Event Designer and Decorator Ken Fulk’s House in San Francisco

Known for his exuberant style, the event designer and decorator embraces a handsome, rustic vibe at his Clarendon Heights home, where the stunning vistas steal the show


Event planner, interior designer, and bon vivant Ken Fulk is a master of maneuvering between the various spheres of San Francisco society, from blue bloods to newly minted Silicon Valley tech titans—and beyond. He can’t help but grin as he notes that his design studio was formerly a bondage-leather shop or recounts the time a few years ago when he infamously flew in burlesque performer Dita Von Teese to writhe around on a velvet-upholstered mechanical bull at a party for fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier. Indeed, the charismatic Fulk is known for bringing diverse groups together and making special things happen. In 2012 he orchestrated a Halloween fundraiser for the Strand Theater that shut down an entire city block for a four-course dinner and a private Stevie Nicks concert.

When it’s time to go home, though, the style maestro retreats to a perch above it all. “Welcome to my tree house!” he announces at the entrance gate to his hilltop residence in Clarendon Heights. It’s an appropriate description for the dwelling, considering it’s constructed largely of old-growth redwood and located in San Francisco’s highest neighborhood. Wearing a bow tie and a bespoke suit, Fulk leads a tour through his Zen-inspired garden and into the house, a 1950s design by prominent Bay Area modernist Warren Callister. The structure is composed of two perpendicular volumes topped by boatlike arched roofs. The smaller single-story section contains an office and bathroom, while the other features the bedrooms and entertaining spaces, including a dramatic triple-height great room where a 27-foot-tall window frames picturesque views of the city, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance.

The 3,200-square-foot house was commissioned by Dr. Cloyce Duncan, a former head of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. As with a number of residences designed by Callister, it blends midcentury modernism and traditional Japanese elements.

In 2011 Fulk learned that Duncan’s widow, Gwendolyn Evans, was considering selling the house and arranged for a walk-through. Intrigued by his initial daytime visit, he requested to return and see it at night, and he found himself sitting in the great room in silence for an hour. “San Francisco looked like Oz down below,” he says with a sigh. “I thought, I am supposed to buy this house.” Not that it would be that simple.

Evans announced that she was seeking a buyer who would fully respect the home’s integrity. So Fulk embarked on a letter-writing campaign to assure her that he and his husband, Kurt Wootton, a classically trained pianist, would be gracious custodians. “I told her the house had a soul and was meant to be this way,” he says. “It’s an architectural jewel.”

Duly convinced, Evans sold to Fulk in late 2011, and soon afterward the decorator began a sensitive update, restoring original materials—wood, glass, concrete—and undertaking modest changes that remained true to the spirit of Callister’s design. Matching redwood was brought in to replace linoleum floors and aluminum door frames, while he took out the kitchen’s redwood island and installed a larger concrete version and refurbished the wood-burning stove. “In 50 years they hadn’t changed a thing—not a hook, not a single knob, nothing,” he says. “They treated it like a museum, and rightfully so.”

Known for his use of vibrant colors and eye-catching accents, Fulk reined in his flair here, emphasizing subtle textures, richly veined stone, and objects with bold character and patina. He did allow himself a few flourishes, including several of his hallmark taxidermy animal heads. (Most come from the famed Paris shop Deyrolle, which sells vintage mounts and ones made from animals that died in zoos, circuses, or game reserves.)

Fulk’s favorite piece of furniture is the office’s daybed. It was designed by Callister for Duncan’s patients to use when they saw him at the house, and Evans gifted it to Fulk. “But now, of course, it sports a leopard-print mattress and bolsters,” he notes.

To store his extensive wardrobe, Fulk transformed the guest room into a walk-in closet. Instead of hanger rails, his clothes—which are kept in individual monogrammed garment bags—are hung on racks that he converted from British Colonial hospital screens sourced in Mumbai. Vintage retail displays featuring glass-front compartments contain his shoes and stacks of perfectly folded shirts. “I get dressed up every day,” he explains. “It’s part of my gig.”

Fulk oversees a staff of 48 employees at his studio (in the South of Market neighborhood), which he refers to as “the magic factory.” He has cast his spells all over the Bay Area and beyond, designing two of San Francisco’s latest hot spots: the Cavalier, an English-themed restaurant, and the Battery, a private club where Fulk serves as creative director. And last summer he collaborated with event designer Preston Bailey on the high-profile wedding of social-media entrepreneur Sean Parker and singer Alexandra Lenas, conjuring the ambience of a medieval fairy tale—the 350-plus guests wore outfits specially made by the costume designer of the Lord of the Rings trilogy—in the woods of Big Sur. “It was the most beautiful event I’ve ever witnessed,” Fulk says. “It brought tears to your eyes.”

When it comes to entertaining at his own home, Fulk keeps things low-key, never inviting more than eight people for dinner. After meals the group typically decamps to the great room, where, seated around the fireplace, they can talk and gaze out on the glittering city lights below. The scene always reminds Fulk of the last thing Evans said in the letter she wrote to him agreeing to sell the house. ” ‘Welcome to the highest point in San Francisco’ was the final line,” he recalls, before adding, “Isn’t it fabulous up here?”