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An apartment building clinging to the side of a San Francisco cliff is looking for a buyer, and its $8 million price tag comes with panoramic bay views, a famously quirky layout and a surprising artistic pedigree.
The 11-unit property at 36-52 Calhoun Terrace, tucked into Telegraph Hill, has been listed for sale for the first time in decades, through Telegraph Hill Views.
While its street-facing side appears relatively understated, the rear reveals a dramatic 1938 structure built directly into a wall of exposed bedrock, a feat that would be extraordinarily difficult to recreate under modern building, seismic and workplace safety rules.
“They literally don’t build things like they used to,” San Francisco Planning Chief of Staff Dan Sider told the San Francisco Standard of the “remarkable” complex, where Frida Kahlo used to live.
“But also, people don’t die on construction sites nearly as often as they used to.”
The apartments aren’t exactly sprawling.
None exceeds 950 square feet, most have just one bedroom and the building has no parking.
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Residents in the lower units also have to tackle several flights of stairs just to reach the street.
Some layouts are especially unconventional.
Author Gary Kamiya, who moved into one of the apartments in 2023 after falling for its “floating in air” views, said his roughly 600-square-foot unit has a kitchen so narrow that he and his girlfriend can barely fit inside it together, despite the space somehow accommodating two ovens.
The bathroom is only accessible through the bedroom, and one bedroom window sits at street level.
Still, Kamiya said the views make the tradeoffs worthwhile.
From his apartment, he watches cargo ships cross the bay, coyotes scale the rocky hillside and San Francisco’s famous wild parrots, named the city’s official animal in 2023 after edging out the sea lions, squabble with crows in the surrounding redwood trees while pecking at his Christmas lights.
“I think it is extremely unlikely that we will ever leave this apartment by choice, unless by some horrific chance of fate the new owner decides they want to move into our apartment,” Kamiya told the Standard.
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“Most people that have $8 million don’t choose to move into apartments that don’t have any parking, and where you have to go through the bedroom to go to the bathroom, despite the incredible view. But it’s absolutely perfect for us.”
Despite its quirks, the property is fully leased, with no tenants dating back before 2020, benefiting from San Francisco’s strong rental market.
The building also has an unexpected place in art history.
Among its earliest residents were Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. Rivera was in San Francisco in 1940 to paint “Pan American Unity” for the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island.
At the time, the couple was divorced, and Rivera was living at 42 Calhoun Terrace with another woman.
According to the Standard, Kahlo’s doctor encouraged her to reconcile with Rivera.
The other woman moved out, Kahlo moved in, and the pair remarried at San Francisco City Hall in December 1940 before leaving after Rivera completed the mural.
During that stay, Kahlo also created “Self Portrait, Dedicated to Dr. Eloesser” while recovering from chronic pain in San Francisco.
The cliffside property has also made a Hollywood appearance, serving as a filming location for the 1952 film noir The Sniper.
Scenes shot inside Kamiya’s apartment include police using the bedroom as a command post while curious neighbors peer in from the street.
Listing agent Jean-Paul Samaha of Vanguard declined to comment to the San Francisco Standard.
English (US)