Spreckels Mansion
Historic site · Pacific Heights, California
A three-storey house in the French Baroque chateau manner, completed around 1912 to 1913 for Adolph B. Spreckels to designs by George Adrian Applegarth (1876-1972) and Kenneth A. MacDonald Jr. of MacDonald & Applegarth. It faces Lafayette Park across Washington Street, behind a very tall hedge planted by the novelist Danielle Steel. It is San Francisco Landmark No. 197, designated on 9 June 1990. The house is a private residence and no source states opening hours, so none are given here.
History
The house is reported to have 55 rooms and a Louis XVI ballroom. Eight Victorian homes were moved to Jackson and Washington Streets to clear the combined lots. Alma de Bretteville Spreckels went to Europe to stock the house, met Auguste Rodin on the same trip and brought thirteen of his bronzes back for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition; the Rodin bronzes she brought back later inspired the creation of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. The exterior served as the nightclub in the 1957 film Pal Joey. The house was divided into apartments after 1968 and later restored to a single residence.
Visit
2080 Washington Street, San Francisco, CA 94109
Featured in these guides
More in Pacific Heights
- St. Dominic's Catholic Church · Historic site
- Swedenborgian Church · Attraction
- Talbot-Dutton House · Historic site
- The Real Estate Associates Houses · Historic site
- Tobin House · Historic site
- Webster Street Historic District · Historic site
- Whittier Mansion · Historic site
- William Vale House · Historic site