Guy Pays $400k To Have His $2.6M Victorian House Moved 7 Blocks In San Francisco
It’s not every day people move homes. It is a bit of a hassle with all of the packing, deciding what to move, cleaning up and then settling in in the new place. On the other hand, it’s definitely a breath of fresh air and a new start of sorts.
Well, sometimes you get lucky and you don’t have to move house as much as your house has to move. A building in San Francisco recently did just that—it was moved whole blocks to a new address. Like, the entire house was picked up, put on wheels, and transported to a new location. Pretty cool, if you ask me.
Usually when people hear ‘move house’, they mean switching apartments, not moving the entire house…
Image credits: AP Photo / Noah Berger
So, San Francisco, California is home to a lot of stunning architecture—and not just sleek modern homes, but also vintage, Victorian-era houses.
One such house, the Englander House, is actually in the news today as it was picked up and placed on a flatbed trailer and transported a whole 7 blocks away to its new address.
The Victorian architectural masterpiece is a 5,170-square-foot (roughly 480-square-meter) house that has been around for 139 years now, since 1882. It was transported at the average speed of 1 mile per hour (1.6 kilometers per hour) for 0.6 miles (roughly a kilometer) from 807 Franklin St. to 635 Fulton St.
The 1882 Victorian ‘Englander House’ in San Francisco was recently moved to a new location 7 blocks away
Image credits: AP Photo / Noah Berger
Namely, the 5,170-square-foot house was relocated from 807 Franklin St. to 635 Fulton St., 0.6 miles away
Image credits: The Sun
The move was by no means a cakewalk as the project was said to have cost around $400,000 and also involved the necessity to remove street lights, parking meters, and utility lines, among other works. Over 15 different permits were acquired to make this move a reality.
The move was carried out at 6:15 in the morning, but that didn’t stop around 600 spectators from showing up to see the show. Some noticed how the wheel axle was bending sideways and the tires were looking a bit flat due to the weight of the house.
It is said the move cost ~$400k and involved the removal of things like street lights and utility lines
Image credits: AP Photo / Noah Berger
Here’s a Google Maps visualization of the route and distance that the house traveled
Image credits: Google Maps
Real estate broker and investor Tim Brown bought the house for $2.6 million back in 2013. For a while now, it was in his plans to move the building to its new location.
Now that it’s in place, Brown has ideas to transform the house into seven residential units. As for the place it has left behind—there are plans for it to become the location of a new 48-unit apartment building.
While commenters were wondering how much outrage this must have caused—wasting money on having to adapt the streets and causing somewhat of a traffic jam for those actually commuting—others actually found this a positive move as it allows for smarter land development and the money boosts the economy.
Real estate broker Tim Brown bought the house for $2.6 million back in 2013
Image credits: The Sun
It was moved to make way for a new 48-unit apartment building that will be popping up in the near future
Image credits: The Sun
Yet others joked how they should have just used balloons, a subtle nod to the Disney movie Up, and also wondered what the parking fees would be for stopping a vehicle of this size with a load like that for a lunch break.
Needless to say, the move went viral online, being covered by numerous news media outlets and being featured on various social media, including Imgur and Reddit.
As for the Victorian house itself, it will be renovated and transformed into 7 residential units
Image credits: The Sun
Watch a video of the move in action
What are your thoughts on this? Would you rather move your entire house than just yourself? Let us know in the comment section below!
Here’s how people on the internet reacted to this story
I only get this if it was his dream house to live in, yes it’s a truly stunning building....but.... he’s not, he’s simply converting it to flats to on sell. Have I missed the point?
yup, u did miss the point - he is a property developer, i.e. wants to make as much money as possible with a) the original plot and b) the available victorian house (probably a listed building that u could not just tear down)
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The house is going to be utterly ruined by chopping it up into separate units anyway, so why bother with saving it?
My sister - who works in real estate - did this years ago with a house (in Oregon)she got for almost nothing (because the land it was on had been sold to a developer). She moved the house a few blocks, then rehabbed and flipped it for a tidy profit. Illustrating once again that working in real estate has it's perks that go well past commissions
How in the world is this house going to be turned into 7 units? I can see 4 units, and that's pushing it.
Have you ever been to London? Those Londoners are extremely creative when it come to turn houses into flats........
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I'm just glad he didn't just demolish it. I adore Victorian buildings.
I mean, I lived in a town that had a multi-story house “famous” for having been moved across a lake in the dead of winter. This was done well before decent machinery existed - more like horse and carriage days - so it really doesn’t strike me weird what someone will do when they have money.
I know that house. I have admired that house for over a decade now. Been haunted by it. Triggers my imagination. A remaining piece of San Francisco romanticism. Everytime I have walked past it, I have stopped and just stared at it. Empty and alone with a gas station on one side and an empty lot on the other. Daydreamed about becoming a squatter. I certainly couldn't afford to buy it. I feared that one day and one day soon it was going to be demolished and replaced with a bland box. If I hadn't of seen it on BP, I would have thought the worst.
Now you can possibly move into that romantic house!
Load More Replies... This was done in NYC in 2008 to move Alexander Hamilton's final home into new location nearby (its 2nd move actually!). https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/504120/how-alexander-hamiltons-house-got-moved
If you try to google street view the old address, it's like Extreme Makeover Home Edition: Busdriver, Move that bus!"
Prices are so high in SF that $2.6 million only gets you a "mobile" home.
I hate to see Victorian houses torn down they are part of our history and beautiful
Smart move! The house is historically recognized and probably eligible for a city grant. By moving it, he is released from historical perservation restrictions limiting structural changes. This accommodates conversion to flats. The average price in that area is $1000/sf. Of course, his units will be premium. He'll probably incur a half-million build-in costs, bringing total investment to $3.5 million from which he'll gross at least $6 million. I looked at a google map areal view of the original address, and it looks like there are additional vacant plots creating a sizeable parcel for the apartments. In that area, 1-bedroom 500 sf apartments rent for $2500–4000/mo. He's in the money!
The house that I grew up in was moved from Los Angeles, CA to Fontana, Ca in the 1930s. They moved it with four houses, when they built the Hollywood freeway. My parents lived there for 57 years. Oh, and the move was over 60 miles.
Architecture is cultural heritage. That house survived the 1906 earthquake and fire. It looks like all the structures of a similar vintage in the neighborhood are gone, so the house was surrounded by unimaginative modern buildings. Better to move it than tear it down. That’s what would have happened in the late 50s to 60s, when I was growing up in San Francisco—back when ordinary people could live there. The house is more than likely built with three flats—few houses in that area would have been single family houses, even in 1882. I hope the interior features don’t get ripped out while he’s making seven units out of three.
That's when you know the market prices are insane, when you can't actually do something like this and make money instead of lose it. I'd have hated to be the company who insured this move, tense day indeed. Sad to see a Victorian about to be chopped up even know people here desperately need housing.
At our ages, 82 and 87, we would prefer to move our house to a better position, rather than sell, buy, and transfer all the contents to a new location. It wont happen, but I have to admit I have thought of doing it occasionally. Especially as there is an up and coming penalty for selling. 10% of the sale-price to go to the owners of the lease land that the house is located on at the moment. We have no idea what is motivating them to impose such a penalty when they have done nothing to add value to the house.
It's San Francisco!! After living there for 10 years, I found nothing is shocking in the city. It looks as if they're getting from point A to point B fairly successfully. It's sad that those homes are all being trashed only to be replaced with a high rise apartment complex or even a tourist site. Don't think twice about it, it's SF
So he saved it by moving it yet turning it into apartments? I mean it's his house to do what he wants with but I reallllllly hate it when big beautiful homes like this get turned into apartments.
The people who live in those apartments don’t. The world doesn’t revolve around Shelby.
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I love old houses. I love when they are saved but this type of money makes me want to barf. FYI I am broke ass. :) All I do is help save lives everyday and I can't afford to move out. When people make insane amounts of money it makes me wonder what their contribution to society is? It always grosses me out further.
So nobody can make money unless some loser who actually would call themselves “vixenvamp” non-ironically approves of the method? Nobody owes a contribution to society just to make a living.
Load More Replies... If you like the house but hate the neighbours and can't buy them out, I suppose this is the way to go.
I can't even imagine the price of just buying the house in the first place... Imagine just how many gacha pulls I can do with $2.4 million...XD
I only get this if it was his dream house to live in, yes it’s a truly stunning building....but.... he’s not, he’s simply converting it to flats to on sell. Have I missed the point?
yup, u did miss the point - he is a property developer, i.e. wants to make as much money as possible with a) the original plot and b) the available victorian house (probably a listed building that u could not just tear down)
Load More Replies... The house is going to be utterly ruined by chopping it up into separate units anyway, so why bother with saving it?
My sister - who works in real estate - did this years ago with a house (in Oregon)she got for almost nothing (because the land it was on had been sold to a developer). She moved the house a few blocks, then rehabbed and flipped it for a tidy profit. Illustrating once again that working in real estate has it's perks that go well past commissions
How in the world is this house going to be turned into 7 units? I can see 4 units, and that's pushing it.
Have you ever been to London? Those Londoners are extremely creative when it come to turn houses into flats........
Load More Replies... I'm just glad he didn't just demolish it. I adore Victorian buildings.
I mean, I lived in a town that had a multi-story house “famous” for having been moved across a lake in the dead of winter. This was done well before decent machinery existed - more like horse and carriage days - so it really doesn’t strike me weird what someone will do when they have money.
I know that house. I have admired that house for over a decade now. Been haunted by it. Triggers my imagination. A remaining piece of San Francisco romanticism. Everytime I have walked past it, I have stopped and just stared at it. Empty and alone with a gas station on one side and an empty lot on the other. Daydreamed about becoming a squatter. I certainly couldn't afford to buy it. I feared that one day and one day soon it was going to be demolished and replaced with a bland box. If I hadn't of seen it on BP, I would have thought the worst.
Now you can possibly move into that romantic house!
Load More Replies... This was done in NYC in 2008 to move Alexander Hamilton's final home into new location nearby (its 2nd move actually!). https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/504120/how-alexander-hamiltons-house-got-moved
If you try to google street view the old address, it's like Extreme Makeover Home Edition: Busdriver, Move that bus!"
Prices are so high in SF that $2.6 million only gets you a "mobile" home.
I hate to see Victorian houses torn down they are part of our history and beautiful
Smart move! The house is historically recognized and probably eligible for a city grant. By moving it, he is released from historical perservation restrictions limiting structural changes. This accommodates conversion to flats. The average price in that area is $1000/sf. Of course, his units will be premium. He'll probably incur a half-million build-in costs, bringing total investment to $3.5 million from which he'll gross at least $6 million. I looked at a google map areal view of the original address, and it looks like there are additional vacant plots creating a sizeable parcel for the apartments. In that area, 1-bedroom 500 sf apartments rent for $2500–4000/mo. He's in the money!
The house that I grew up in was moved from Los Angeles, CA to Fontana, Ca in the 1930s. They moved it with four houses, when they built the Hollywood freeway. My parents lived there for 57 years. Oh, and the move was over 60 miles.
Architecture is cultural heritage. That house survived the 1906 earthquake and fire. It looks like all the structures of a similar vintage in the neighborhood are gone, so the house was surrounded by unimaginative modern buildings. Better to move it than tear it down. That’s what would have happened in the late 50s to 60s, when I was growing up in San Francisco—back when ordinary people could live there. The house is more than likely built with three flats—few houses in that area would have been single family houses, even in 1882. I hope the interior features don’t get ripped out while he’s making seven units out of three.
That's when you know the market prices are insane, when you can't actually do something like this and make money instead of lose it. I'd have hated to be the company who insured this move, tense day indeed. Sad to see a Victorian about to be chopped up even know people here desperately need housing.
At our ages, 82 and 87, we would prefer to move our house to a better position, rather than sell, buy, and transfer all the contents to a new location. It wont happen, but I have to admit I have thought of doing it occasionally. Especially as there is an up and coming penalty for selling. 10% of the sale-price to go to the owners of the lease land that the house is located on at the moment. We have no idea what is motivating them to impose such a penalty when they have done nothing to add value to the house.
It's San Francisco!! After living there for 10 years, I found nothing is shocking in the city. It looks as if they're getting from point A to point B fairly successfully. It's sad that those homes are all being trashed only to be replaced with a high rise apartment complex or even a tourist site. Don't think twice about it, it's SF
So he saved it by moving it yet turning it into apartments? I mean it's his house to do what he wants with but I reallllllly hate it when big beautiful homes like this get turned into apartments.
The people who live in those apartments don’t. The world doesn’t revolve around Shelby.
Load More Replies... I love old houses. I love when they are saved but this type of money makes me want to barf. FYI I am broke ass. :) All I do is help save lives everyday and I can't afford to move out. When people make insane amounts of money it makes me wonder what their contribution to society is? It always grosses me out further.
So nobody can make money unless some loser who actually would call themselves “vixenvamp” non-ironically approves of the method? Nobody owes a contribution to society just to make a living.
Load More Replies... If you like the house but hate the neighbours and can't buy them out, I suppose this is the way to go.
I can't even imagine the price of just buying the house in the first place... Imagine just how many gacha pulls I can do with $2.4 million...XD
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