The Mullet House

Business in the Front, Party in the Back

This project near San Francisco’s Dolores Park provided Mark the opportunity to revisit a project from the first year of his practice. Our clients were the third owners since Mark first worked on this house in 1987. The original project consisted of a small addition to the rear of an existing single-story (over-garage) house. The new owners wanted to completely remodel the house and add two floors. In addition, they wanted it to be MODERN. This was a perfect fit for the work our firm had evolved to produce over the years, but the neighbors weren’t having it. The neighbors were very organized and didn’t like the idea of a large modern structure in what was a mostly traditional block. We were able to work with the neighbors to agree on a design that was Craftsman on the front and modern on the interior and rear. Because of this dichotomy, we refer to this project as the Mullet House. We were able to minimize the apparent height of the facade by hiding the top floor behind a dormered roof. Unique features of this house include a stunning roof deck with glass guardrails, a custom stair with a zigzag edge with a guardrail composed of vertical stainless steel tubes, and a strikingly composed asymmetrical fireplace.