Tech

Take a tour of San Francisco's 'Billionaires' Row,' where old money and tech execs collide

Madeline Stone

2016-01-29T17:05:09Z

Billionaires Row San Francisco Pacific heights (1 of 1) 16 — A home in San Francisco's Pacific Heights neighborhood. Robert Johnson for Business Insider

When the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire wiped the city clean, the wealthy stood around the burned rubble of their Nob Hill homes and took a cool, hard look at San Francisco Bay. The best view in the city was in Pacific Heights, and with that swath of real estate now up for grabs, the big money built there and settled in.

Through the Great Depression and both world wars, the residents of Pacific Heights built mansions in an ex-frontier town that now has a median sale price of more than $1.12 million, according to Trulia.

Today's buyers have given this slice of San Francisco the name "Billionaire's Row." And those billionaires include a lot of tech names mingling with San Francisco's "Old Money" crowd — Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, Apple design genius Jony Ive, and Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, just to name a few.

Pacific Heights sits atop a series of steep hills in the northern part of San Francisco.

Billionaires Row San Francisco Pacific heights (1 of 1) 20

In the years after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, many of the city's wealthiest residents moved from tony Nob Hill to Pacific Heights, forever changing the face of the neighborhood.

Billionaires Row San Francisco Pacific heights (1 of 1) 37

Pacific Heights has been an elite enclave of moneyed families ever since. The Gettys and the Trainas are just a few of the names who have ruled the Pacific Heights roost for decades.

Billionaires Row San Francisco Pacific heights (1 of 1) 30

William P. Getty, grandson of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, and his wife Vanessa listed their 8,675-square-foot home for $15.9 million in May 2014. After a few price chops, it eventually sold for $12.5 million in July 2015.

Source: Realtor.com

In May 2015, chef Roxanne Klein and serial entrepreneur Michael Klein sold their massive, 16,000-square-foot home for $31 million. It had been the priciest listing in all of San Francisco for seven months.

"My aspiration for my good friends is that they all love their homes," Traina told Vanity Fair in 2013. "And selfishly it's wonderful to have so much incredible magical brainpower nearby."

Billionaires Row San Francisco Pacific heights (1 of 1) 12

Source: Vanity Fair

Traina is said to reside in this stunning Georgian home that dates back to 1905. He and his wife reportedly bought the home for a whopping $35 million under trust in 2013, though at one point the rumor mill was swirling that Marissa Mayer was the real buyer. Mayer denied the rumor.

Billionaires Row San Francisco Pacific heights (1 of 1) 17

Sources: Business Insider, Business Insider

Zynga founder and CEO Mark Pincus and his wife, One Kings Lane founder Alison Pincus, moved into the neighborhood in 2012, buying a home on Pacific Avenue for $16 million. Two years later, he put it up for sale for $18 million, though the listing was later taken down.

Source: Business Insider

Apple executive Jony Ive reportedly bought a stunning home on Billionaires' Row for $17 million in 2012. The home was originally listed for $25 million.

Source: WSJ

Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman is also said to own a home in this hilly but exclusive neighborhood.

Billionaires Row San Francisco Pacific heights (1 of 1) 13

This house at 2724 Pacific Avenue once belonged to Doug Engmann, the former chairman of the Pacific Stock Exchange. The Pacific Exchange was founded in 1882 and was one of the more distinguished San Francisco institutions for generations.

Billionaires Row San Francisco Pacific heights (1 of 1) 31

The house sold for just under $24 million in March 2015, one of the city's biggest for the year. The buyer is still a mystery, concealed by an LLC.

Billionaires Row San Francisco Pacific heights (1 of 1) 33

Source: Curbed SF

A stone's throw away from the former stock-exchange chairman's home, Oracle founder Larry Ellison owns this $40 million home. In 2011, several news outlets reported that Ellison planned to buy the home next door, but the sale never happened.

Legendary VC Ron Conway listed his full-floor apartment on Washington Street for $9.5 million in early 2014. Conway hosted gatherings featuring a wide array of tech A-listers here, including Mayer and Twitter cofounder Biz Stone.