Winter
REAL ESTATE + DESIGN + CULTURE
Loft y Heights
CAENLUCIER SOTHEBY’S REALTY
Photography: José Manuel Alorda
BIANNUAL ISSUE #3
PROPERTY SPOTLIGHT
Russian Hill Gold Coast Record Sale
THE LH INTERVIEW
Architect Olle Lundberg Takes Five with CAENLUCIER
HISTORIC LENS
Landmark 260: A Private Sale
CULTURE ANTENNA
Restaurant Scene, Eye Candy, Worth Reading & Paul Rudolf at The Met
DESIGN TRAVEL
How to spend it.... Adventures in Europe
HOTEL LIFE
Airelles La Bastide
DOWNTOWN SHUFFLE
Transamerica 2.0
FROM THE PARTNERS
Williams Sonoma founder Chuck Williams had a simple recipe for a happy life, “Love what you do.” After twenty years in the business, we stood over a dining room table five years ago pondering words we wrote on index cards in search of a new way to love what we did. From those cards was born CAENLUCIER’s mission statement:
“Our love of San Francisco’s architecture, history, and beauty inspires the work we do every day.” There is hardly a better manifest example than this issue’s lead story on the Russian Hill estate of the Robertson family.
We are pleased to feature architect Olle Lundberg and his nature-inspired modernist designs in our LH Interview. We travel downtown to find two current exhibitions at Michael Shvo’s ambitious Transamerica redux project. Further afield, we recount our European summer travels and some exciting finds along the way. Our Culture Antenna highlights a museum visit, Roman gastronomy, San Francisco’s latest jazz club, and a book for the top of your nightstand reading stack.
Wishing you all the best this holiday season!
Stacey Caen Co-Founder
Joseph Lucier Co-Founder 4
A HISTORIC Russian Hill Estate
825 Francisco Street
SOLD for $22,100,000
At CAENLUCIER, it is our privilege to represent the city’s finest architectural and historic homes. The much-anticipated sale of the Robertson estate was such a moment, one to pause and appreciate a generational opportunity to acquire San Francisco’s oldest surviving residential property. Built during the Gold Rush years in sole majesty along Russian Hill’s northern slope, this estate property was ambitiously reimagined and renovated in the late 1980s to capitalize on its rare “country home in the city” legacy. With panoramic views from the Golden Gate Bridge to Coit Tower, the historic sale of 825 Francisco Street captured the imagination of the market and sold with competing offers in just three weeks’ time.
At the core of this $22,100,000 sale was CAENLUCIER’s recognized brand position for presenting homes as “luxury goods” and
backing them with the powerful reach of Sotheby’s International Realty’s public relations department. The alchemy of this property’s pedigree and CAENLUCIER’s luxury staging package provided a strong vehicle for our firm’s PR team to capture a Wall Street Journal exclusive. Given the WSJ’s prominent readership, this press activated a unique group of prospective buyers, who were not actively in the market, to become keenly interested in the property. Sotheby’s listings are known globally for their quality, desirability, and value. Our astute ability to leverage this core brand identity on a local level delivered our sellers a competitive edge to quickly identify the right buyer at the right price.
Looking ahead, CAENLUCIER is currently developing our 2025 spring market portfolio of exciting new listings. If you, or anyone you know, are considering the sale of your San Francisco residence, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss a potential partnership. It would be our privilege to represent you and your most prized asset… your city home. t
Nature-inspired Modernism
Architect Olle Lundberg by CAENLUCIER
CAENLUCIER: What is your current state of mind towards your practice?
Olle Lundberg: Architecture practice as we have known it is going to change. The reality of AI is going to make much of what we do no longer relevant. I don’t know what those changes will be, but I expect them to be dramatic. I believe Lundberg Design will survive the change, for our very personal design approach will be difficult to replicate digitally, but they will try.
CL: Is there a through line in your designs that identifies a Lundberg home?
OL: The inclusion of craft and an affinity for the handmade detail are hallmarks, as well as the “signature elements” that we fabricate in our studio. We practice what I call “Nature-inspired modernism,” which we express with simple, elegant forms and an attention to materiality.
CL: What materials inspire you?
OL: I like materials with heft and substance. I’m not a fan of veneer finishes that are only skin deep. In my upcoming book Olle Lundberg – An Architecture of Craft , I have subchapters on my five favorite materials –wood, stone, glass, metal, and found objects. Over my career, these elements resurface.
CL: What has been the legacy of your San Francisco homes?
OL: Our most significant San Francisco residences have been in Pacific Heights. Many of our SF homes are interior remodels, since the city’s historic planning codes often make it very difficult to change the exterior composition on any structure older than 45 years. Two of our houses, one on Broadway and one on Jackson Street, are noticeable exceptions to that rule. They are unabashedly abstract modern designs, and in a City where that can be hard to do, I suppose that is their legacy. Pacific Heights is actually a wonderfully varied neighborhood with almost every style of architecture imaginable executed beautifully. I like to think our two homes add to that variety.
CL: What is the origin story of your studio’s fabrication workshop?
OL: I had a fabrication shop before I had a design firm. I have always loved building things, being physically involved in the actual making of something. Most of what we build are pieces that would be difficult and expensive for a typical subcontractor to execute, because often we are reinventing the wheel. Having a workshop lets us act a little bit more like a sculptor, where we can use the process of making to inform the design. Architects typically hand over their designs to a contractor to build, so we lose that direct connection to the final result. Being able to actually make parts of our design makes our relationship to the design very personal, both for our clients and for us.
CL: Is there a home in your mind that you have yet to design?
OL: I’d really like to design a mountain home. We have done many forest homes, but nothing in the mountains. I love the dramatic potential of those sites. I love stone as a building material, and it would be an interesting challenge to design a modern stone house on the side of a mountain.
CL: Discuss a rewarding design solution.
OL: I designed a house in Hawaii where the program required a two-story structure, but the design guidelines wouldn’t allow for it. We ended up excavating the entire site down 12 ft, creating a grotto where the pool was then located that allowed us to build a “basement” level that looked out to the grotto. The end result was this wonderfully protected swimming pool that then brought all this wonderful reflected light into the structure. Orson Welles said it best. “The enemy of art is the absence of limitation.”
CL: Where do you go to recharge?
OL: My cabin on the Sonoma Coast surrounded by 16 acres of redwoods. It has three kitchens - one outdoor with a pizza oven, wok range, cooking hearth, and a tandoor oven. We have a pool made from an old redwood water tank, a hot tub, and a sauna. It is my favorite place in the world.
CL: Some of your favorite local, national, and international restaurants and hotels.
OL: Restaurants are Ekstedt (Stockholm), Pujol (Mexico City), Grand Central Oyster Bar (NY), An Sushi (SF). Restaurants I’ve designed are Slanted Door, Flour + Water, Robin, and Nari. My favorite hotels include Cavallo Point, The Retreat Hotel at The Blue Lagoon (Iceland), Therme Vals (Switzerland), and Fogo Island Inn (Newfoundland).
“The moment you discover the big idea, the driving force behind a design. Every great project has that focus, that attention to the specific vision. Once that becomes clear, then the details just unfold.”
Opposite page from top: Pebble Beach Residence, Sonoma Residence, Lundberg Design Studio and Shop.
This page from top: Olle Lundberg, Pacific Heights Residence, PH Stair Installation Day.
A Private Sale LANDMARK 260
The Tobin House
$9,000,000
This historic sale presented a connoisseur’s opportunity to acquire San Francisco Landmark 260, a grand city residence with undisputed pedigree and architectural significance. The Tobin House at 1969 California Street was designed by genius architect Willis Polk in 1915. This five-bedroom Pacific Heights residence epitomized an era when the refinement and patronage of the city’s elite created the legacy of San Francisco’s architectural heritage that we enjoy today. One of the most influential architects of the Bay Area, Polk designed the new house in the Tudor Gothic revival style. At the time of construction, the Tobin House stood out as the most modern structure on the street, achieved through beautiful form and materials rather than Victorian applied decoration. Balancing timeless elegance with modern sensibility, this 2024 private sale offered the new owner’s entrée into the lineage of a storied San Francisco landmark.
Above: The regal front doorway of the Tobin House and Willis Polk’s unresolved half-arch
Below left: The grand Tudor Gothic facade of 1969 California stands proudly as an emblame of the city’s heritage.
Below right: The entry gallery connects the home’s public rooms.
THE TOBIN HOUSE
“To form our taste, we must neither depreciate nor imitate, but we should understand and originate”
— Willis Polk
Michael H. de Young (1849-1925) was the patriarch of one of the most powerful and influential families in San Francisco history. By the 1870s, their paper was so influential and widely read that the de Youngs could make or break a politician, policy, business deal, or any other matter of importance in Northern California. During these years, de Young had accumulated enough wealth to build his family mansion at 1919 California Street, one of the most fashionable neighborhoods of 1880s San Francisco. In 1914, de Young financed the construction of the adjacent mansion at 1969 California Street for his daughter, Constance, and her husband Joseph Tobin. The Tobin’s lived with their family in this house until 1927. It is not clear how the house was used or by whom, but the Tobin’s did not sell the property at this time.
Willis Polk’s hope to realize a mirror-image design insinuated by the home’s unresolved half-arch was dashed when Helen de Young Cameron sold the undeveloped lot directly adjacent to the Tobin House. Constance Tobin’s 1943 sale of 1969 California to Gualtiero Bartalini began a new chapter. He was a colorful figure –– a flamboyant man, trained opera singer, and artist, who operated the house for forty-five years as a residential hotel catering mostly to people in the preforming arts. He sold the property in 1988. Ultimately, the property was brought back to its original use as a single-family home in 1998 and regained its iconoclast grandeur through meticulous stewardship. In 2008, the property achieved the San Francisco Landmark 260 designation followed by a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. t
Above: There are very few living rooms in all of Pacific Heights that enjoy the architectural scale and beauty of 1969 California Street.
Inset detail: A young Willis Polk.
EYE CANDY
Nice, France
Harrison
Opticien is a curious shop for lovers of nostalgic eyewear. The passion of owners Sandrine and Charles led them to create a collection of selected vintage and new glasses based on the beautiful and iconic models of the last century. @harrison_opticien
RESTAURANT SCENE
La Pergola, Rome
A breathtaking view of the Eternal City is revealed to guests at one of the world’s most beautiful restaurants, reopened with a stunning architectural design. Under the guidance of Heinz Beck, La Pergola has become a temple of international gastronomy as the first and, still today, the only Michelin three-star in Rome. romecavalieri.it
WORTH READING
The Living Room
Step into the best designed homes in the world with The Living Room by the Design Leadership Network. This captivating volume is a celebration of the living room across styles, moods, and locales. From mountaintop chalets to urban abodes, country retreats to beachside oases, this book captures the feel of today’s most enchanting rooms. assouline.com
MATERIALIZED SPACE
The Architecture of Paul Rudolf
Through March 16
The Met | NYC
The Met presents the first-ever major museum exhibition to examine the career of the influential 20th-century architect Paul Rudolph, a second-generation Modernist, who came to prominence during the 1950s and 1960s alongside peers such as Eero Saarinen and I.M. Pei. Materialized Space: The Architecture of Paul Rudolph showcases the full breadth of Rudolph’s important contributions to architecture — from his early experimental houses in Florida to his civic commissions ren dered in concrete, and from his utopian visions for urban megastructures and mixed-use sky scrapers to his extraordinary immersive New York interiors. The exhibition gives visitors the opportunity to experience the evolution and diversity of Rudolph’s legacy and better understand how his work continues to inspire ideas of urban renewal and redevelopment in cities across the world. The presentation features a diverse range of over 80 artifacts in a variety of scales, from small objects that he collected to a mix of materials generated from his office, including drawings, models, furniture, material samples, and photographs. metmuseum.org
Culture ANTENNA
THE DAWN CLUB
10 Annie Street, San Francisco
Stepping into the Dawn Club feels like tumbling through time right into the heart of a roaring jazz era soirée. Located in a snug alley next to the Palace Hotel, this revival concept welcomes each night with a flair that pays homage to its speakeasy roots. Doing its part to resurrect San Francisco’s 1930s jazz scene, you’ll immediately feel the sultry ambiance combined with a modern energy that brings the bar into a world of its own. Bring your jazz loving friends for the music and the wonders of modern mixology. dawnclub.com
At The Dawn Club, the crowd is as varied as the playlist, ensuring each night is as unpredictable and vibrant as the last. Boundaries blur a little, with people mingling around the bar. Still, it attracts regular jazz enthusiasts who nod along to the live performances of local jazz cats.
How to spend it... OUR WAY
A continental sojourn delights the senses
By CAENLUCIER
DESIGN TRAVEL
The inspirations for travel are varied, but the shared experience of hatching a plan and making your trip a reality is the connective tissue that binds globe-trotters together. A little secret of ours, and one that makes most Saturday mornings an adventure of their own, is the How to Spend It section in the FT Weekend. Global in reach and sophisticated in spirit, the coverage of culture, fashion, design, and of course, the latest hotel openings make for a constant companion in one’s quest for the nuances of good living. Found on the last page in most issues is the “How to Spend It In…” both popular and more far-flung destinations. Rip the page out and unabashedly use it as your inspirational guide to plan your next adventure abroad !
Captivated by last season’s brief visit to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, we returned to make this sublime Mediterranean peninsula our home base for a month of summer travel through Switzerland, France, and Italy. Whether touring Genoa’s UNESCO World Heritage 16 th and 17 th century palazzi along
La Strada Nuove or taking a break at Tyler Brule’s Monocle Café in Zurich’s Seefeld district, the beating timeline of European design, be it past or present day, is the continent’s gravitational pull. It’s the little moments in travel that surprise, and there were many. Viewing Villa La Fiorentina’s Italian Cypress lined promenade from the Bay of Beaulieu, dining al fresco under a Leger at La Colombe d’Or, and the red umbrella-ed canopy along the winding streets of Grasse were but a few. Yet even our more intentional visit to Lorenzo Bagnara’s Via Garibaldi 12 design emporium in Genoa, a romantic stay at Phillipe Stark’s redesign of La Reserve Eden au Lac, or a weekend trip to see the Festa del Rendentore fireworks from Cip’s Club will be no less memorable to us. t
Main image: Piazza De Ferrari is the main square of Genoa. Situated in the heart of the city, the square took its current shape in the mid-19th c. Today, the fountain is a civic treasure that delights locals and visitors alike.
Below: Colorful tiles pique the senses in the the Hotel Cipriani Venice lobby powder room.
Below: The much-lauded expansion of the Foundation Maeght in St. Paul de Vence opened this summer in conjunction with its 60th anniversary. Designed by architect Silvio d’Ascia, the new galleries with 8,500 sq.ft. of additional space pay respect the original building’s architecture. The inaugural exhibition, Amités, MatisseBonnard , reflects on the creative output during the artists long friendship. Originally modeled after the Guggenheim Foundation, the Barnes Collection, and the Phillips Collection, founders Aimé and Marguerite Maeght’s 1964 gift to the art world remains a special experience in an idyllic setting.
Above : Commanding in location and striking in modernist design, The Maybourne Riviera opened its doors to the world in 2023. Towering above Roquebrune-Cap-Martin and perfectly positioned near Monaco, Irish hotelier Paddy McKillen’s ambitious nouveau-luxe creation was designed for top-of-theworld views, international fine dining, and long summer days around the infinity pool. Rooms start at $1,900.
Below: The Pavilion Le Corbusier was the Swiss architect’s last project before his death in 1965. Set in a tranquil park in Zurich’s lakeside Seefeld district, the building stands as a testament to Corbusier’s renaissance genius as an architect, painter, and sculptor. Listed as a Class A cultural property of importance, the Pavilion is open from May to November and hosts temporary exhibitions and a permanent archive collection.
Airelles La Bastide
A palace in the heart of the Luberon
If guilty pleasures are to be considered admirable traits, then a weakness for fine hotels is our favorite sin.
We recently discovered the Airelles Collection, a boutique French hotel group of the highest order. Our entrée into their world of hospitality began above the Luberon Valley in the hilltop village of Gordes. La Bastide, as this maison is known, is a series of 16th century buildings stretched gracefully across the hillside to create a hidden world of terrace gardens, historic interiors, and seemingly endless views. The hotel’s superb location for trips to Provençal towns and sites made for leisurely days and lasting memories. In addition to their properties in St. Tropez, Courchevel, Val d’Isere, and Versailles, Airelles maintains three private villas for larger group stays. Airelles Venizia on the Guidecca opens this coming summer. t
Top: The spa pool at La Bastide is the Provençal answer to the Roman Pool at San Simeon.
Left: Champagne happy hour makes Stacey smile.
Below: The picturesque village of Gordes.
DOWNTOWN SHUFFLE
Transamerica 2.0
THE VERTICAL CITY
Through February 28
The Vertical City, a new exhibition of tall buildings by Norman Foster and Foster + Partners, is now open at Transamerica Pyramid Center. The skyscraper is emblematic of the modern age and is a reminder that the city is arguably civilization’s greatest invention. A vertical community, well served by public transport, can be a model of sustainability, especially when compared with a sprawling low-rise equivalent in a car-dependent suburb. “Our own design history of towers is one of challenging convention,” said Foster. “We were the first to question the traditional tower, with its central core of mechanical plant, circulation and structure, and instead to create open, stacked spaces, flexible for change and with see-through views.” Project models on display include Transamerica Pyramid masterplan, San Francisco; Commerzbank Tower, Frankfurt; 30 St Mary Axe, London; Deutsche Bank Place, Sydney; 425 Park Avenue, New York and more.
LES LALANNE
Through January 28
Reimagining the magical world of the artists’ studio and garden near the Fontainebleau forest in France, Les Lalanne at Transamerica Pyramid Center features over 20 major works spanning four decades installed among the distinctive architectural elements of the park’s urban oasis. Drawing their distinctive imagery from flora and fauna, Les Lalanne’s sculptures create an extraordinary universe that emphasizes the importance of the natural world, transforming earthly references into imaginative creations that meld the elegance of art nouveau metalwork with ambitious sculptural inventions drawn from the realm of mythology. Claude Lalanne (19252019) and François-Xavier Lalanne (1927-2008) outdoor sculptures epitomize the surrealist methodology of intervening in public space, creating juxtapositions that defy expectations. Set among the historic Transamerica Pyramid and its beloved Redwood Park, this exhibition not only celebrates the artistry of Les Lalanne, but also serves as a reminder of the beauty that can emerge from the integration of artistic expression within the hustle of city life. t
Clockwise from top left: Private Russian Hill Estate $22.1M, Sea Cliff Residence
$12.4M, Grand Pacific Heights Home $9.7M, The Tobin House $9M, Belvedere Beauty
The Palm Tree House