Haas-Lilienthal House: the Pacific Heights Victorian that watched the 1906 fire stop a few blocks away

At 2007 Franklin Street in Pacific Heights stands one of the rarest things in San Francisco: a grand Victorian home that is open to the public with much of its furniture still inside. It is the Haas-Lilienthal House, and it is the only intact Victorian private home in the city that is regularly open as a museum.

A merchant's mansion

William Haas came to San Francisco from Reckendorf, Bavaria, in 1868 and quickly became a successful businessman. In 1880 he married Bertha Greenebaum, whose family also came from Bavaria. In 1886 the couple hired architect Peter R. Schmidt to build a home for them and their three children, Florine, Charles and Alice. In 1928 architect Gardner Dailey added living quarters over a garage.

The 1906 story

The earthquake did only minor damage to the house, but the fire that followed was the real danger. The family watched it from their roof until city authorities ordered them out. Like many San Franciscans, they camped in Lafayette Park, the closest park. Three days after the quake, the fire was stopped at Van Ness Avenue, just a few blocks east, and the house survived.

From home to museum

Three generations of the Haas and Lilienthal families lived there. Alice Haas-Lilienthal died in 1972 after nearly 80 years in the house. The next year her children gave it to what is now San Francisco Heritage, the city's architectural preservation nonprofit, which keeps its offices in the building. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, became a San Francisco Landmark in 1975 and was named a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2012. SF Heritage has said it draws more than 6,500 visitors a year.

The tour

Volunteer docents lead tours that start in the basement ballroom. They continue through the first floor and part of the second, including the main bedroom, another bedroom, a nursery and a bathroom. Check SF Heritage's website for current tour days and prices before you go. Afterward, walk two blocks to Lafayette Park, where the family waited out the fire in 1906.