Reviving a Victorian Home
A San Francisco home known for its appearances on the sitcom “Full House” becomes a child-friendly haven of high art and chic antiques. Read excerpted article here.
Architecture & Design
Net Assets
Gesturing at the wood-and-iron house he designed for his family three years ago, the Buenos Aires–based furniture designer and architect Alejandro Sticotti declares, “It was like putting in a UFO, like something from Mars.” True, with its clean lines, open floor plan, and raw finishes
Time for a Change
Some people mark new phases of life with adventure experiences (skydiving, safaris) or shiny purchases (jewelry, sports cars). Others renovate. Such was the case with a retired widow who had lived in a two-bedroom on San Francisco’s tony Nob Hill since the ’80’s.
Mint Plaza in San Francisco
Just three years ago, this stretch of Jessie Street in downtown San Francisco was a gritty back alley, populated by parked cars, pigeons, and the down-and-out. On one side of the street sat a Vietnamese sandwich shop and a budget SRO hotel; on the other hulked the granite and sandstone Old Mint, a Greek Revival …
Save or Splurge: San Francisco
ON $250/DAY SLEEP Carved out of a 1920s hotel, the new Hotel Vertigo in Nob Hill (940 Sutter Street; 415-885-6800; www.hotelvertigosf.com) recently emerged from a cinematic makeover inspired
Elle Decor Goes to Athens
Hip hotels, restaurant and museums are transforming the city of Socrates. Read excerpted article here.
Profile: Terunobu Fujimori
A modern eccentric with an architectural sensibility drawn from ancient Japanese traditions, Terunobu Fujimori designs projects that are exercises in playful experimentation and sophisticated craft. One of the first things you notice about the Japanese architect and architectural historian Terunobu Fujimori is his voracious appetite. His particular brand of hunger extends not only to food—which …
Site Unseen
Few people would spend their life savings on a plot of land they’d never seen. Two exceptions are Adrienne Webb and Stefan Dunlop, who, while living in a loft in London, snapped up an acre of land in northeastern Australia, 10,000 miles away.
A San Francisco Treat
Exploring the California Academy of Sciences, the greenest museum on earth. The California Academy of Sciences, which reopened in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park this past fall, is now in a new building that resembles a high-style space station — all glass and recycled steel and capped with an undulating green roof
Foraging: Kuraya Japanese Antiques
Kuraya doesn’t look like much from the street — just a nondescript warehouse on the industrial fringe of the Mission District. But climb the loading-dock stairs, and you’ll find yourself surrounded by some real Japanese booty: hundreds of antique tansu chests from the mid-19th to the early 20th century, each built for a specific function, …