In 1906, Elizabeth Leslie Meyerfeld married Leon Lazare Roos. Her father, who owned a chain of theaters, promised the couple a new house.
Under any circumstance, a new house would be a substantial wedding present. But given that the newlyweds were in San Francisco, a city that had just seen 56 percent of its population rendered homeless by an earthquake and the resultant fire, the area’s real estate was in a particularly acute state of flux.
“This was right after the earthquake,” said Mark Roos, the couple’s grandson. “There was a lot of movement from the Van Ness neighborhood [which was used as a firebreak during the earthquake] to the Presidio.” The couple chose a plot of land on Jackson Street. It "was the first house on the block," Roos said.
After commissioning, then rejecting, an initial set of plans, the elder Rooses, who were both in their early twenties, hired prominent local architect Bernard Maybeck to build a 9,000-square-foot, Tudor revival-style house. Construction of the home, made entirely of redwood (“the basic, available building material of the time,” Roos said), took two years and was achieved for what Roos estimated was “less than $50,000.”
The house has been passed down through generations. A full century later, Roos and his wife Sarah have put the house on the market, listing it with Nina Hatvany for $16 million.
Two Residents, Five Servants
When the house was completed in 1909, the house had two bedrooms for its owners, as well as staff bedrooms for chauffeur, upstairs maid, downstairs maid, butler, and washerwoman. Staff quarters occupied most of the basement and attic.
The first and second floors were primarily dedicated to entertaining. When Roos's grandmother built the house, “she was very engaged in her social life, in the literary and theatrical worlds,” he said. “So I’m absolutely sure that entertaining was a primary requirement.”
The ground floor has a massive, vaulted ceiling covered in redwood paneling, with a large picture window overlooking San Francisco Bay. There’s also a grand, formal dining room on the same floor.
Once Roos’s father Leslie was born, architect Maybeck was reenlisted to modify the house. He added an upstairs living room that served as a nursery.
Improvements
Maybeck also enclosed several of the house’s porches. “They were less than useful” when open to the elements, Roos said, “given the weather in San Francisco.”