A small house on the edge of Sutro Forest just posted a very big number. The Stanyan Street home where Gov. Gavin Newsom lived as a small child sold for $5.85 million, according to the San Francisco Standard. That works out to roughly $4,000 a square foot. The Real Deal rounded the price to $5.9 million. The house listed for $4.5 million, drew multiple all-cash offers and closed 14 days later.
Why the price
The 1951 house is small: two bedrooms and two baths in under 1,500 square feet, plus a separate studio and an outdoor Japanese soaking tub. But it sits on two lots totaling nearly 10,000 square feet. The second parcel opens onto Belgrave Avenue and could be developed. Listing agent John DiDomenico of Compass told the Standard that the Newsom name drew attention, but the value was in the land and its potential.
The Newsom history
The house was first owned by Newsom's maternal grandfather, Arthur Menzies, a horticulturist at the San Francisco Botanical Garden, where a native plant garden is named for him. Newsom lived there in the late 1960s. His mother sold the house in 1972. Later owners added the redwood shingles in 1979, and the seller who bought it in 2019 renovated the kitchen and baths. The 2019 price was $2.8 million, according to the Standard.
The bigger picture
DiDomenico said the sale shows both record pricing in the city and confidence that values will keep rising. The buyer was represented by Vanguard Properties. Nearby, Mount Sutro's 61-acre forest is across the street.