No house in San Francisco’s fabled Russian Hill better reflects the magical promise of California living better than the Butterfly House. Tucked between the historic townhomes and Deco towers that cling to the crooked streets that ascend to the top of the hill, the house’s mannered modernist facade belies the verdant courtyards and spiraling living spaces that lead to a rooftop area with panoramic connections to the City and the San Francisco Bay. In a city known more for its exuberant, inward-looking painted ladies, this Butterfly House represents the road not taken, offering its occupants inside-outside living. The courtyard garden offers the residents of the Butterfly House a respite from city life, extending the scale and materiality of the house to the outside. Eschewing popular references to mid-century California homes, the garden design owes much to the Japanese tradition of Tsuboniwa (courtyard garden), the use of a small courtyard space to create an idealized view of nature. Rooted in tea garden design, Tsuboniwa emphasizes garden composition, planting selections, and the scale and detail of built garden elements provide its occupants with privacy, tranquility, and inspiration through nature. A robust composition of cream-colored limestone paving, poured into concrete walls, and super-sized ...
No house in San Francisco’s fabled Russian Hill better reflects the magical promise of California living better than the Butterfly House. Tucked between the historic townhomes and Deco towers that cling to the crooked streets that ascend to the top of the hill, the house’s mannered modernist facade belies the verdant courtyards and spiraling living spaces that lead to a rooftop area with panoramic connections to the City and the San Francisco Bay. In a city known more for its exuberant, inward-looking painted ladies, this Butterfly House represents the road not taken, offering its occupants inside-outside living. The courtyard garden offers the residents of the Butterfly House a respite from city life, extending the scale and materiality of the house to the outside. Eschewing popular references to mid-century California homes, the garden design owes much to the Japanese tradition of Tsuboniwa (courtyard garden), the use of a small courtyard space to create an idealized view of nature. Rooted in tea garden design, Tsuboniwa emphasizes garden composition, planting selections, and the scale and detail of built garden elements provide its occupants with privacy, tranquility, and inspiration through nature. A robust composition of cream-colored limestone paving, poured into concrete walls, and super-sized ...