The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-20
WHERE FRSCO'S RICH LIVED.
HOUSES AND ART TREASURES or
MOB HILL DESTROYED.
h stanford. Hopkins. Huntington and
CrOcker Mansions I'm h Fire swept
Distrlct-TwO OF Them Had Been Given
TO CALIFORNIA; Great Universities.

Mob Hill the people OF San Fran cisco
call that first rise to the long abrupt hill
which tops the city. Here. along two
blocks Of California street, in the frat flush
| of the wild middle period Of San Francisco
history, the Crpsuses of the time built
homes as pretentious as any in the country.
III luck seemed to follow them, In few
Of the houses did the owners live for more
| than a short time, and three of the greatest
have passed into the hands of public in
situations.
From the edge Of Chinatown, marked by
old st. Mary's Church, the California street
hill rises 30 abruptly that walking Is diff
cult, and the only common carrier which
can climb it is a San Francisco cable car.
At TAYLOR street it. ttTDs into a false. SUM-,
nit and the street runs about level for two
or three blocks. On the shoulder Of this
' hill stands the Stanford mansion, a square
three story house of gray stone, built by
Senator Stanford in the '70s. At the time
when he was United States Senator from
California he and Mrs. Stanfordl enter
tanned lavishly. Then followed the death
Of their son, the retirement of Mrs. STAN
ford from society and the founding Of the
Leland Stanford Junior University. After
1890 the house was hardly ever occupied,
the Stanfords living at their country estate
in Menlo Park or abroad. In her late life
Mrs. Stanford gave one or two receptions
there for the alumni and faculty Of Stan
ford.
When before her death Mrs. Stanford
turned over her whole property to the
university she gave this mansion too,
STIMULATING that she should have possession
of it during her lifetime. After that it
was TO be used as an allied college Of Stan
ford. The trustees had been debating
ever since her death Upon a proper Use for
it. The probability is that 1t would have
been used as the foundation of a medical
school, which Stanford now Il oks.
The next house up the street, and the
greatest of its time in San Francisco. was
the Mark Hopkins house. This, too, be-
!onged to a university, for in the last ten
years the University Of California has held
it as an art school. 1t was a great castle Of
dark gray stone which stood above the city
like q citadel.
1t occupied a block Of land OF its own,
and the fall Of the hill on that block is very
abrupt Below it on the lowest point Of the
land were the old stables, so set that a stone
thrown level from the lowest basement
door would fall on the roof of the stables.
Set on the side hill, it varied in height, but
on its highest side was five stories. 1t
was topped by a tower from which there
was q magnificent view on all sides Of San
Francisco Bay,
The Hopkinses never entertained so Law
ishly as the Stanfords. After the death of
Mark Hopkins his widow remarked, went
East, and finally, carrying out the wishes of
both her husbands, she gave the building to
the University of California as an art school.
In the basement and stables the university
has maintained the best art school In the
West. The house proper was used mainly
for galleries and loan exhibitions. There,
every year the Art Association gave a Mardi
Gras ball which was one of the great social
features of the San Francisco winter.
Just across the street from the Hopkins
and Stanford mansions stood the new
Paramount Hotel. When the Fair will con-
test was over, Mrs. W. Il. Vanderbilt. DR.,
and Mrs. Hermann Oelrichs, the principal
heirs, announced that they would not take
the money out of the West. In California
James Fair had made his millions, and in
California they should remain. Already
they owned great parts of the wholesale
district, now wiped clean by fire: and a
great part of the ready money they in
vested in the building Of this hotel,
1t was Of white stone, not high but broad,
and il stood on the corner of the hill, so that
in the panorama of the hills az one APP
preached on the bay this spot of white was
the first thing which caught the eye. 1t was
designed to accommodate about 500 guests
in a manner equalling the best that New York
could do. When it was started San Fran
cisco people shook their heads and said that
! it was a folly; yet so great has been the pros
perity of the city in the last year or two
and 80 great the demand for first class ac-
commodations that San Francisco men
we're preparing TO lease it and ofen it, and
we're even thinking about an addition.
Diagonally across the street from the
HOPKINS mansion stood the house OF Coils
p. Huntington, wide, substantial and ele-
giant. This shared the fate of the others
Huntington built it, lived in it a little time,
left il and came back only for an occasional
visit. In the end neither he nor his wife
cared for il. Huntington was not popular
in California in his later years, but when he
died he cast Goals of fire on his critics, for
he left the house to the people of San Fran
cisco for charity.
His widow and eXecutrix had the idea OF
making it a hospital for women, but nothing
had been decided and the house had stood
with drawn blinds since his death. Further
down the street were the residences OF
Henry and Will Crocker, In the latter was
the best art collection on the Pacific Coast
, since the dispersion of the collection of
Henry T. Scott. 1t includes-or included
: since it's fate is not k~nown-many fine Corots
and several canvases of Milet, including
the famous Man With a Hoe"
Grace Episcopal Church, the most fash
ionable in San Francisco and the city's best
example Of church architecture. stood Just
below Mob Hill, on the California street
line. The flames, in their way up the hill
must have taken this, too.
SALVATION ARMY SUFFERS.