How likely is it that this brace was formerly hidden inside a wall, only to be opened up later?
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Seconded!
Also, bit of a tangent: at one place I worked at ages ago they went through an unusual amount of urinal cakes in one particular loo. All sorts of theories were developed; one of then being that somebody kept confusing the cakes with lozenges.
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Yeah, it’s the most lazy fucking approach possible. That they didn’t even bother to try to take it into account when designing the space suggests that no design work was done at all that was specific to that space. That further suggests that nothing about the place is well thought out or designed/built with any care. It’s probably the kind of building that starts having horrendous problems after a couple years because everything was so shoddily designed and built.
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My best guess is that if the beam were walled in, a quirk of SF Building Code would prevent them from describing the kitchen as 7’ X 13’. Leaving the beam exposed is an opportunity to post nicer-sounding dimensions. The brace might even be an obstacle which makes the apt not be handicapped-accessible, but if it is earthquake-abatement there might be an exception in code… It’s got to be something funny like that.
Oh and WOW. Out of the whole huge city, I’ve seen this very block on Google Street View before. I was looking at DNA Lounge next door just last year!
Here’s the slice of the building which the apt occupies; it seems they sliced those rooftop buildings into as many “sitting rooms” as they could:
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For selling to Trekkies^H^H^H Star Trek Enthusiasts?
“Beam Me Up, Scotty…”
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Lol that’s a service walkway!
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Nah, they did it like this because they know some sap who is desperate for a cool apartment in SF is going to buy it, but the audience would be massively reduced if you walled in / etc, and they weren’t going to spend the cash re-beaming.
They’re also laughing, trust me.
In a way this is wonderful. SF is becoming Sodom. Don’t look back.
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Well, at least it’s not in an incredibly inconvenient place that forces you to deal with it constantly.
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Shite, I can’t even afford the HOA fees…
Maybe the new owner will just cut the beam out anyway 
Many of whom have spent so much time working on large scale buildings that they assume the structural components are neatly tucked away, and that most walls are non-structural. My wife wanted to take out a number of walls in the 1930 house we bought in 2000. Fortunately an engineer we hired told us that absolutely every wall is structural.
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Disclosure: civil engineer here, started my working life as a structural engineer.
Few architects have a valid concept of what is and is not a load-bearing or bracing element.
A lot of them think they do.
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A million bucks and they couldn’t use a counter-depth fridge? Look at that crap!
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…beams transecting living spaces.
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All things serve the beam.
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Yes, yes, that beam. But WAT ABOUT THAT PAINTING.
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Give it a name; it’s still a ridiculous price for that unit.
My ‘smarter than thou’ artist neighbor took out a load bearing wall in his house. I said nothing. A year later I asked about the cracking plaster in the middle of the living room ceiling, where the beam that carried the upstairs was starting to sag more than a little bit. Probably ruined his house, but some people you just have to let be incorrect.
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I’d say that they know that someone desperate is going to buy it, so they don’t have to exert any resources in designing or building it. That’s the thing about this housing market - over and over I see sellers throw any old shit up for sale at ridiculous prices, knowing someone will buy it. New housing is the worst because the builders know this is the case, so a cheap, thoughtless standardized approach is common.
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