Gold Rush home in San Francisco lists for $22M

The oldest home in San Francisco, a chance survivor of the 1906 earthquake, has hit the market for $22 million.

Owner Brett Robertson has listed the 175-year-old hilltop mansion built during the Gold Rush at 825-845 Francisco Street, in Russian Hill, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The Victorian home was constructed in 1849 by Capt. R.C. Ruskin, according to brokers Stacey Caen and Joseph Lucier of Sotheby’s International Realty, which holds the listing.

Robertson said the 8,400-square-foot house was reportedly built out of timbers from a ship owned by prospectors then streaming into the Golden State.

Sanford “Sandy” Robertson, a prominent financier, bought the home with his second wife, Jeanne Pollock Sollitt Robertson, in 1986 for $1.8 million. Jeanne died in 2018. Sanford, who remarried, died this year.

In nearly four decades, the five-bedroom, seven-bathroom estate hosted Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, with jazz pianist Dave Brubeck performing one of his last gigs there.

The three-story house, which sits on 0.3 acres behind tall hedges and border trees, has 270-degree views of San Francisco, including Coit Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge.

Recent renovations have preserved the Victorian architecture while enhancing its interior grandeur, according to Caen and Lucier.

The main level has a grand reception foyer, living room with a fireplace and view terrace, plus a formal dining room and breakfast nook that open onto a garden terrace. A private library is festooned with bookshelves and a grand Palladian bay-view window.

A master suite has an office, gas fireplace, dual dressing rooms and a bathroom with views of the Hyde Street Pier. There’s a lower-level play room, temperature-controlled “wine cave.” Two two elevators link all three floors, including a “hill-a-vator” built into the hillside.

Outside, there’s a lap pool and multiple seating areas.

In the late 1970s, its longtime owner Sandy Robertson founded the tech investment bank Robertson, Stephens, later selling it to Bank of America. In 1999, he co-founded Francisco Partners, focusing on technology investments. For two decades, he served on the board of Salesforce.

— Dana Bartholomew