 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.
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.
Haas-Lilienthal House
 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 two of the many included attractions with the Go San Francisco Card.
Spreckels Mansion
 The Spreckels Mansion, a French Baroque chateau at 2080 Washington Street in Pacific Heights, is made of white limestone and has 55 rooms, including a Louis XVI ballroom. Romance novelist Danielle Steele lives in the mansion which was built in 1913 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 an avid art collector.
Alma and Adolph donated the Palace of the Legion of Honor art museum to the City of San Francisco in 1924. Alma (along with her friends Sam Hill and Loie Fuller—"La Loie," the "Fée Lunineuse," or Fairy of Light as the French called her) was later instramental in the development of the Maryhill Museum in Washington State.
More Pacific Heights Victorians
There are many other houses of historical of architectural interest in Pacific Heights including two built in 1896, the Whittier Mansion at 2090 Jackson Street and the Bourn Mansion at 2550 Webster Street.
 The Whittier Mansion has an interesting history. One of the first residences in California to be be constructed of sandstone on a steel framwork it was built for William Frank Whittier. After his death in 1917 it eventually was sold to the government of the Third Reich in 1938 and served as the German Consulate until WWII.
The California Historical Society was headquartered in the Whittier Mansion untill they moved to SoMa in 1993 and the building returned to being a private residence.
 William B. Bourne commissioned Willis Polk to design the Pacific Heights mansion now known as the Bourne Mansion, Filoli — a country estate in Woodside, California — and reconstruction of the Flood Mansion after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire.
William Bowers Bourn II, with business interests in mining and utilities may have been the richest man in California, possibily even the world, at the time. The 14-bedroom, 4.5 bath home, now in need of major repair was put on the market in 2009.
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.
 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.
 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.
The Octagon House is now an historic house-museum of colonial decorative arts and documents.
 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.
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.
Pacific Heights Parks
 Alta Plaza Park and Lafayette Park provide tennis courts and a place to get some sun or enjoy the view.
Many more Pacific Heights and other San Francisco neighborhood Victorian homes and mansions are featured on my Historic San Francisco Victorian Mansions and Alamo Square pages. After you've taken a virtual tour of San Francisco on iNeTours.com you might want to take a real San Francisco Tour.
You can tour Pacific Heights with its colorful Victorian row houses, famous mansions and beautiful gardens on the Victorian Home Walk Tour.
Follow us on Twitter for updates, Photo-of-the-Day, more.
Complete site copyright © 2001–2010 Lee W. Nelson |
