A house on SF's famous Lombard Street — the "crookedest" block of Lombard, in fact — has just hit the market, and it has some stories attached to it.
The home at 4 Montclair Terrace — the one little side street that juts off of one of Lombard's switchbacks near the top of the hill — belonged to maritime architect and arts patron Meri Jaye, and she had lived there since the early 1960s. Jaye died in 2023 at age 102, and in recent years, she had been campaigning to save a towering redwood tree that she had planted next to the house in 1962 to commemorate the deaths of her husband and two children, who were killed in a plane crash.
"My husband proposed marriage to me in Muir Woods," Jaye said at a hearing about the tree in 2017. "When I lost my husband and my children, I wanted a memorial that would mean the strength that I needed to carry on."
Jaye was 96 at the time, and Lombard Street neighbors had been squabbling with her for years about the 100-foot-tall redwood, likely because it impeded their views but they said it was a safety issue and could possibly fall and injure people.
In 2017, Jaye won out, and the SF Urban Forestry Council voted to spare the tree. Then, this year, the city designated it San Francisco Landmark Tree No. 26.
Now, Jaye's home is on the market for $5.25 million, tree and all. The Chronicle reports that it is actually two dwellings in one — 2-4 Montclair Terrace — with a five-bedroom main house, and an accessory unit with a bedroom, kitchen, and living space.
The Chronicle notes that another notable resident of the home, in the 1920s, was California painter Rowena Fischer Meeks Abdy. The house was built in 1910, and was designed by architects Charles M. and Arthur F. Rousseau.
MLS photos of the property show lovely outdoor spadces, a living space that's been staged with modern furnishings, and a dated kitchen that will need some work.
Showings are ongoing if you're interested — it was listed by Roland Jadryev of Sotheby’s International Realty.
Related: One Woman's Campaign To Landmark A Redwood Tree On Lombard Street Ends In Triumph
