Hidden $3.8M Clarendon Heights home has 35-foot-long indoor lap pool, glass-walled bathroom

Internationally known architect of the 1985 home designed Chez Panisse, UC Berkeley buildings

1335 Stanyan St (redfin.com)
1335 Stanyan St (redfin.com)

It was tough to be a San Francisco swimmer during the early days of the pandemic as pools closed and a dip in the Bay without a wetsuit was a frigid proposition.

Yet the owners of an architecturally significant 1985 home at 1335 Stanyan Street, hidden away on a car-free block below Sutro Tower, could swim the shelter-in-place blues away in their own private indoor lap pool.

The 35-foot pool is open to the floor above, so there’s nothing between swimmers and a double-height ceiling full of skylights. It has a poolside shower and a mural depicting snorkelers alongside fish and tropical plants, adding to the faux outdoor feeling.

The current owners had the mural painted after they bought the home for $2.45 million in 2014, according to public records. They also redid bathrooms, including one with glass walls in the primary suite, and the kitchen, which opens to the pool via a series of sliding glass doors. Now they’re now asking $3.8 million for the four-bedroom, three-bath home and may get even more as Redfin designated the property a “hot home” likely to sell quickly and over the listed price.

The floorplan is the work of Lun Chan, who is largely known for his commercial international designs. The architect created buildings on five continents, according to his 2011 obituary, including the University of the Americas in Mexico, hotels in the Middle East and the Hawaii State Capitol building, which received a National American Institute of Architects Design Award.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Locally, Chan’s best-known designs are for restaurants, ranging from Berkeley foodie mecca Chez Panisse to upscale dim sum hall Yank Sing in downtown San Francisco. He also designed major buildings at UC Berkeley and Stanford.

Chan’s rare residential work can’t be seen from Stanyan Street, even though that’s technically the home’s address. Access to the 3,800-square-foot home is via Clarendon Avenue around the corner, followed by a short hike down the Stanyan Street steps. It’s among a handful of houses on that block that can only be reached by foot and abuts the Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve.

The home has sweeping Southern and Eastern views from the living and dining rooms at the front, as well as the primary bedroom one flight up a spiral staircase in the foyer.

That bedroom has a glass wall looking into the bathroom and glass dividers between the side-by-side toilet area and shower. That means a home that may have the utmost privacy from the street has little of it in the primary suite.

There’s a more traditional bathroom in the hall, which also has a stackable washer-dryer. It serves the bedrooms and office space that make up the rest of the upper floor. The rear bedroom connects to the office and overlooks the back deck, which has a more common water feature for this extra-foggy San Francisco neighborhood — an outdoor hot tub.