One of the nicer homes in Marin county has come up for sale.
Owned by late venture capitalist and billionaire Tom Perkins, the home is very much in the Chateau style, and offers unparalleled views of Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. Located in Belvedere, the house was constructed in the 1920’s, and extensively renovated by Perkins.
At 8,885 square feet, and with six bedrooms and 7.5 baths, the house’s exterior is certainly influenced by residential architecture of the South of France, and has the fairy-tale look of a California home of the 20’s. A gated stone entrance, stucco and rusticated walls, and landscaped gardens give it that slightly otherworldly appeal.
Inside, it’s easy to see where some of the renovations occurred. Windows replacement has lent the home a clean, modern look, and there are more contemporary, unadorned bays, which frame visions of the landscape neatly; but elsewhere French and arch designs remain, retaining the spirit of the original design. Lighting runs from recessed to lantern style.
Other notable features include a carved limestone fireplace with origins in a Belgian chateau, separate children’s wing with bedrooms, bathrooms and playroom, and a formal dining room. The living room boasts two large bay windows, which artfully frame San Francisco bay. There is a greenhouse and media room and, on the lower level, games room and staff suite.
A breakfast room opens to a patio, and the grand salon with French doors leads to an expansive terrace; a second floor deck features a staircase offering another access to terrace views. Sausalito and Angel Island are always in the distance. A large apartment over the three car garage, and pool with pool house cap the roughly one acre of land.
Thomas Perkins was a founder of Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, a Silicon Valley venture capital powerhouse. KPCB funded entrepreneurial startups Google, Amazon, and Sun, to name a few. Beginning a long career at Hewlett Packard, Perkins’s assets were valued at $8 billion at the time of his death last June.
