Algeria apparently opened a consulate at 465 California Street last December and may use this property as a consulate. Interesting geopolitically, as I don't think of Algeria as being connected to California in the present day or historically.
By Laura Waxmann, Staff Writer March 12, 2026
After more than two years on and off the market, one of Pacific Heights’ most recognizable historic mansions has finally found a buyer — the government of Algeria.
Public records show that the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria finalized a deal Tuesday to purchase 2800 Pacific Ave. for just under $10 million. The deal marks one of the rare occasions in recent years that a foreign government has stepped into San Francisco’s luxury housing market — and closes the chapter on the property’s prolonged sale that involved a series of price cuts.
The 127-year-old, 8,200-square-foot mansion by architect Ernest Coxhead, often referred to as both the “Coxhead Mansion” and “Herbst Manor” — a hat tip to onetime owners Adrian and Lee Herbst Gruhn — is renowned for its stately architecture and commanding views of the city. Its original owner, wealthy art collector Sarah Spooner, assembled the lots and hired the “starchitect” to create the opulent home.
Years ago, the home won the admiration of famed Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, who described 2800 Pacific as the city’s “most iconic” mansion.
Exclusive: Foreign government buys San Francisco’s ‘most iconic’ mansion
Greg
Quick and Dirty
After more than two years on and off the market, one of Pacific Heights’ most recognizable historic mansions has finally found a buyer — the government of Algeria.
Public records show that the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria finalized a deal Tuesday to purchase 2800 Pacific Ave. for just under $10 million. The deal marks one of the rare occasions in recent years that a foreign government has stepped into San Francisco’s luxury housing market — and closes the chapter on the property’s prolonged sale that involved a series of price cuts.
The 127-year-old, 8,200-square-foot mansion by architect Ernest Coxhead, often referred to as both the “Coxhead Mansion” and “Herbst Manor” — a hat tip to onetime owners Adrian and Lee Herbst Gruhn — is renowned for its stately architecture and commanding views of the city. Its original owner, wealthy art collector Sarah Spooner, assembled the lots and hired the “starchitect” to create the opulent home.
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A hand-sketched drawing of the Palace of Fine Arts at the top of the front stairwell in the Herbst Manor in 2012.
Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle
Years ago, the home won the admiration of famed Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, who described 2800 Pacific as the city’s “most iconic” mansion.
But the property struggled to sell since it was first listed for sale in late 2023 by its most recent owners, Ken McNeely and Inder Dhillon, for roughly $15 million. That pricing was lowered multiple times in subsequent months, landing at $11.9 million in the summer of 2024. The home was withdrawn from the market in December of that year, and relisted in March 2025 for $10.9 million.
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Charles McCabe, a San Francisco commercial real estate broker familiar with the area who has been tracking 2800 Pacific’s sale, said that should the mansion be used as a consulate the property would enjoy sovereign immunity, meaning it would likely be protected from most lawsuits or access by local law enforcement.
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Notably, the Algerian Embassy opened a consulate in San Francisco in December, in a space it leases at 465 California St. A representative of the consulate did not immediately respond to questions about 2800 Pacific from the Chronicle.
Daria Saraf, a realtor with Sotheby’s who represented Algeria in the 2800 Pacific deal, also helped its government lease the California Street space, which she said is being used as a temporary consulate while it is searching for a permanent home.
Saraf said Algeria currently has an embassy in Washington, D.C., and a large Algerian population in the western part of the country, particularly in California, that has until now been underserved.
“They wanted to open a consulate here because we are the hub of technology, and they have a lot of natural resources, rare minerals and oil, used for the technology of the future,” Saraf said. “They also want to start getting up to speed on the tech world and become a more connected force in the global economy.”
She said the buyers were drawn to 2800 Pacific because it is a “classical” property that can be used to “entertain in a gracious way.”
“They loved the historical nature and doing something deeply San Franciscan,” she said.