Cal- C.A.D.E Construction was delighted to be featured in the San Francisco Chronicle and SFgate.com for their “Victorian Masterpiece in the Noe Valley, neighborhood of San Francisco.
“An exterior glance of 171 Valley St. shows the home blends well with the other Victorian houses that are a staple in the Noe Valley, neighborhood of San Francisco.But upon entering the front door, it becomes strikingly apparent that this home is not the same.”It looks like a simple little Victorian on the outside,” agent Suzy Reilly of Vanguard Properties said. “Then you open the door and it is not what you would have expected. It’s a modern masterpiece.”The five-bedroom, 4.5-bath home, built in 1900, still retains its Queen Anne facade that was common in Victorian architecture. The interior, however, has been transformed into a modern living space with an openness that utilizes natural light and features green technology amenities.Purchased in the summer of 2008 as a building project, the property looked as if it were on its last legs, said James Gallagher of Cal C A D E Construction, which owns the home with business partner Paul McKenna.”The structure was held up by a few boards,” Gallagher said. “There was a stud every four or five feet in the walls. It could have collapsed at any moment.”In addition, he said, the inside was more haunting than welcoming.”It was dingy, small and dark,” Gallagher said. “The living room was right in front, and the kitchen was way in the back. There was no light or life inside.”From the start, Gallagher and McKenna were determined to take the 800-square-foot fixer-upper and convert it into the 3,220-square-foot luxury home it is now. But the beginning stages proved to be slow going.”The biggest challenge was the initial planning,” Gallagher said. “Working with the Planning Department, with the things we wanted to do like having two bathrooms on the upper level, we had to change our plans several times.”Gallagher said the process, though slow and arduous, eventually worked out. During this stage, Cal C A D E had chosen architect Eric Dumican of Dumican Mosey Architects to head the design.One aspect Dumican wanted to keep intact was the Victorian exterior. “Since this is a turn-of-the century home, it was important to preserve the front facade,” he said. “When you opened the doors, it becomes really open, with light filling up the house.”After the planning stages, the actual renovations started in January. The heavy lifting consisted of cutting the center of the home’s floor plate and excavating down to four feet to make new space for the ground level.Also, the sloped Victorian-style roof was replaced with a more traditional flat roof decorated with glass windows to invite in sunlight and with solar panels for efficient energy.”We were interested in incorporating some certain aspects of green design with the panels and other sustainable materials,” Dumican said. The heating system is a dual hydronic boiler system that runs through the floors and serves all the domestic water heating needs.After eight months of work, the finishing result was a Victorian reincarnated into an expanded, high-tech home.”As it turned out, everything beyond the front had been so massive, there was no resemblance to what was there before,” Dumican said.The interior became more spacious because of skylight emitting natural brightness into the main level, with ceilings of more than 10 feet.Dumican said the light reaches the very core of the house, whereas in most Bay Area homes it doesn’t. “It really opens up the house and makes it very different and more spacious,” he said.The main level has a living room area with custom shelves and a modern gas fireplace. There is also a guest bedroom that could serve as an office or small library.Further into the wide main floor, the state-of-the-art kitchen features a Sub-Zero refrigerator, Miele ovens and wine cooler, while the dining and family rooms subtly blend in with the extended Ipe wood deck area.”The main level is my favorite part of the house,” Reilly said. “It’s spacious and sets a tone.”
An addition was added to the level above, toward the rear yard, to provide more space.The master bedroom suite and two additional bedrooms with patio view and one full bathroom lend themselves to any family that wants to make Noe Valley their home.”The walk-in closets (in the top-floor bedroom) are perfect for the teenage kid,” Gallagher said. “Having a house that a family could easily live in was something we had in mind when were renovating.”The lower level consists of a media room that is wired for surround sound along with a wet bar with Miele dishwasher and under-counter Sub-Zero refrigerator.”It’s perfect for entertaining, or it can be used for a play area for children,” Reilly said about the space, which extends to the patio and backyard.An additional guest bedroom is included, as well as interior access to the two-car garage.”I think what we really tried to do was to create a cohesive environment so it flows well from room to room and floor to floor,” Dumican said. “We tried to create different experiences from the library to the deck out back.”
Gallagher said the finished home, priced at $2.995 million, is a perfect blend of old and new. “It’s part of preservation,” he said. I wish more houses were fashioned like this. We are all for preserving the home, but we want to bring it to the modern lifestyle.”
