Anne Hathaway's firehouse from 'The Princess Diaries' is for sale
When Anne Hathaway made her big-screen acting debut starring in Disney's "The Princess Diaries," her lucky character lived in this converted firehouse in San Francisco's Excelsior neighborhood.
Now the 1911 firehouse is listed for $2.6 million in one of the nation’s hottest housing markets. It’s for sale for the first time since the city auctioned it to the current owner in 1976, years after retiring the building that housed Engine Company 43. (Click here or on an image for a slideshow.)
The owners bought the abandoned firehouse in what was at the time a working-class neighborhood so that they could use the empty lot next door to build a boat. While they worked on their project, they cleaned out, fixed up and rented the firehouse to a menagerie of creative types: ballet dancers, sculptors, a jewelry-maker and a filmmaker, said the agent representing the listing, Grace Shohet of Hill & Co Real Estate. Curbed San Francisco first spotted the listing.
The two-unit firehouse is in near-original condition, with two brass fire poles, a huge spiral staircase and a bathroom with four sinks and two showers. But you won't recognize the interior from the movie; only the exterior was used in "The Princess Diaries." (Click here or on an image for a slideshow.)
Horse-drawn carriages once parked in the lower level, which has 18-foot ceilings. A mezzanine level that is now a kitchen was the original hayloft. The building is at the top of the hill so that horses hurrying to a fire could get a downhill start. The upper level includes a great room and access, by ladder, to the hose tower, with views of the city.
Just blocks from the Mission District, the Excelsior neighborhood is picking up in popularity with technology workers. The empty lot, included in the sale, is likely to be developed. So while the building’s history is significant, its future awaits.
Related on Zillow Blog:
• Live Like a Bureaucrat in Former Public Buildings
• ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ Carriage House for Sale
• House of the Week: Meg Ryan’s Quintessential Victorian