A San Francisco Victorian Gets a Modern Facelift

When Casper and Alexa Mork-Ulnes bought a 19th century Victorian located in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, the house seemed a better fit for former hippies -- not its new modern homeowners. But Casper and Alexa are both designers and they had a vision: a contemporary open floor plan and lots of light.

Built around 1896, the home was at some point covered in orange stucco. Eew. Fortunately, it protected the original wooden exterior beneath. So the couple restored the wood and painted the home a cool grayish blue.

Inside, the home is a standard layout with a sleeping space on the upper level and a living space on the lower. They added dormers to the roof to take advantage of the extra space in the attic. The homeowners worked closely with a structural engineer and builder, Nick Damner (who also happens to be family), to create a suitable and stable design. The couple was glad to have friends and family help with the demolition, which included knocking down numerous walls and saved them buckets of money.


"The inspiration for the staircase was a hand hewn wood spiral staircase that existed in the building from the hippie era," Casper says. "It was not code compliant, so we had to remove it while undergoing the renovations. We wanted to do something that had a similar feel and patina." So they added a solid, butcher-block stairway and bridge (above left), using salvaged floorboards from the existing attic floor. Recycled and salvaged lumber, denim insulation, no-VOC finishes and radiant heat floor contribute to the ethos of this former hippie flat.

The swing was Alexa's idea and built by Nick. The wood for the swing is salvaged alder and walnut. It just so happens that it is the most used piece of furniture in their home.

Most of the furnishings were partially custom built and designed by Alexa, as well as sourced from various places. They discovered an antique French farm table from Sleuth Antiques (below, right), a white leather 1960s Florence Knoll sofa, and reused the kitchen table built by Casper's father many years earlier.

In one of the bathrooms, the stained glass depicting St. Peter is original to the home. Another piece of original stained glass showing poppies is at the entry. The couple wanted to keep as many of the Victorian details as possible, since many were destroyed in the 1960s renovation. One of the major challenges in remodeling the home was "to maintain the aura that had developed from 1896 to the present, merging the Victorian, 60s hippie Northern California vernacular, and our contemporary Scandinavian influences," Casper explained.

The original loft area was just an old, raw attic. The couple added electricity and plumbing, dormers, drywall and a bathroom. The floor is Douglas fir, and the bed frame was built in place. The library area houses some low shelving as well as an Easy Chair by Modernica.

The couple's biggest splurge was the custom steel work associated with the bridge and the rolling library ladder (above). However, since they were able to save in other aspects of the remodel, the splurge was well worth it.

If you like this home, have you seen The Perforated House?