Haas-Lilienthal House

A Queen Anne mansion in San Francisco is featured.

The Gold Rush had turned San Francisco into a thriving seaport by the mid 1880s. The city was the perfect place for an ambitious young man from Germany named William Hass. He had hoped to make a fortune in gold but instead found success in the wholesale grocery business.

Haas had achieved his goal by his late 20s when he moved into a grand Victorian mansion built in the Queen Anne style. He paid $18,000 for the home at a time when the average price for a house was about $700.

The main hall featured an elaborate oak staircase and warm woods were used liberally throughout the house. The home barely avoided destruction after the 1906 earthquake when fires that ravaged the city were stopped just a block away.