Huntington Park
San Francisco California
When you are in San Francisco, it’s a good bet you are going to want to ride on the Cable Cars. If you are lucky enough to ride the California Street line (catch it at the three-way intersection of Market, California, and Drumm for the most picturesque ride), be sure and jump off at Taylor Street and rest for a moment in Huntington Park.
Most of the mansions on the top of Nob Hill were made of wood, and burned in the fire after the Great Earthquake of 1906. Arabella Huntington, widow of railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington, donated the park land where their white wood mansion stood to the City of San Francisco in perpetuity as a park. This site became what is now Huntington Park.
Huntington Park’s flowered square’s centerpiece in the Fountain of the Tortoises, is based on the Italian fontana delle tartarughe. Huntington Park is ringed by some of San Francisco's landmark hotels, including the Stanford Court, the Mark Hopkins, the Huntington, the Ritz Carlton, and the Fairmont. The Fairmont Hotel and the Connecticut Brownstone mansion now housing the Pacific Union Club were the only two structures on the hill to completely survive the fires of 1906.
Right across Taylor Street is Grace Cathedral, built on property donated by the Crocker family after their estate burned in 1906. This breathtaking historic structure’s indoor and outdoor labyrinths, stained glass, and 15th century bronze “Doors of Paradise” depicting scenes from the Old Testament fire the imagination of the faithful and the curious alike.
Huntington Park San Francisco
San Francisco Hotels, Restaurant & Attractions