When Thomas Goetz and Whitney Wright decided to reconfigure their home’s attic on Potrero Hill, they wanted a professional who understood the neighborhood. They found Cary Bernstein, a Yale-educated architect who remodeled their Potrero cottage, seamlessly integrating older and modern architectural vocabularies while expanding it vertically. She also lived on the hill. “Thomas and Whitney’s project started as a simple attic story renovation intended to create a more usable floor area and a new bedroom,” Bernstein recalls. However, due to the building’s condition, the attic story was ultimately rebuilt with full head height and design improvements.
Potrero Hill began as a working-class enclave of Gold Rush immigrants and 1906 earthquake survivors. The lots were small, with spectacular views and a sunny microclimate. In 2002, Goetz, a healthcare journalist, and Wright, a social worker, purchased the artisanal, gable-roofed, bay-windowed Craftsman house built during the early 1900s. The residence had a garden level with two bedrooms and a bathroom, a main floor with public rooms, and an unfinished attic story. During the pandemic, they reevaluated the 2,000-square-foot space they shared with their two sons and rescue dog.
“Our boys, now teenagers, are proud to be born and raised in Potrero Hill,” shares Goetz. He is from Minneapolis, and Wright grew up in Mill Valley. They met at Bates College in Maine and lived in New York City before settling in San Francisco. The Craftsman immediately enchanted them: “When I first entered the house, I loved that from the front door, you could see through to the back, and there was a redwood tree; it reminded me of Mill Valley, and the entry stair had small-paned windows like the house I grew up in” Wright remembers. She and her husband wanted to maximize the building’s square footage while correcting haphazard alterations.
Goetz and Wright added a second-floor remodel to the project’s scope, where Bernstein made spatial and aesthetic improvements. Visitors now enter a soft, warm white vestibule, which segues to a spacious living room where the architect added square footage from a foyer.
Bernstein gutted the open plan kitchen, lounge, and dining room, replacing box store cabinets with custom ones fabricated from quartered flaky oak veneer. A backsplash of teal-hued Heath tiles framed by Absinthe green glass surmounts the restored vintage stove. While the interiors showcase streamlined silhouettes and a neutral backdrop, Goetz and Wright favor whimsical pops of bold color.
To connect the second floor to the attic, Bernstein designed a sculptural winder staircase with glass guardrails crowned by a large skylight to illuminate the center of the home. It replaced a steep, unsafe staircase that did not meet the building code. The existing attic was a hodgepodge with uneven ceiling heights, awkward spaces, and a dated bathroom. Bernstein created a new floorplan with increased ceiling height where the stairwell bisects the third floor. She situated the family room west of the stairs with a view of the redwood tree, San Bruno Mountain, San Francisco Bay, and the urban landscape. To the east, Bernstein placed an ensuite guest bedroom and study.
“Between the family room and bedroom, a luminous oak and glass wall with glazed telescoping doors allows the spaces to be open or closed to each other,” says Bernstein. An indigo Chinese Art Deco rug inherited from Goetz’s family anchors the bedroom where the built-in headboard and desk optimize space; in the bathroom, a walk-in shower centers under a triangular window in the gable, framing the neighbor’s Victorian gable roof. A large skylight, reflective surfaces, textured glaucous wall tiles, and basalt-colored floor tiles make it a retreat for guests.
Mid-century, artisanal, and modern furnishings fill the Craftsman, accessorized with the couple’s Bay Area art, vintage Heath Ceramics, books, vinyl records, and family heirlooms. “Thomas and Whitney are my firm’s ideal clients,“ Bernstein declares. “Urbane, design-minded, unflashy, and nice.”
