Soon after mixed-media artist Dana Kawano’s husband John Dunham had sold his Menlo Park tech startup, Caw Networks, back in 2003, the couple set out to build their dream home. Intent on living in a San Francisco residence with an art studio, they bought a small lot with a warehouse on it for $600,000 and then worked with noted Bay Area restaurant architect Olle Lundberg to create a towering live-work space on a quiet side street in the bustling South of Market District.
Completed in 2007, the custom-built spread on Sheridan Street went on to sell to art collector Lisa Seamen in 2020 for $4.3 million, and now the place has popped up for sale again, this time with a less expensive $3.7 million price tag. Stephen Bartlett and Spencer Griffith of Compass hold the listing.
An open-concept great room opens to a wraparound terrace with an outdoor kitchen.
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“Living in 55 Sheridan was a dream,” says Seamen. “I’ve always wanted to live in an art gallery and my collection popped against the dark and neutral backgrounds, making the home stunning. Furniture and personal mementos became art and part of the experience, discovering new things to capture the eye in each room. Because there were so many unique spaces, each room had its own theme and vision—from the Japanese ryokan guest room to the full office library, multi-level murals and indoor trees, even our personal gym, each room was thoughtful and served a purpose in a whimsical fantasy.”
With roughly 5,100 square feet across four levels connected by an elevator and a floating central staircase, the concrete, steel, and glass structure includes a flexible ground-floor studio with its own separate entrance and an attached two-car garage. Personal living space on the upper levels consists of four bedrooms and three baths, topped off with a 562-square-foot rooftop deck offering unobstructed views of the city and annual events like Fleet Week and the Fourth of July fireworks.
The vast rooftop deck offers a bird’s-eye view of local events like the Fourth of July fireworks.
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In addition to the studio, which Seamen converted into a living room adorned with an oversized floral mural, the first floor has a patio with a bubbling fountain, an office, and a powder room. There are two guest bedrooms that share a full bath on the second floor, and from there, the third floor holds the main living area, a bedroom, and a full bath. The entire fourth floor is occupied by the primary suite that comprises a private balcony, a laundry area, a walk-in closet, and a sleek bath.
The heart of the home is the third level’s combined living and dining area, which flows into a kitchen outfitted with an eat-in island, a restaurant-grade DCS range and Viking hood, a Sub-Zero refrigerator, wine cooler, and freezers, and a Miele oven and built-in espresso machine. Floor-to-ceiling walls of glass spill out to a wraparound terrace, which has a professional outdoor kitchen designed in consultation with the late Charles Phan, a Food Network alum best known for founding the Slanted Door restaurant on San Francisco’s Valencia Street in 1995.
The current owner has outfitted one of the guest bedrooms in a Japanese ryokan theme.
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“With so few single-family residences in SoMa, one of the city’s largest neighborhoods, this property stands apart as both a rarity and a remarkable opportunity,” says Bartlett. “It’s one of the few neighborhoods where you’ll find expansive spaces and industrial-chic residences, attracting artists, entrepreneurs, and design-minded buyers.”
Click here for more photos of the San Francisco residence.
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Authors
Wendy Bowman
Wendy Bowman is a real estate writer at Robb Report. Before that, she was a freelancer for Modern Luxury and several other media outlets, where she primarily covered luxury properties for…