Happy 90th!
June 17, 2007
The brick-and-timber loft conversion building at 355 Bryant celebrates its 90th birthday this year. The original warehouse, which housed General Electric, was designed by George Adrian Applegarth, one of San Francisco’s great architects, and then converted to lofts in 1992 by Holliday Development. It was San Francisco’s second loft conversion, and consists of 44 lofts ranging in size from 997 to 2,800 square feet.
Earlier this year, C Magazine featured one of the lofts in the building, owned by interior designer Stephen Volpe. It’s gorgeous! The ceilings are 18 feet high, with eight redwood support columns that reach from the floor to ceiling. Author Diane Dorrans Saeks notes that “the timber had been milled from massive first growth redwood trees at the turn of the century.”
Volpe has just completed a redesign of the 2,100 square-foot space, updating the decor, refinishing the oak floors, and repainting the walls.
“The loft was a blank canvas, so I seized the opportunity to experiment,” he told Ms. Saeks. “I wanted to juxtapose raw brick walls with highly detailed and refined antiques. I wanted a sense of luxury, the antithesis of industrial decor.”
Of course, it’s for large, light-filled spaces that people with an eye for design usually buy lofts. Which is what happened this week, when number 409 at 355 Bryant closed escrow for $1.4 million after only 8 days on the market. It was a big hit with observers over at Socketsite.com.
The top floor loft (shown in the photo above), is over 1,629 square feet in size, with a huge, private patio and city views, and was listed by Rob Levy of McGuire. Tim Farrell of TRI Coldwell Banker represented the buyer. It’s the third loft to sell there this year, with an average sale price of $778 per square foot. ~ Damion Matthews.
