Know This Place

540 El Camino Del Mar

Seacliff · San Francisco, CA 94121

  • Built 1926
  • Single-family, 18 rooms
  • 2 stories
  • Zoned RH-1(D)
  • Sea Cliff Historic District
  • Historic resource — CEQA A
37.7879, −122.4893 Street View appears here once a Google Maps embed key is configured.

Eighteen rooms and seven bathrooms on a 17,149-square-foot lot above the Golden Gate — the largest lot documented on this site. A published guide to notable residences records it as a part-time residence of Robin Williams.

9,310 sq ftBuilding area
17,149 sq ftLot area
7Bathrooms
15Permits on file

Permit history

Fifteen permits across thirty-five years, in three episodes. The first, in 1991–92, opens with a $400,000 horizontal addition filed three months after the recorded sale; it expired, its 1992 revision expired too, and only the interior demolition was carried through. Then a quarter of a century of near-silence. Then, between May 2025 and June 2026, five permits in thirteen months — a remodel revised from $650,000 to $2,343,508, plus bathrooms, a basement excavation, solar with battery storage, and a landscape scheme.

  1. Jun 2026

    Landscape works — paving, terraces and windbreak, two exterior gas fireplaces, an outdoor kitchen and a spa.

    Issued Permit 202606022349 $$$ $150,000
  2. May 2026

    Roof-mounted solar with seven energy storage units of 13.5 kWh each.

    Issued Permit S20260515612 $$$ $93,600
  3. Nov–Dec 2025

    Structural and shoring revisions to the interior remodel.

    Issued Permit 202511129471 Permit 202511189837
  4. Jul 2025

    Interior remodel; some windows and doors removed and replaced; exterior deck expanded; 39 sq ft added to the kitchen. The estimate more than tripled after filing.

    Issued Permit 202507150799 $$$ $2,343,508 revised
  5. Jun 2025

    Subterranean expansion of a basement bathroom; planter expansion; new exterior stair at grade.

    Issued Permit 202506118499 $$$ $75,000 revised
  6. May 2025

    Remodel seven bathrooms and one kitchen, with lead paint abatement over 1,100 sq ft of sheetrock.

    Issued Permit 202505227075 $$$ $250,000
  7. Mar 2024

    New kitchen countertops, two sinks and faucets; second-floor hardwood refinished; kitchen and playroom cabinets painted.

    Complete Permit 202403117540 $$$ $100,000
  8. May 2017

    Remove the terracotta chimney and replace it with a listed Class A metal chimney system — recorded as a repair, with no roof work visible from the street.

    Complete Permit 201705096053 $$$ $10,000
  9. May 1996

    Interior renovations to a dressing room.

    Expired Permit 9607602 $$$ $8,000
  10. Sep 1992

    Revision to the 1991 addition — replace wall, windscreen and stairs.

    Expired Permit 9215959 $$$ $50,000
  11. Jan 1992

    Non-structural interior demolition — the only part of the 1991–92 project that was carried through.

    Complete Permit 9200645 $$$ $20,000
  12. Oct 1991

    Horizontal addition, filed three months after the recorded sale.

    Expired Permit 9120228S $$$ $400,000

Not yet documented: the architect, builder and original permit; whether the inscribed benches the guide describes are still on the property; and any dates for the reported residency. Know any of it? Tell us — just describe it in plain words.