Armistead Maupin's House Is For Sale

Last month I mentioned that one of San Francisco's most enduring icons will be moving to Santa Fe. On Sunday the Chronicle reported that his SF home is now on the market.

"I loved being able to write on that top floor and walk out on the deck and just stare into Sutro Forest," said Maupin, who penned three novels during his two-decade residence there, including the semiautobiographical "The Night Listener," which describes the house as "three narrow stories notched into the wooded slope." "The house has grown and changed organically over the years," Maupin said. "It feels like my handwriting all over the place. Whenever I got a check, if it was a good check, I could buy myself a door. (If smaller) I would buy, say, a doorknob - not just any old one, but a hammered copper doorknob from an artisan. "Many of my friends have visited me there over the years and their memory is stamped on it for me," he said. "People connected with the first 'Tales of the City' miniseries: Laura (Linney) and Olympia (Dukakis). Ian McKellen once stayed and left a note: 'Gandalf slept here with Magneto.' "I hope it goes to someone who loves it well and long as I have done."

At a website appropriately named Tales Of The City Home you can find a gorgeous slideshow of what $1.2M can get you in San Francisco these days. Of course, the home's legacy may have added something to that price.