Russian Hill Revamp

No "painted lady," a San Francisco house from the 1950s was crying out for Orlando Diaz-Azcuy's assistance

Suzanne Slesin -- Interior Design, 3/1/2003 12:00:00 AM

Orlando Diaz-Azcuy has continued to define and refine that perennial interiors conundrum known as "sophisticated understatement." What did that mean for a late 1950s house in the Russian Hill neighborhood of oh-so-picturesque San Francisco? "The house had been bastardized in its previous remodelings," says the Cuban-born San Francisco–based designer, citing numerous Victorian and Asian additions he describes as "absolutely foreign to the architecture."

The young telecommunications attorney who owned the four-story 5,000-square-foot house didn't lack for cash or taste. "He's neither a trendy person nor an English-furniture type," says Orlando Diaz-Azcuy Designs principal Greg Stewart. In other words, the client perfectly appreciated the firm's simple elegance and easy-to-live-with classicism.

One of Diaz-Azcuy and Stewart's major interventions involved the existing stair, which rose from street level to top floor on one side of the house. First, they clad the adjacent wall in a limestone similar to that used in many Frank Lloyd Wright houses. The stone was set in a random pattern to "lend an appropriate visual strength and solidity to the stairs," Diaz-Azcuy explains. In addition, the firm installed a balustrade with 1/2-inch rails of brushed stainless steel, not only to complement the wall but also to provide an industrial look typical of the late 1950s and early '60s.

Diaz-Azcuy and Stewart also reconfigured the rooms' distorted proportions. Among other changes, the designers combined the third-floor living and dining rooms, opening them up completely to each other. Installing mirrored panels in the corners of the new dining area visually expanded the space, bringing in a northern view, and added luminosity—an element particularly suitable for daytime and nighttime entertaining.

Between the living spaces and the kitchen, tall folding doors close like a screen. They were stained black, then cerused for a less formal look. "This was done a lot in the 1930s and 1940s," Stewart says. He and Diaz-Azcuy polyurethaned the new white-oak floor in a honey-caramel typical of the period around 1960. The tall, north-facing windows in the master bedroom were draped in sheer cotton to recall that same era.

When the time came for furnishings, the firm's inimitable style took over. Instead of mid-century icons and the vibrant palette that often accompanies them, the designers chose more classics: a low daybed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe—so as not to block the view—Regency chairs that once belonged to famed San Francisco designer Michael Taylor, a custom neoclassical dining table, and pieces from Diaz-Azcuy's own Portico Teak collection for McGuire Furniture, now classics in their own right. Furnishings' colors are soothing, elegant, even limpid, without being bland in the least: vanilla, gray, beige, with a calligraphic pattern on a custom rug by Edward Fields.

The firm imbued the third floor's pale-toned master bedroom with comfortable yet masculine luxury. Covering a dramatic ceiling-height headboard in white leather was a "way to give robust scale to a fairly large room," explains Diaz-Azcuy. He and Stewart also built a combined cabinet-desk that accommodates a computer and storage; they chose bleached sycamore for cabinetry and practical, refined Carrara marble for the generous work surface. To provide a cozy place for reading, they placed a wool-covered lounge chair and a Spencer Fung floor lamp in front of the bedroom's limestone mantelpiece.

The top-floor media room, a 400-square-foot space with two terraces, was designed for entertaining as well as relaxing and sunbathing. Diaz-Azcuy and Stewart surrounded a custom white-oak cocktail table with four high-style Arne Jacobsen Egg chairs upholstered in leather. The designers also specified that the 18-foot-long banquette, used for television and movie watching, should be 3 1/2 feet deep—enough to double as an extra guest bed, as a full bath is adjacent.

One thing that didn't require tinkering was fenestration. Nearly every room of the house faces north, enjoying a panorama that sweeps from the Golden Gate Bridge to the East Bay hills. The view even takes in the historic—if slightly less luxurious—accommodations on the island of Alcatraz.

Previous spread, left: The extraordinary San Francisco Bay view from a 1950s house renovated by Orlando Diaz-Azcuy Designs.

Previous spread, right: Diaz-Azcuy and Greg Stewart used travertine and chrome fittings for the media room's wet bar.

Opposite: The designers placed four Egg chairs by Arne Jacobsen around a custom white-oak cocktail table in the media room.

Above: Choices for the living area included a custom rug by Edward Fields, Regency chairs that San Francisco designer Michael Taylor once owned, and a daybed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Below: New limestone cladding for a sidewall, which rises from the entry to the top of the stairwell, was a major component of the renovation.

Opposite: The designers placed a wool-covered Diaz-Azcuy lounge chair and a Spencer Fung floor lamp next to the limestone mantelpiece in the master bedroom.

Right: Diaz-Azcuy's firm designed the neoclassical wood-burl dining table. Kerry Joyce designed the leather-covered chairs. Below right: The teak table and chairs on the terrace are by Diaz-Azcuy.

Opposite top: Diaz-Azcuy and Stewart covered the guest room's headboard in patent leather to contrast with the wainscoting. Opposite center: For the stair, they installed a balustrade with 1/2-inch stainless-steel rails typical of the late 1950s and early '60s. Opposite bottom: The designers paired Mies van der Rohe's Brno chair with the master bedroom's cabinet-desk topped by Carrara marble.

Below: Diaz-Azcuy explains that the ceiling-height leather-covered headboard was a "way to give robust scale" to the 300-square-foot master bedroom. The bed linens are Italian.

BAR MARBLE (MEDIA ROOM): FOX MARBLE. SINK FITTINGS: KROIN. ICE BUCKET: IITTALA. CUSTOM RUG: ENDLESS KNOT THROUGH SLOAN MIYASATO. CUSTOM COCKTAIL TABLE: DENNING CABINETRY. BANQUETTE FABRIC: BERGAMO FABRIC THROUGH KNEEDLER-FAUCHERE. CUSTOM BANQUETTE (MEDIA ROOM), CUSTOM SOFA, LOUNGE CHAIR (LIVING AREA), CUSTOM HEADBOARD (MASTER BEDROOM): MARCO FINE FURNITURE. CHAIRS (MEDIA ROOM), DAYBED (LIVING AREA), SIDE CHAIR (MASTER BEDROOM): KNOLL. CHAIR LEATHER (MEDIA ROOM), DAYBED LEATHER (LIVING AREA): SPINNEYBECK. SOFA, LOUNGE CHAIR, OTTOMAN FABRIC (LIVING AREA, MASTER BEDROOM), LOUNGE CHAIR, OTTOMAN FABRIC (MASTER BEDROOM): HBF. LIMESTONE (STAIR HALL, MASTER BEDROOM): SOLNHOFEN NATURAL STONE. LOUNGE CHAIR, OTTOMAN (MASTER BEDROOM): HOLLY HUNT. FLOOR LAMP: RALPH PUCCI INTERNATIONAL. CUSTOM TABLE (DINING AREA): CLAUDIO MARIANI. CHAIR LEATHER: ROSE TARLOW MELROSE HOUSE. TABLE, CHAIRS (TERRACE): MCGUIRE FURNITURE. HEADBOARD PATENT LEATHER (GUEST ROOM): GLANT FABRIC THROUGH KNEEDLER-FAUCHERE. PENDANT: FLOS. BED LINENS (BEDROOMS): FRETTE. BALUSTRADE (STAIR HALL): BLAKEWAY METAL WORKS. DRAPERY (MASTER BEDROOM): GEORGINA RICE COMPANY (FABRICATION); ROGERS GOFFIGON THROUGH KNEEDLER-FAUCHERE (FABRIC). TABLE LAMPS: BOYD LIGHTING. SIDE CHAIR LEATHER: S.H. FRANKS LEATHER HIDES. HEADBOARD LEATHER: EDELMAN LEATHER THROUGH SLOAN MIYASATO. GENERAL CONTRACTOR: FORDE MAZZOLA ASSOCIATES.