Situated on a sloping site in Pacific Heights overlooking the San Francisco Bay, Erich Mendelsohn’s Russell House is L-shaped, with its plan made up of two interlocking wings framing a courtyard. The main wing is raised off the ground one story, supported on slender columns. Approached from the street via a series of small stepped courts, the house appears gradually as one reaches the courtyard. The courtyard continues under the raised main wing, dramatically opening out to views of the San Francisco Bay. Long expanses of ribbon windows, building elements raised off the ground plane on piloti, and the interplay of simple, rectilinear forms place this work solidly in the European modernist tradition. Circular elements such as the gravity-defying cylindrical master bedroom bay window precariously balanced on a single column, the circular open staircase, the metal railing sections which curve outward, and use of porthole windows are typical of Mendelsohn’s expressionistic style. What marks this work as belonging to the region, however, is the use of redwood siding, delicately tapered wood trellises cantilevered over the balconies and delineating the courtyard, and lush plantings. The Russell House is Mendelsohn’s only intact San Francisco project, and the introduction of regional characteristics also makes it a unique work in Mendelsohn’s repertoire.