Inside a $21.8 million San Francisco mansion that's been home to a tech media mogul, a squatter, and almost - according to rumors - Taylor Swift
The 20-room mansion sits in San Francisco's Presidio Heights neighborhood.
This part of town is known for its prestigious homes and upscale boutiques that "cater to the upper class residents," according to the listing. The Presidio and the Golden Gate Bridge are close by.
Source: Joel Goodrich
Named Le Petit Trianon and modeled after the 18th-century French chateau built by Louis XV in Versailles, it was built in 1904 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Source: Curbed SF
It's also known as the Koshland House, named after a wealthy wool tycoon that originally built the palace-like abode in the early 1900s.
Source: Curbed SF
The mansion comes with nine bedrooms and six bathrooms.
There are also three powder rooms, two kitchens, two wet bars, and a butler's pantry.
There's a ballroom that could be used as a media room or for some sort of entertainment.
There's a formal dining room and a library.
Nine decorative fireplaces are in the home.
A beautiful chandelier hangs in a three-story atrium.
There's a breakfast room with a side entrance and gardening room.
And it also comes with an elevator that's currently inoperable, according to the listing.
Source: Joel Goodrich
But fret not: there's a grand central staircase as well as a back staircase that leads to all levels.
And last, but not least, are the million-dollar views.
Glistening and opulent as it may be now, it has a long history.
In 2007, the founder of tech publication CNET, Halsey Minor, bought it for $18 million before going bankrupt.
Source: Realtor and The San Francisco Chronicle
It was listed for $25 million in 2012. It failed to sell and saw two price cuts, down to $18 million in October 2015, and was even declared abandoned by the city more than once, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
Source: Zillow and San Francisco Chronicle
But despite struggling to sell, it had apparently been occupied periodically already.
A drifter was found to have been squatting in the then-dilapidated home sporadically for a year in the summer of 2014.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
A man named Jeremiah Kaylor not only lived in the home but had stolen and sold $300,000 of art and other items from the house, some for much less than their true value, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. Most of the paintings were later recovered.
When law enforcement encountered Kaylor in the home in October 2015, he reportedly told them he was working to buy it and showed them legal documents that he hoped would validate that claim. The next day, he was arrested and booked on trespassing and 10 burglary charges.
Source: SF Gate
He told The San Francisco Chronicle from the San Francisco jailhouse in 2015 that he believed that he "owned the house" and that it was his "thug mansion."
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Kaylor also reportedly had an obsession with popstar Taylor Swift, who had been rumored to have been considering purchasing the historic mansion in 2014.
Source: Curbed SF and 7X7 and The Chronicle
He told the Chronicle that he believed they were destined to end up together. He pled guilty to two felony counts of grand theft and identity theft and was sentenced to a year in jail and five years probation.
Source: The Chronicle and Curbed SF
He told the Chronicle that while he was squatting in the mansion, "it was super moldy and honestly kind of falling apart, but you could tell that it had been amazing."
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
It finally sold, presumably in that state, in July 2016 for $15.75 million, according to public records.
Source: Redfin
It was eventually renovated and, in 2019, the mansion was selected for the 2019 San Francisco Decorator Showcase, an annual event 42 years in the running where dozens of the city's top designers bring their expertise to a chosen home and transform it into a work of art.
The home is only one of a few homes out of the hundreds of thousands in the city to have that designation.
And what's more of a rarity is that this home was chosen once before for the showcase in 1982.
Source: Decorator Showcase
Another similar home, a mansion chosen for the 2017 San Francisco Decorator Showcase, is listed for $26.8 million about a mile to the east in the Pac Heights neighborhood.
Source: Business Insider
The date of the 2019 Designer Showcase coincided with the re-listing of the home onto the public market — it was listed for $30 million on April 25, 2019. The showcase took place from late April to May.
Source: Realtor
In September 2019, the home still hadn't sold, even with the priceless designer touch it had been given. The home got a price cut to $27 million.
Source: Realtor
Perhaps the new decade will bring it some good luck.
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