Why not live in a clock tower overlooking San Francisco?

It might be in one of the least affordable cities in the world in real estate terms, but if we’re talking dream homes then this San Francisco apartment is a doozy.

It’s a penthouse loft in the Clock Tower Building at 461 Second Street, listed through Sotheby’s for $US8.5 million ($10.9 million).

It’s got a history, too. The building dates to 1907 and the tower was put up in 1921 for the Max Schmidt Lithograph Corporation – Schmidt wanted the penthouse so his lithographers could take advantage of the natural light.

Schmidt reportedly threatened to move his business to Oakland when the tower was to be demolished for building of the Bay Bridge in the 1930s. He got his way, the roadway was shifted and the tower remains there today.

Sadly the company didn’t. In 1993 the tower was remodelled by architect David Baker and the McKenzie, Rose, & Halliday development firm. Tom and Carol Burkhart, the current (and only owners), had been renovating over the road when the penthouse went on sale.

“We’d just sit there in our living room, salivating thinking it would be amazing to live in that tower,” Tom Burkhart told the SFGate. “And then it went on the market and then we went to the open house.” They redid the property again in 2013, and now they’re moving on.

So what does this loft come with? Two bedrooms, two bathrooms and 278 square metres of living space. There are hardwood and concrete floors, exposed brick walls and a wraparound deck, and maintenance of the tower and the clock is taken care of by the building’s homeowners’ association.

And the view – did we mention the view? Amazing.

The Clocktower, 461 Second Street. Photo: Sotheby’s International Realty/sothebyshomes.com

The Clocktower, 461 Second Street. Photo: Sotheby’s International Realty/sothebyshomes.com

The Clocktower, 461 Second Street. Photo: Sotheby’s International Realty/sothebyshomes.com