{"id":78561,"date":"2025-12-02T18:58:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T18:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/78561\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T18:58:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T18:58:28","slug":"a-half-off-deal-for-a-billionaires-row-mansion-with-hollywood-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/78561\/","title":{"rendered":"A half-off deal for a Billionaire\u2019s Row mansion with Hollywood history\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Billionaire\u2019s Row home sandwiched between Gordon Getty\u2019s mansion and the scenic Baker Street steps has sold for nearly half off its original $32 million asking price after sitting on the market for more than two years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a difference 808 days makes,\u201d said Max Armour of Compass, who co-listed with Karen Mendelsohn Gould.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The uphill journey that led to 2898 Broadway\u2019s $17.75 million sale just prior to Thanksgiving \u201ctracked the arc of San Francisco itself,\u201d Armour said, from the lows of the purported \u201cdoom loop\u201d and escalating interest rates freezing the market through last November\u2019s elections and \u201cthe unstoppable rise of AI.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AThe dramatic central staircase in the entry \"AOriginal ceiling details in the grand living room, which leads out to the solarium<\/p>\n

The 1899 home has certainly stood the test of time, surviving the 1906 earthquake mostly intact. It was built by St. Francis Hotel architect William Bliss for his parents \u2014 his father was a miner, lumber baron, and early Lake Tahoe tourism promoter \u2014 and is decked out in Gilded Age details, including a stately brick facade with a four-column portico, decorative ceilings throughout the entertaining spaces on the main floor, and a grand central staircase. A solarium off the living room was a later addition, created to take in the north-facing views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Palace of Fine Arts \u2014 neither of which existed when the home was built.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AThe solarium\"AThe fifth-floor family room also takes advantage of the unobstructed views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Palace of Fine Arts. \"AThe skylit upstairs kitchen is also on the fifth floor.<\/p>\n

Period details and a perch atop Pacific Heights have made the home a popular film set, starting with the 1960 neo-noir \u201cPortrait in Black.\u201d It was also featured in the 1985 Glenn Close thriller \u201cJagged Edge.\u201d Scenes shot there for the 2001 Keanu Reeves-Charlize Theron romance \u201cSweet November\u201d and the 2013 Academy Award-winner \u201cBlue Jasmine\u201d ended up on the cutting-room floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tech investor Jim Willenborg and his wife, Barbara, bought the home in 1988 for just over $3.4 million, according to property records. The following year it served the first of two stints in the San Francisco Decorator Showcase, an annual fundraiser for University High School\u2019s scholarship program in which top-tier designers transform a luxury home from top to bottom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AThere is also a caterer\u2019s kitchen on the main entertaining level two flights down.<\/p>\n

In 2024, decorators from around the Bay were once again set loose on its 10 bedrooms, six full baths, eight fireplaces, and two kitchens, but unlike the case of the 2025 showcase home<\/a>, the transformation failed to spur an immediate sale, even with about 20,000 people walking through.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TwoThe home was used in the 2024 SF Decorator Showcase, but was staged for sale with a more subdued palette.<\/p>\n

Rather, the 11,000-square foot Dutch Colonial did not go into a contract until this fall, a few months after a price cut to $26 million. The listing agents said there were multiple offers but did not provide details. Joan Gorden at City Real Estate represented the buyers and said they were drawn to the house for its location and views.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The home is the third and cheapest along the city\u2019s Gold Coast to sell in 2025, including San Francisco\u2019s biggest sale<\/a> since Laurene Powell Jobs bought her way onto Broadway for a record-breaking $71 million (opens in new tab)<\/a> last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AThe property was built in a Dutch Colonial Revival style popular in the late 1890s. <\/p>\n

Armour attributes the increased activity on Billionaire\u2019s Row to tightening inventory<\/a> and a renewed appreciation for the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps our empathetic, diverse, dynamic, weird, culinary wonderland \u2014 this billionaire-making small fishing village \u2014 isn\u2019t such a bad place to live after all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Billionaire\u2019s Row home sandwiched between Gordon Getty\u2019s mansion and the scenic Baker Street steps has sold for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[9329,13781,45291,388,11853,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-78561","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-billionaires","9":"tag-luxury-real-estate","10":"tag-pacific-heights","11":"tag-real-estate","12":"tag-residential-real-estate","13":"tag-san-francisco","14":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","15":"tag-san-francisco-news","16":"tag-sf","17":"tag-sf-headlines","18":"tag-sf-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}