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Mark Hopkins Mansion
San Francisco c.1880
San Francisco c.1880
Mark Hopkins, another of the legendary "Big Four" builders of the first transcontinental railroad, was a shopkeeper who came west at age 35 from New York. He was associated in business with Collis P. Huntington in Sacramento. They both became enormously rich and famous building the Central Pacific Railroad. Hopkins was convinced that Nob Hill, with its spectacular views in all directions. would be a good place to invest and to build a mansion. Wright & Saunders were the mansion's architects who created for Hopkins a huge and ornate, redwood stick-style Victorian with towers, goblets, and steeples. Some interior amenities were: a side drawing room, a dining room to seat 60, paneled in English oak, and a gentleman's library. Hopkins unfortunately died in 1879 before it was finished. His wife. Marv. who was America's richest widow, finished the mansion even though she owned others in New York City, Rhode Island, and in Massachusetts. She died in 1891. Afterward the residence became the first home of the San Francisco Art School.
Interior view of the Mark Hopkins mansion. The arrow in the bottom left corner points to a canvas painting. The painting is an oil portrait of Mark Hopkins that survived the Great Fire in 1906 and now hangs just inside the main entrance of the Big 4 Restaurant in the Huntington Hotel at 1075 California Street.
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