If you’ve been to Baker Beach in San Francisco, you’ve probably looked up at 1 25th Avenue. The home, which sits among several stunning homes along the bluff facing the ocean, was once the only residence on what later became an iconic street in one of San Francisco’s most coveted neighborhoods. This mansion’s history is fittingly illustrious — it was even home to actress Sharon Stone and her husband, journalist and San Francisco Chronicle editor Phil Bronstein. Now, it’s for sale with a $39 million price tag.
When the Brown family built this home, the neighborhood of Sea Cliff had not yet been established. In fact, in 1908, though the view would still have been spectacular, it would not yet include the Golden Gate Bridge. According to the official listing, the family’s daughter, Phoebe Hearst Brown, was just four years old when the home was constructed and recalled “nothing else there but sand dunes, lupine and rabbits.”
The home has an iconic placement on the bluff overlooking the water. These stairs lead down to the beach.
Brian KittsThe Browns survived the 1906 earthquake and built this home as a sanctuary, in part to repair themselves from the trauma of that catastrophe. Phoebe Hearst Brown’s mother, Helen Hillyer Brown, wrote of the Browns’ experiences after the earthquake and subsequent fires decimated the city, including her own family’s home on Van Ness Avenue. She described how the family “piled their belongings into a light horse carriage called a Victoria (after Queen Victoria)” and “parks (including Dolores Park in the Mission) were turned into tent cities, with both the Army and civilians acting as overseers to enforce health and safety rules,” according to Outside Lands.org.
The entrance to the home is grand enough to frame the mansion as well as the sea that it its backdrop.
Brian Kitts
French doors open off the main level to this lounge area.
Brian KittsPhoebe’s father, Phillip King Brown, was a physician whose downtown office burned to the ground. He moved quickly to find an empty house that could serve as a makeshift clinic and used it to care for the sick and injured after the quake.
A tree-lined lawn and patio create a private courtyard on the property is south-facing.
Brian KittsDespite the fact that these disasters killed thousands of people and leveled tens of thousands of buildings, the city made a fast recovery. By 1908, “the Brown family moved into their new home, the first residence built on the bluff at Sea Cliff, overlooking Baker Beach and the inlet to San Francisco Bay,” wrote Florence Holub in the Noe Valley Voice.
Gorgeous original features are filly intact.
Brian KittsThe mansion of 8,495 square feet offers seven bedrooms, eight full baths and three half baths.
In the main level living area, a huge fireplace offsets the coolness of the ocean view.
Brian Kitts
There are many spots in the home to marvel in the beauty of the setting.
Brian KittsThe design is a blend of European-inspired details, drawing from the grandeur of both Italianate and Victorian traditions in the towering arched doorways, dark wood floors and moldings and the Juliette balcony overlooking the sea.
A formal dining room offers dramatic wood and glass frames for the views.
Brian Kitts
This bedroom opens to a large deck.
Brian Kitts
From the deck, the views sweep the Bay to the mountains beyond.
Brian KittsFollow Anna on Twitter: @AnnaMarieErwert.
Along with the huge mansion are two separate garages which flank the home from the street.
From this window, the Golden Gate Bridge appears in the distance.