Haas-Lilienthal House

The Haas-Lilienthal House at 2007 Franklin Street in Pacific Heights is a Queen Anne mansion built in 1886 for German-born merchant William Haas and is the last intact, fully furnished Victorian house open as a museum in San Francisco. It is one of the few large Victorian homes in the area to survive the 1906 earthquake and fire. The family lived in the house for decades, and after the Haas and Lilienthal descendants gave it to a preservation group, it became a museum. The exterior shows typical Queen Anne features: a prominent corner tower, steep gables, a wraparound porch, decorative shingles and wood ornament. Inside, docent-led tours move through the entry hall, parlors, dining room, kitchen, and the family's upstairs rooms, which retain period furniture, wallpapers, household objects and the family's own belongings, so the tour is immersive rather than gallery-based. A visit conveys how a prosperous San Francisco family lived at the turn of the 20th century, with details of servants' work, cooking and daily routine. The house has been maintained by the nonprofit San Francisco Heritage, which has conducted painting, roof and structural work to preserve it. Public tours are docent-led, held on select Saturdays at noon, 1:00 and 2:00 PM, with an adult ticket about $10 (USD); the schedule is posted at haas-lilienthalhouse.org. The house also hosts events, and tours are a good fit for visitors interested in architecture. Pacific Heights has many other grand houses, and the neighborhood's hilly streets and views reward a walk after the tour. Tours take roughly an hour and involve stairs. The house is among the few remaining places where visitors can see how an upper-middle-class immigrant merchant family arranged its rooms, including the kitchen, pantry, bedrooms and bath, and the guided format lets docents explain objects, family stories and the architectural features that distinguish the Queen Anne style from neighboring Italianate and Stick-style homes.