San Francisco’s Oldest Home Sells for $22 Million

San Francisco’s oldest home is now one of the top 10 sales in the city this year, according to public records.

The closing price of $22.1 million — $100,000 over the asking — makes it the biggest single-family sale ever in Russian Hill and could be a sign of “renewed confidence” in the luxury market.

Luxury agents had been rueing the lack of quality inventory this fall. So the 1849-built 8,400-square-foot 825-845 Francisco Street, on a third-acre lot with a lap pool and an internal “hill-a-vator” from the two-car garage to the lower and main levels of the four-level house, seems to have come at the perfect time. The property listed on Oct. 23, went into contract on Nov. 4 and sold on Nov. 15. The quick close is indicative of an all-cash deal.

The short stint on the market was the first time the “Robertson Estate” had been available since 1986. That’s when financier Sanford “Sandy” Robertson bought the home for almost $1.8 million, according to public records.

San Francisco’s Oldest Home Sells for $22 Million — 825-845 Francisco Street in San Francisco (Jacob Elliot)

The buyer was 825-845 Francisco LLC, which is connected to Eric Mathewson, founder and former CEO of WideOrbit, maker of software to help media companies manage their ad revenue, according to the deed, state filings and Mathewson’s LinkedIn.

WideOrbit was acquired by Lumine Group in February 2023 and Mathewson became a member of the Ontario-based media and communications software firm’s board of directors, though he stepped down from the CEO role at WideOrbit this summer.

The house on Francisco Street is the oldest surviving residence in the city, according to its marketing materials. According to a 1993 article in Architectural Digest, it was originally built by a ship captain using wood from the ship that brought him to San Francisco during the Gold Rush.

Lauren Klapper of City Real Estate represented the buyer and declined to comment on the sale, but said more generally that there is a “renewed confidence” in the city and that the trade “reflects the strength of the luxury market.”

There were three offers on the property in its first week on the market, according to listing agent Stacey Caen, who co-listed with partner Joseph Lucier, both of Sotheby’s International Realty. She credited their “signature pre-market renovation package,” which “elevated” the buyer experience, for the competitive sales process.

“It is our continued belief that if you create something that people want, they will buy it,” she said.

The quick sale and high price is especially notable given that the Russian Hill home is the only one to sell for more than $20 million outside of Pacific and Presidio Heights or Seacliff this year. It is the biggest single-family sale ever in the neighborhood, Lucier confirmed, though a pair of Russian Hill penthouses owned by former Secretary of State George Shultz and his socialite wife Charlotte Mailliard Shultz sold in an all-cash deal at their combined asking price of $29 million in 2022.

The agents could not discuss further details of the sale due to an NDA, but Lucier said, in general, the results of the recent national and local elections “will give much needed clarity to [ultra high net worth] individuals to direct their thinking to sell and/or buy this fall and in the 2025 market.”

The most expensive sale in the city this year was also an all-time record-breaker: Laurene Powell Jobs’ $71 million purchase on a section of Broadway in Pacific Heights known as “Billionaire’s Row.” In a distant second place is the $29 million sale of another home along Broadway sold by Battery Club founders Michael and Xochi Birch.