When Donald and Doris Fisher launched The Gap in 1974, Donald hired his younger brother Robert to build out the rapidly growing retail business. The younger Fisher’s swift rollout of Gap stores around the country, and later the world, brought him to the attention of other retailers. 

By the late 1990s, he was the largest retail tenant improvement contractor in the U.S. His company, Fisher Development, also built housing and skyscrapers. When he died in October at 94, his firm had constructed more than 1,000 homes and had a major impact on the San Francisco skyline.

Now the Russian Hill home Fisher built for himself and his wife, Ann, at 888 Francisco St. is up for sale for the first time, asking $17.25 million. 

Ann, a major supporter of SFMOMA, which famously houses some of her in-laws’ extensive art collection, died in 2014. After Robert’s death, their children decided to sell the three-bedroom, 6,500-square-foot home their parents built in 1998 as their empty-nester abode, according to listing agents Joseph Lucier and Stacey Caen. 

The Sotheby’s agents recently listed another custom-built home that had never hit the market, across from Alta Plaza Park atop Pacific Heights. 

“Unless you were friends with them, attended a dinner party or a fundraiser, nobody out there in the marketplace has visited these homes before,” Lucier said.

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Even with a $22.5 million asking price, the Pac Heights home received multiple offers within weeks and is now in contract. It’s possible some of the buyers who lost out on that modern property will turn their attention to the Fisher residence, given the lack of even relatively recent construction on the north side, the agents said. 

But generally, Russian Hill and Pac Heights buyers tend to be different breeds. 

“There’s a Russian Hill audience that would prefer not to live in Pacific Heights, and there’s a Pacific Heights audience that would prefer not to be in Russian Hill,” Lucier said. 

Pac Heights buyers tend to be more family-oriented and are attracted to the private schools and destination shopping strips in that neighborhood. Russian Hill is more urban and has a closer view of the Bay, especially the prime 800 block of Francisco. 

“It’s a really beautiful block with a lot of houses that have proper yards, and they’re all detached,” Caen said. “It’s a special street.” 

Caen led the three-month effort to bring the home — which has three bedrooms, four full baths, and two half baths — into the present day: lightening the floors, repainting most walls, and replacing light fixtures and hardware. The bones of the building, including the skylit central staircase, made it easy to update — and the attention to detail is no surprise, Caen said, given that it was built for and by a builder. 

Fisher’s favorite room was the lower-level media room with a terrace that the realtors referred to as “Club Bob.” It also got an overhaul, with the natural wood built-ins repainted a “sumptuous” dark gray, highlighting the bay views beyond a set of glass doors. 

“It’s the place where you want to be,” Lucier said. 

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Buyers seem to feel the same, clamoring for private tours within hours of the first brokers open house Tuesday. That’s just the speed the luxury market moves at these days, even around the $20 million price point, the agents said.

“If you’re not paying attention,” Caen said, “you’re going to miss out.”