Dumican Mosey orients San Francisco home round pink staircase

Local studio Dumican Mosey have completed the renovation of a 1907 home with a four-story red staircase in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood.

Dumican Mosey completed the 300 square foot home dubbed the Red Stair House in 2022.

The Red Stair House was originally built in 1907

The completed residence retained the building’s original floor plan, but expanded the living space by excavating a level below the ground floor and adding a one-story extension to the top of the house.

The existing house has been stripped down to its foundations and redesigned, while the adjacent vacant lot has been planted as a new garden to preserve some open space in the dense city.

Dumican Mosey added one floor to the building

“This project was inspired by a desire for timeless quality, emphasized by a bold sculptural punctuation that connects all four floors,” said founder Eric Dumican to Dezeen.

“We emphasized strong physical, spatial and visual relationships between the interiors and the building, the garden and the open space at the center of the block, as well as the panoramic views of the bay, Coit Tower and downtown.”

Dumican Mosey was initially commissioned to conduct site surveys but when the original clients moved they connected the new owners to the studio who, by merging the 125 square meter space, helped create a combination of open public spaces and private retreats ) property with adjoining property.

The house is located in the Russian Hill neighborhood of San Francisco

By merging the plots, closed areas of the house could be opened up via an operable window wall, which enabled a “seamless connection” to the garden laid out between the buildings.

From the outside, the house reads like a series of folded voids that create visual interest and cohesion. The front entrance is marked with vertical western red cedar – treated with a gray glaze – and a double height window.

Ryan Leidner adds a bridge to the geometric house in San Francisco

The solid wood front door leads to the central four-story serpentine staircase, specially crafted from high quality MDF and painted a rich shade of red.

“The staircase functions as both a sculptural relief and a budget-conscious access route,” explained Dumican. “The staircase trades visual impact for the space itself [becoming] a series of folded and articulated planes that reflect the overall aesthetic of the building.”

The studio added an eye-catching red staircase

Apart from the red staircase, the material palette in the interior is mostly restrained. Wide oak parquet floors stretch across the upper floors, and custom oak cabinets — with integrated drawer handles and thin slab granite countertops — give the kitchen a clean, warm feel.

However, each room has a pop of color: light blue cabinets in the bathroom, sunset-hued shelves in the living room, and a patterned sofa in the lounge area.

Large windows overlook the city

The attic extension is set back from the edge of the house like a pavilion with a thin profile and has a cantilevered roof with a rectangular opening. A glass terrace encloses the rear and extends beyond the original footprint.

At the back of the house, the rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows that offer views of the city and the rear garden. Sleek white molding and black powder-coated metal accent the cedar paneling.

Cedar clads the exterior

“Overall, the home conveys a sense of architectural sophistication and relaxed living in a surprisingly compact space that nonetheless feels almost infinitely expansive,” the studio said.

Just off San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood, Dumican Mosey transformed a 1920s industrial building into a residence and studio for a contemporary artist who hung a vintage car from the ceiling.

Last year, Dezeen collected the best sculptural stairs from architectural projects in 2022.

Photograph by Blake Marvin.

Project evidence:
Architect: Dumican Mosey Architects
general contractor: Devlin McNally construction
Structurally: Holmes structures
Landscape: Owner/Rene Bihan