A historic, 8,000-square-foot mansion just off of Alamo Square, at 930 Grove Street, has just hit the market for a cool $6.6 million. For a trophy house of this size, as Curbed points out, that might be a steal for today's tech and finance titans however it will need serious renovations, and the historic district it resides in means that most exterior changes will be forbidden.
The house was completed in 1897 by the millionaire John Koster, who built it for his wife and seven children. Koster owned the California Barrel Company, which made pickle and vinegar barrels, and he also owned a Santa Clara County winery, Mount Hamilton Vineyard, where he later died in 1923. As Curbed also notes, "He ran in a very well-to-do circle, with the likes of Strauss, Spreckels, Russ, Lilienthal, etc."
The house served as the city's Jewish Community Center for a few years before being taken over by the government in World War II and turned into military housing, at which point it likely got divided into separate living quarters on the upper floors.
The Koster mansion has been vacant for a number of years and has fallen into serious disrepair, but there are plans attached to it arranged for by the current owner, the Pham family for a 12-unit building, including 8 studios and 4 one-bedroom units. It seems such a shame to carve up the beautiful living and dining areas on the main floor, however, as a lot of the original details are still intact, including a pretty herringbone wood floor you can see below. The pictures, as you can see on SFGate, are a little dodgy, though, since the majority of the interior is probably not photo-ready. A fixer-upper for sure but, I should note, the even larger mansion next door, at the corner of Grove and Steiner facing the park, has been under-going a year-long renovation at the hands of an extremely wealthy new owner, and it's going to be a single-family home.
Read all about it at the official website, complete with piano-trio soundtrack, and if you have a few mil lying around, you should give realtor Melinda Merrion a call at 415.823.5245.