams. Paul was from England, and so they vibed very well on gardens,” Martinelli said.
Today, the result of that decades-long stewardship is a series of outdoor rooms stepping away from the house — patios for entertaining, shaded corners for reading, and pathways that reveal new vignettes as you move through the space. Four Juliet balconies on the building’s rear facade overlook it all, adding architectural romance and a visual connection from the upper levels down into the greenery.
For a buyer, the property offers the flexibility of a multigenerational compound, an owner’s residence with a high-end rental or guest unit, or a long-term investment in one of San Francisco’s bluest-chip locations.
Two homes both include newly renovated kitchens with breakfast nooks, formal living and dining rooms, timeless architectural detail and modern refinement with original hardwood floors. Alex Rios & Team with Agent Stack
A traditional, grand, glass-paned greenhouse/conservatory anchors the garden in storybook fashion. Alex Rios & Team with Agent Stack
This story was originally published February 27, 2026 at 1:53 PM.
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David Caraccio is a video producer for The Sacramento Bee who was born and raised in Sacramento. He is a graduate of San Diego State University and a longtime journalist who has worked for newspapers as a reporter, editor, page designer and digital content producer.