Located on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, this house has the character of a Modernist European villa, with its stuccoed concrete walls and tight spiral staircases. Its purity had been compromised by later owners and the principal task was to return the house to its original condition, while incorporating some necessary updates. The task was complicated by the insensitive intervention of an architect in the Wurster office in 1980. Black bull-nose marble counters gave the kitchen and bathrooms a funereal air, and the bleached Philippine mahogany that Wurster had specified for the counters was used all over the bedrooms and window frames. Guided by drawings and plans from Wurster archives at UC Berkeley, Boyd repurposed the mahogany to replace the marble counters, and recreated the soft, light-filled interiors that Wurster intended. The original layout was restored to open up a sweeping view from the Bay Bridge to the Golden Gate. An interior garden by Thomas Church, restored by Boyd, creates a modern urban indoor/outdoor experience, to the extent that San Francisco climate allows.
