Spreckels Mansion, French Baroque mansion in Pacific Heights, San Francisco, US

The Spreckels Mansion is a residential building in Pacific Heights, San Francisco, constructed in French Baroque style using limestone. The property contains 55 rooms, including a Louis XVI ballroom and a round observatory that offers wide views across the bay.

Between 1912 and 1913, sugar industrialist Adolph Spreckels commissioned the estate, combining several plots and relocating eight Victorian houses. After 1968, the building was divided into four separate residential units, until it was later restored as a single residence.

The mansion's name comes from Adolph B. Spreckels, son of sugar magnate Claus Spreckels, who bought the lot as a Christmas gift for his wife Alma de Bretteville. Alma furnished the house with 18th-century antiques gathered in Europe and brought 13 Rodin bronzes to San Francisco for the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition. The facade's carved figure groups and balustraded parapet are details to look for.

The mansion stands at 2080 Washington Street, across from Lafayette Park, and is a private residence not open to the public. A tall hedge planted by owner Danielle Steel largely blocks the facade from the street, so the building is best seen from the park side or in photographs.

The original collection of Rodin bronze sculptures that Alma Spreckels brought from Europe in 1915 no longer remains in the house. These works later formed the core of the French collection at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor.