A former dried flower warehouse in San Francisco’s Lower Pacific Heights found new life as a mixed-residential and restaurant space, with a chef raising three children upstairs and cooking award-winning meals for the public on the ground floor.
Charles Phan, who studied architecture at the University of California at Berkeley before he brought a new twist on Vietnamese cooking to the public, worked with designer Olle Lundberg to bring new life to the 1919 building at 2232 Bush St. Phan operated the Out the Door restaurant below his home until it closed during the pandemic. After the chef’s death earlier this year, Trecia Knapp of City Real Estate listed the property for $5.2 million.
Highlights of the three-bedroom, 3,760-square-foot residential space on the building’s second floor include the warehouse’s industrial skylights and windows, which bring in lots of natural light, and high ceilings. The primary suite looks out onto quiet and narrow Wilmot Street, while the other two bedrooms are on the commercial Bush Street side. Phan’s kids also had access to loft space above their rooms via ladders.
Another aspect Knapp told Homes.com she likes to share is that Phan recycled the hardwood flooring from an indoor basketball court at Stanford University, taking advantage of a contact he had there. When Phan bought the former warehouse in 2005, he was operating at least one restaurant but wasn’t necessarily on solid ground financially, Knapp said.
“He was just getting his start as a chef, with three kids, trying to be as creative as possible,” she said. “Charles was always reusing anything he could.”
As one might expect a chef to do, Phan installed a commercial-grade kitchen and used it for family meals, quiet gatherings with friends and large-group fundraisers for various charities he supported, Knapp said. Above the main floor, he added a rooftop deck and additional interior space to enjoy city views.
Phan won the James Beard Foundation’s “Best Chefs in America” honor in 2004. After buying the Lower Pacific Heights property, Phan went on to win six more awards from the foundation from 2008 to 2012. His goal was to “elevate Vietnamese food to the next level – modern design, sustainable local ingredients, quality teas and wine pairings,” according to the website for his original restaurant, Slanted Door.
Lundberg also worked with Phan to design that downtown eatery and a sister restaurant in the East Bay. Slanted Door can also be found in the town of Napa, north of San Francisco, and Beaune, a town in France’s Burgundy region.
An Italian restaurant, Mattina, now occupies the downstairs space on Bush Street, providing rental income to whoever buys the building.
Knapp said the one drawback to the property she sees is that the garage behind the restaurant only has room for one vehicle. On the other hand, having frontage on Wilmot Street, which is unusually narrow for a San Francisco residential street, is a plus.
"It’s a little bit of a coveted street," she said.