Shelter at Home? Why One Designer Willingly Retreated to Belvedere Island.
When San Francisco issued its shelter-in-place order during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, designer Paul Vincent Wiseman — founder of The Wiseman Group — left his Potrero Hill offices in an Italianate Victorian and retreated to his Mediterranean-style villa and gardens on Belvedere Island.
Built in 1912 as a summer cottage for Dr. Florence Nightingale Ward, the house sits atop a ridge with sweeping water views of neighboring Angel Island, and the vast San Francisco Bay.
Ward, a pioneering surgeon, obstetrician, and homeopath, was a close friend of Julia Morgan. A rough sketch rendered by the legendary architect may have inspired the residence.
That Morgan contributed to the house’s design seems likely to Wiseman. “It would be similar to my sketching an interior for a friend’s home,” he explained. The villa showcases the architect’s love of Italian elements including Doric columns, a loggia, and a pergola. Wiseman and his partner, attorney Richard Neil Snyder, purchased the property in 1998 when it required extensive repairs, but they did not restore it until 2007. “We needed to live there and let the house tell its story. We realized the layout was perfect the way it was, with great light and ventilation,” he said. Retaining the villa’s original floor plan, Wiseman repaired, reinforced, and restored, replacing materials only where necessary.
After living on the property for over two decades, the pandemic presented new possibilities. Wiseman’s attention turned to the downstairs study and guest suite, which became his satellite office. To assist with the refurbishing, he enlisted the TWG staff: Associate Design Directors Luis Alves and Megan Munoz, and Architect Michael Mullin. Wiseman designed a streamlined combined writing desk and conference table, which C. Mariani fabricated in faded walnut to resemble the Italian finishes of the 1940’s. The team added skeletal Gaulino armchairs and a sculptural Noguchi pendant light for a designated workspace and meeting area.
While changing the function of the space, the designer also wanted to alter the color palette from a pale sunlight to a brown-green gleaned from his collection of period Wedgwood drabware. Wiseman commissioned decorative artist James Stancil to color-match a drabware bowl from Bill Blass’s estate for a high-gloss paint finish applied to the ceiling and millwork.
Sandra Jordan developed a Prima Alpaca Bouclé in the same color for upholstery on a Jens Risom chair and ottoman. The book-lined room, with collections of minerals, fossils, antique tortoiseshell tea caddies, and vintage painted coral specimens, provided the perfect Wunderkammer backdrop for Zoom calls.
When Wiseman first restored the property, he hoped to add a kitchen to the downstairs guest suite, but zoning regulations at the time prevented it. Under the new ADU guidelines, the design team transformed a former closet into a well-appointed kitchenette, while guests repurpose the conference table for dining. In the bedroom, Wiseman carried the brown-green palette across upholstered walls and a bed dressed in shimmering Prima Alpaca.
Outside, meditative gardens—tended by the designer for more than twenty-five years—beckon. Although Wiseman now walks the same paths once trodden by Dr. Florence Nightingale Ward, had she lived to see them now she would barely recognize their carefully considered opulence
Photos by Matthew Millman
