Former Robin Williams home in SF’s Sea Cliff lists for $25M

A nearly century-old mansion in San Francisco where the late comedian Robin Williams had installed a secret Prohibition-style bar and hidden hallways for his children is listed for sale at $25 million.

Marsha Garces Williams, former wife of the Oscar-winning actor in “Good Will Hunting,” is selling the 10,600-square-foot home at 540 El Camino Del Mar in Sea Cliff, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Robin Williams and his then-wife Marsha, producer of “Mrs. Doubtfire,” bought the Italian Renaissance-style villa in 1991 for $3.2 million. The couple, who married in 1989 and divorced in 2010, had two children. 

But not before the pair took the three-story house down to the studs and rebuilt it with the original woodwork, moldings and ironwork, including the angled wooden beams over its main staircase.

The 20-room mansion, built in 1926 on 0.4 acres, was once owned by shipping and lumber magnate Oliver Olson.

Rising above walls and gates on a corner lot above the Pacific Ocean, the six-bedroom, seven-bathroom house has sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Marin Headlands and San Francisco Bay.

“It is everything you imagine Robin Williams to be,” listing agent Steven Mavromihalis of Compass told the Journal.

The comedian built a hidden passageway between the children’s bedrooms and a Prohibition-style speakeasy behind a wall in the media room.

The house has a library, media room, wine cellar, pantry and a walk-in vault. The master suite has a Japanese-themed bathroom with a raised soaking tub. There’s a one-bedroom guest apartment with its own entrance. 

Outside, the Williamses added metal iguanas and turtles that look like they’re crawling up the sides of the house. There are patios, a lawn and a loggia with views of the Golden Gate.

Mavromihalis said San Francisco’s luxury market has plunged since 2021 because of higher interest rates. But over the past few weeks, there have been a handful of high-priced deals, while the market for homes from $8 million to $15 million has gone up.

A 7,500-square-foot Sea Cliff home owned by The Wine Group founder Arthur Ciocca sold in April for $20 million.  

“The market had so much inventory that everybody was frozen,” he told the newspaper. “All of a sudden, a number of properties have gone into contract.” 

Williams launched his career in stand-up comedy and later starred in movies including “Patch Adams,” “Hook” and “Aladdin.” He had Parkinson’s disease, and was found dead by suicide at the age of 63 in August 2014 at his home in Tiburon.

— Dana Bartholomew

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