Spreckels Mansion was built c.1912–1913 and is a French Classical mansion located in the

Pacific Heights Pacific Heights is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. It has panoramic views of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay, the Palace of Fine Arts, Alcatraz, and the Presidio. The Pacific Heights Residents Association defines the neig ...

neighborhood at 2080 Washington Street in San Francisco, California. The three-story mansion is in a French Baroque Chateau-style, designed by George Adrian Applegarth (1876–1972) and Kenneth A. MacDonald Jr. (of MacDonald & Applegarth firm), and built by businessman

Adolph B. Spreckels Adolph Bernard Spreckels (January 5, 1857 – June 28, 1924) was a California businessman who ran Spreckels Sugar Company and who donated the California Palace of the Legion of Honor art museum to the city of San Francisco in 1924. His wife Alm ...

. It is listed as city landmark No. 197.

History

Adolph B. Spreckels was the son of sugar tycoon

Claus Spreckels Adolph Claus J. Spreckels (July 9, 1828 – December 26, 1908) (his last name has also been misspelled as Spreckles) was a major industrialist in Hawai'i during the kingdom, republican and territorial periods of the islands' history. He also i ...

; he had helped expand the sugar business to Hawaii and Salinas. Adolph married Alma de Bretteville on May 11, 1908; she was many years younger than he was. The property for the Spreckels Mansion was bought by Adolph as a Christmas gift for his wife Alma; they had been living in

Sausalito Sausalito (Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge. Sausalito's p ...

. To build the mansion they combined several prime lots, and eight Victorian homes were moved to Jackson and Washington Streets. The house was speculated to have cost around $1,000,000 to build in 1913 (equivalent to $ million in ) and took two years to complete. At the time it was built, six counties were visible from the mansion's circular

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

: (San Mateo County, Santa Clara County, Alameda County, Contra Costa County and Marin County). There are still views of the San Francisco Bay from the mansion, and it is located across the street from Lafayette Park. After the Spreckels Mansion was built, Alma went to Europe to stock the new house with 18th-century antiques. On this same trip Alma met with

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

and brought 13 of his bronze sculptures to San Francisco for the 1915

Panama Pacific International Exposition Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cost ...

, which later inspired the creation of the

California Palace of the Legion of Honor The Legion of Honor, formally known as the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, is an art museum in San Francisco, California. Located in Lincoln Park, the Legion of Honor is a component of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, which a ...

. The suite for

Alma de Bretteville Spreckels Alma de Bretteville Spreckels (March 24, 1881 – August 7, 1968) was a wealthy socialite and philanthropist in San Francisco, California. She was known both as "Big Alma" (she was tall) and "The Great Grandmother of San Francisco". Among her ma ...

featured

Louis XIV furniture Louis XIV furniture was massive and lavishly covered with sculpture and ornament of gilded bronze in the earlier part of the personal rule of King Louis XIV of France (1660–1690). After about 1690, thanks in large part to the furniture designer A ...

and the suite for Adolph Spreckels featured

Colonial Georgian Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, Georg ...

furniture. The home reportedly features 55 rooms and a Louis XVI ballroom. Adolph Spreckels died on June 28, 1924, and Alma inherited his empire and the mansion. Alma died in 1968, leaving the house to her two daughters. After 1968, the mansion was divided into four units.

Danielle Steel Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel (born August 14, 1947) is an American writer, best known for her romance novels. She is the bestselling author alive and the fourth-bestselling fiction author of all time, with over 800 million ...

purchased the property and restored it to a single family residence. Steel added a very tall hedge in front of the mansion blocking the architecture, for the sake of privacy.

References

{{Authority control San Francisco Designated Landmarks Houses in San Francisco 1912 establishments in California Mansions

History

See also

References