This place isn't sometimes referred to as the Parthenon of the West for nothing. The imposing Beaux Arts manse, which faces (or, shall we say, dominates) the north side of hilly Lafayette Park, was built in 1913 for the flamboyant Alma de Bretteville Spreckels and her sugar baron husband, Adolph. (It shouldn't be confused with that other Spreckels Mansion, the smaller, less grand abode built for Spreckels' kin, Richard, at 737 Buena Vista West in the Haight.) For the past two decades, the... More »
