A frontal view of Hosono House rising from its sunken garden, its charcoal cedar volumes framed by weeping conifers and flagstone paving threaded with creeping groundcover. A couple relax in the oak-lined lower lounge with its green velvet daybed, while picture and porthole windows animate the composition above.

Hosono House: A Contemplative Urban Retreat in San Francisco That Feels Worlds Away

Words by Yatzer

San Francisco, California, USA

Set well back from the street in San Francisco's hilly Bernal Heights neighbourhood, this once nondescript dwelling has been transformed by local practice Ryan Leidner Architecture into a layered urban retreat where architecture, landscape and interiors are closely intertwined.

While the house’s distance from the street afforded privacy, a rare commodity in the city, it also complicated access. The architects’ solution was to design a pedestrian bridge that crosses from the front garden above a sunken landscaped courtyard to the new front door. Flanked by greenery, the bridge lends arrival an almost processional quality, establishing a sense of separation from the surrounding urban fabric before one even steps inside. New charcoal-stained cedar siding wrapping the house’s cubic volumes further enhances this impression of a secluded retreat.

A shaded lower courtyard where two sculptural concrete loop chairs rest on irregular stone pavers threaded with creeping groundcover. Weeping conifers, ferns and Japanese maples climb a planted slope behind, set against charcoal cedar and a black balustraded bridge, conjuring a secluded, distinctly Japanese, Zen-like stillness.

Photography by Joe Fletcher.

A frontal view of Hosono House rising from its sunken garden, its charcoal cedar volumes framed by weeping conifers and flagstone paving threaded with creeping groundcover. A couple relax in the oak-lined lower lounge with its green velvet daybed, while picture and porthole windows animate the composition above.

Photography by Joe Fletcher.

A narrow timber walkway threads past charcoal-stained cedar cladding and a curved plate-glass window at Hosono House. A copper wall light and bright red chairs punctuate the muted palette, while dense Japanese maples and ferns press in on either side, dissolving the boundary between architecture and garden.

Photography by Joe Fletcher.

Hosono House seen by day from its walkway, where stacked charcoal cedar volumes step back beneath dappled tree shade. A large picture window frames the plant-filled upper floor and a porthole window sits alongside, while below, an oak-lined nook with a green daybed opens to the garden and a red chair marks the deck.

Photography by Joe Fletcher.

The dwelling's reimagined exterior is echoed by a radically reorganised interior layout. The entrance sits on a half-level landing, with bedrooms tucked downstairs and the main living space lifted to the top floor to take advantage of sweeping views of the city skyline. Set below tall, sloping timber-clad ceilings, their exposed beams among the historic elements retained and refinished, the open-plan living area is notably bright and expansive. Large openings, clerestory windows and a skylight set above the connecting stair pull daylight deep into the plan, which in combination with the height and open layout lends the floor a relaxed fluidity.

Against a restrained palette of white surfaces and pale wood, abundant greenery, including ferns and trailing plants spilling from a beam above the living area, injects vibrant colour and softens the architecture’s clean geometries, as does a circular pivot window that introduces a playful counterpoint to the otherwise rectilinear composition. An eclectic collection of vintage furniture reflecting the owners’ interest in international design completes the scheme, giving the spaces a lived-in, cosmopolitan character. References range from 1960s and 1970s Italian design, such as Guido Faleschini's Tucroma chairs and Gae Aulenti's Locus Solus chairs paired with a custom dining table by local maker Nobuto Suga, to Japan and Californian hippie modernism.

The bright upper floor of Hosono House, where a sloped, timber-clad ceiling meets white walls and pale oak floors. A circular pivot window, a paper lantern, cascading greenery and a vivid red canvas animate the airy volume, while tan leather dining chairs and a black oval table anchor the plan.

Photography by Joe Fletcher.

A relaxed living area beneath a soaring pitched timber ceiling, where patinated patchwork leather sofas gather around a pale stone coffee table. Monstera and other greenery, a framed woodland painting and a bold red square canvas enliven the white walls, while oak floors ground the airy, sunlit volume.

Photography by Joe Fletcher.

  • A tranquil corner where a rounded leather beanbag rests on a faded Persian rug beneath a pitched timber ceiling. A sculptural black flue-topped fireplace anchors the space, while corner glazing frames climbing foliage and the distant city skyline, and a vivid framed portrait adds colour.

    Photography by Joe Fletcher.

  • A quiet corner of Hosono House where a chrome tubular armchair meets a wall-mounted white desk beneath a pitched timber ceiling. A vividly coloured framed portrait, stacked design books, potted greenery and a patterned Persian rug lend the pale, sunlit space a collected, cosmopolitan character.

    Photography by Joe Fletcher.

  • A washbasin niche pared back to two materials, where pale oak panelling wraps walls and vanity around a weathered brass trough sink and matching wall-mounted tap and levers. A frameless mirror reflects a clerestory window and trailing pothos, while a raw selenite crystal adds quiet, tactile contrast.

    Photography by Joe Fletcher.

A pale-oak kitchen framed by a sloped timber ceiling and an angular clerestory window. A slim triangular opening and a wide picture window frame the San Francisco skyline, while trailing plants spill from the mezzanine above and blond wood stools line a concrete-topped island.

Photography by Joe Fletcher.

The bright open-plan upper floor of Hosono House, where a sloped, timber-clad ceiling meets crisp white walls. A spherical paper lantern hangs above a mezzanine edge dense with ferns and trailing plants, while pale oak floors, a patinated leather sofa and a circular window animate the airy, light-filled volume.

Photography by Joe Fletcher.

A double-height circulation space at Hosono House where a warm timber-clad ceiling and skylight meet white walls and pale oak floors. Cascading trailing plants and indigo textiles hang from a mezzanine, framing a glazed wall that draws garden greenery deep into the light-filled interior.

Photography by Joe Fletcher.

A skylight and framed picture window bring garden greenery and dappled treetop light into a white circulation space at Hosono House. Warm timber lining the reveal contrasts with pale oak floors, a round porthole window and a low cabinet dressed with white blooms and books.

Photography by Joe Fletcher.

A woman reads in a moulded concrete loop chair set on stone paving in the lower courtyard. Weeping branches, dense ferns and a stone stair climb behind her against charcoal cedar cladding and a black steel balustrade, conjuring a contemplative, distinctly Japanese garden folded below street level.

Photography by Joe Fletcher.

Downstairs, the mood becomes more intimate. Opening directly onto the sunken courtyard, a lounge wrapped in wide-plank white oak is inspired by Tokyo whisky bars, featuring a generous velvet daybed and a record-playing station. Elsewhere, tactile finishes deepen the sense of retreat: hemp plaster wraps the guest bedroom, while Venetian plaster covers the primary bathroom.

It is in the courtyard, however, that Ryan Leidner’s approach finds its most distilled expression. Sheltered below street level and landscaped by Stephens Design Studio with irregular stone pavers, boulders, creeping groundcover and ferns, it conjures a distinctly Japanese, Zen-like stillness, offering a contemplative pocket of seclusion amid the city. In many ways, it encapsulates the idea of Hosono House as a whole: a retreat discreetly folded into San Francisco’s dense urban fabric, hidden in plain sight and made all the more generous for it.

  • A tiled-plinth bed dressed in white linen sits beneath a textured hemp-plaster ceiling in a guest bedroom that nods to Italian modernism. A transparent folding chair and a slender cream floor lamp stand against sheer curtains and pale oak floors, composing a soft, light-filled retreat.

    Photography by Joe Fletcher.

  • Α bathroom, sheathed entirely in white across walls, ceiling and floor. A freestanding oval tub with brushed brass fittings sits below a porthole window, while a rustic timber stool and a single dark boulder introduce texture into the calm, monastic envelope.

    Photography by Joe Fletcher.

  • A serene bedroom where a russet leather-framed bed and a low leather lounge chair rest on pale oak floors beneath an exposed timber beam. Sheer curtains diffuse the light, a domed table lamp glows beside the bed and trailing pothos softens the composition with green.

    Photography by Joe Fletcher.

Dusk falls on the oak-lined lounge, its glazed wall slid fully open to the sunken courtyard. Warm light spills across the curved green velvet daybed and backlit bar shelving, while a conical wall lamp, weeping conifer branches and creeping groundcover blur the threshold between interior and garden.

Photography by Joe Fletcher.

In the oak-lined lower lounge, inspired by Tokyo whisky bars, a man browses records at a turntable station beside a backlit shelf of spirits. A curved green velvet daybed and carved timber stool sit on pale oak steps, wide-plank White Oak wrapping the room in warmth.

Photography by Joe Fletcher.

Hosono House at dusk, its stacked charcoal cedar volumes glowing from within. A large picture window reveals the plant-filled upper floor, while the oak-lined garden lounge casts warm light across weeping foliage and stone paving, framing the architecture as a luminous retreat amid the city.

Photography by Joe Fletcher.