Archbishop's Mansion, Second French Empire mansion in Alamo Square, San Francisco, United States
The Archbishop's Mansion is a three-story French-style house in San Francisco featuring ornate fireplaces, French doors, and a grand redwood staircase inside. Today it houses 13 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms and serves as a workspace for technology startups.
The house was built in 1904 for Patrick Riordan, the second Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco, and survived the 1906 earthquake without damage. Its solid construction allowed it to weather the disaster when many other buildings across the city were destroyed.
The mansion shows how wealthy religious leaders lived in early 20th century San Francisco, standing prominently on Alamo Square's elegant street. Its design reflects the Catholic Church's influence on the city's development during that era.
The mansion is located on Alamo Square and is easily visible from the street, with good views of the surrounding Victorian architecture. The interior is generally not open to visitors, but the exterior offers photo opportunities and a sense of the building's grandeur from outside.
The building combines wood frame construction with steel beams, an unusual building approach for San Francisco homes of that era. This mix of traditional and modern construction methods helped it survive the destructive 1906 earthquake.
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