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Pacific Heights was little more than sandy hills with beautiful views of the Golden Gate, Alcatraz and Marin until cable car lines connected the area to downtown in the 1870's — first on Clay then California with a Washington Street line added in 1887.

The well-to-do built extravagant dwellings here rivaling those on nearby Nob Hill. Rescued from destruction in the 1906 earthquake and fire by the sacrifice of many stately homes on Van Ness Avenue, Pacific Heights today is an architectural museum of 19th century Victorian mansions and upscale restaurants.

The Haas-Lilienthal House at 2007 Franklin Street — built entirely of redwood and typical of the Queen Anne style which dominated San Francisco residential architecture in the 1890's complete with authentic furniture, wooden gables and a circular corner tower — is open regularly as a museum. It was built in 1886 for William Hass, a Bavarian Jew who emigrated to San Francisco in the 1860's, started out in the grocery business and expanded into mining.

The 11,500-square foot Victorian was considered a standard middle-class home when Haas purchased the land for $13,500 and built the house for $17,500. The Haas Lilienthal House was given to the city by the two original Jewish families who lived there from 1886 until 1972.

A Pacific Heights Walking Tour and admission to the Haas-Lilienthal House are just two of the many things you get with the Go San Francisco Card.

The Dodge Mansion was once located at 2129 Laguna Street, across from Lafayette Park. The home had been owned by Dr. Washington Dodge during a very colorful period of San Francisco history. Dodge, his wife and son were survivors of the Titanic sinking.

Romance novelist Danielle Steele lives in the 1913 Spreckels Mansion at 2080 Washington Street which was built for the bride of sugar heir Adolph Spreckels. Alma deBretteville Spreckels, who had posed for the statue at the top of the Dewey Monument in Union Square and married Adolph Spreckels when he was twice her age — was and avid art collector. The two of them donated the Palace of the Legion of Honor art museum to the City of San Francisco in 1924. Alma was later involved with the Maryhill Museum in Washington State.

The Spreckels Mansion is made of white limestone and has 55 rooms, including a Louis XVI ballroom.

There are many other houses of historical or architectural interest in Pacific Heights including the 1896 Whittier Mansion at 2090 Jackson Street and the Bourn Mansion at 2550 Webster Street — a four-story Victorian mansion with 30 rooms and three Queen Anne towers built from an unusual combination of brick, wood and red sandstone. The mansion was designed by Willis Polk for the head of what is now Pacific Gas & Electric. William Bowers Bourn II may have been the richest man in California at the time this Pacific Heights mansion was built.

Other historically interesting buildings include the 1890 Queen Anne Victorian houses at 2019, 2021 and 2023 Pacific and the 1859 Octagon House at 2645 Gough — now an historic house-museum of colonial decorative arts and documents. The design of the Octagon House was based on a popular theory of the mid-1800s that people living in a space of this shape would live healthier, happier lives.

Predominately a residential neighborhood, Pacific Heights is also home to private schools and finishing schools. Fillmore serves as the neighborhood shopping and dining street and hosts the annual Fillmore Street Jazz Festival in July.

Many International Consulates are located in San Francisco and several including the Consulate Generals of Russia, Greece, Egypt, Vietnam and Italy are in Pacific Heights.

Alta Plaza Park and Lafayette Park provide tennis courts and a place to sun or enjoy the view. Pacific Heights is roughly the area bordered by Van Ness Avenue to the east, Vallejo to the north, Pine to the south and the Presidio to the west.

Many more Pacific Heights and other San Francisco neighborhood Victorian homes and mansions are featured on my Historic San Francisco Victorian Mansions page. After you've taken a virtual tour of San Francisco on iNeTours.com you might want to take a real San Francisco Tour.