Neoclassical San Francisco Home
On Land from Herbert Hoover

What: Seven-bedroom, 6.5-bathroom house in 10,000 square feet on about 0.4 acre

Where: San Francisco's Pacific Heights area

Amenities: Tennis court, elevator, music room, 600-square-foot living room, library, two-car garage

Asking Price: None listed

Opening Bid*: $25 million

Listing Agents: Constance Heldman, R/E Source Realty, 415-435-1023; Dona Crowder and Peggy Economos, Pacific Union, 415-447-6244

Due Diligence: In 1927, industrialist Milton S. Ray had this neoclassical home built atop a rocky outcropping in San Francisco's Pacific Heights neighborhood. (He'd acquired the vacant land from Herbert Hoover in 1925.) An engineer and businessman, Mr. Ray also specialized in amateur ornithology and oology (the study of eggs) and filled the home with bird eggs (the collection is no longer in the house). When he died in 1946, his widow sold the mansion to local businessman Mitchel L. Mitchell for $93,000; Mitchell's daughter, Gladyne, lived there for more than 60 years, until she moved out this summer. The listing agents expect bids to exceed the San Francisco record of about $30 million.

Additional Photos

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