Nicole Hollis painted the house she bought in San Francisco in black, inside and out, and people were shocked when she painted it black. It was a bold decision to renovate a house with a beige facade in the 1870s that was darkened to the current black facade. Benjamin Moore's black asphalt is painted on the exterior of the building, as dark as its name suggests, but oddly, it reinforces the ornate facade of italianate architecture rather than obscuring it. Like a passenger on a tour bus when he sees the house, Hollis' youngest daughter remains unconvinced and asks why it can't be pink.

Today, the house is owned by one of the Top designers in the San Francisco Bay Area, and its former owner, Julia Morgan, was the first female graduate of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts school in Paris and the first female architect in California. She made the Pacific Heights property her home from the 1920s until her death in 1957, dividing it and an adjoining house into apartments and work areas. Nicole Hollis and her husband, Lewis Heathcote, the CEO of her company, were so intrigued by that history that they bought the house and preserved as much detail as possible.

The transaction is complicated by the fact that the house's penthouse is still occupied. An 82-year-old woman lived there for 23 years, and while other bidders tried to evict her, Nicole Hollis and her husband did not. After she moved, her apartment was incorporated into Nicole Hollis and her husband's plan to create a home for them and their two children.

Hollis's aesthetic is modern, Lewis's is very minimalist, but they can't ignore the house itself. Strong but simple forms proved to be the best. Most of the interior walls are painted white, which enhances the light coming in through the tall Windows on three sides of the house. Most of the floors are made of long barn boards, very rustic.