syncopated architecture

226 27th

Located in the beautiful neighborhood of Noe Valley, we had the opportunity to transform an eyesore into a delight. We love to take something old and make it new again. In this case, it was a 10-unit building, originally built in 1963. With some creative façade improvements and reconfigurations to the units, we were able to rejuvenate this 1960’s neighborhood blemish, and make it into a jewel.

A full renovation of the entire building was required. Due to neglect from a previous owner and their tenants, most of the building had been battered by the elements. Dryrot, water intrusion, and rust had claimed the walls, windows, stucco, railings, roof, and deck.

Additionally, the previous contractor had made a mess of the permits on the property, creating a huge headache with the City of San Francisco. It took countless hours to untangle the mess created by the previous owner, but in the end we succeeded in a full rehabilitation of this structure.

These beautiful 2-bedroom units are now available for sale as Tenancy-in-Common (TIC) units.

Credits

• Contractor:

  • David Lee
    High Tech Construction
    2601 Bartlett Street
    Oakland, CA 94602
    O: 510.536.0411

• Listing Agent:

  • Vanguard Properties

• 
• Here you can see the drive entry with the 1960’s style metal railings. To soften this entry for all tenants, we installed landscaping along the side of the adjacent property. Also, we turned the hideous open railings into low-height privacy walls. The wood panels at the guardrails help set up a simple rhythm on these long expanses of wall. We placed them to coordinate with the entry doors for each unit, actually turning down the wall to the underside of the ceiling above. We duplicated the wood from the new front façade to tie the whole building together.
• At the back of the building was a hazardous fire escape assembly. The bolted connections were rusted through and pulling out of the wall. After a complicated variance process, and much neighborhood feedback, we replaced the hazardous fire escape with a steel stair assembly. The guardrails at each landing of the new alternating stair volumes are built to receive planters so nature can greet the owners at each transition of the stair.
• Not only was the fire escape assembly unsafe, it creates unsafe conditions for residents. Unlike stairways, traffic up and down the stair is extremely infrequent. Because there is no ongoing activity, tenants fill up the landings with barbecue’s, plants, sporting equipment, etc. This creates a further hazard by blocking the access to the escape ladder.
  
  Again, we removed the fire escape and installed a wood paneled stair assembly. The new stair leads down to a wonderful garden at the back of the property full of landscaping, seating, and natural light.
• Not only did we improve the façade, but we lowered the corner stair to help break up the volume on the street. At the top floor, we stripped off the covered canopy over the walkway, replacing them with cantilevered overhangs above the unit doors. Removing the top floor canopy allowed a significant amount of light down into each of the balconies as well as into the driveway courtyard below.
• (8) of the (10) units received all new interior finishes as part of our work. Each unit received new hardwood, all new windows, sleek new cabinets, stainless steel appliances, and glass tile backsplash finishes. Each 2-bedroom unit was also provided with a convenient eat-in counter directly adjacent to the kitchen. High-efficiency modern lighting finished out each unit beautifully.