Nob Hill:
Bonanza Kings and the 1906 Fire Line
The hilltop where the railroad and silver barons built their mansions in the 1870s and 80s. The 1906 fire burned almost all of them; the hotels and cathedral that replaced them define the hill today. Six stops cover the survivors and the replacements.
Machinery at the bottom, money at the top.
The tour starts downhill at the working powerhouse that pulls every cable car in the city, climbs one steep block to the summit cluster of the Fairmont, the Mark Hopkins, and the Flood Mansion, then crosses Huntington Park to Grace Cathedral. Under a mile total. Allow about 90 minutes, more if you ride a cable car or linger in the cathedral.
Each stop below is a pin in the free SFGuide app, with directions and a short audio note you can play as you stand there.
Cable Car Museum
Free to enter, and not really a museum: this is the working powerhouse that winds the cables for the entire system, each more than a mile long, spinning on giant sheaves you watch from a mezzanine. The system dates to 1873, when Andrew Hallidie built the first line after watching horses struggle on these hills. The oldest surviving cable car, from that first year, is downstairs.
The Fairmont Hotel
Nearly finished when the 1906 earthquake and fire struck; the granite shell survived, the interior burned, and Julia Morgan rebuilt it to reopen exactly one year later. Part of the United Nations charter was negotiated here in 1945. The lobby is open to walk through, and the basement holds the Tonga Room, the 1945 tiki bar with an indoor rainstorm over a lagoon.
The Mark Hopkins & Top of the Mark
The hotel stands on the mansion site of Mark Hopkins, one of the Big Four railroad barons; the mansion burned in 1906 and the hotel opened in 1926. On the 19th floor, the glass-walled Top of the Mark has poured drinks with a 360-degree view since 1939. World War II servicemen traditionally had a last drink here before shipping out. Open to the public from late afternoon.
The Pacific-Union Club (Flood Mansion)
The only Nob Hill mansion to survive 1906, because James C. Flood, who made his fortune in Comstock silver, built it of Connecticut brownstone instead of wood in 1886. The fire gutted the interior but the walls held; Willis Polk rebuilt it for the Pacific-Union Club, which owns it still. The bronze fence is original. Members only; view from the sidewalk.
Huntington Park
The block where railroad baron Collis Huntington’s mansion stood until the fire took it; his widow gave the land to the city for a park. The central fountain is a copy of Rome’s Fountain of the Tortoises. Ringed by the cathedral, the club, and the hotels, it is the green center of the hill and the best bench on the route.
Grace Cathedral
Built in stages from 1928 to 1964 on the former Crocker family block, French Gothic in reinforced concrete. The east doors are gilded bronze casts of Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise. Inside are two Chartres-pattern walking labyrinths, an AIDS Interfaith Memorial Chapel with a Keith Haring altarpiece (one of his last works), and a pulpit Martin Luther King Jr. preached from in 1965. Open daily, free to enter. The walk ends here, on the California Street cable car line.
Worth adding nearby.
One optional add-on in the app: the Brocklebank, the 1926 apartment tower across from the Fairmont where Kim Novak’s Madeleine lived in Hitchcock’s Vertigo. The driveway is the shot.
Before you go.
The hill
One genuinely steep block up Mason from the Cable Car Museum to the summit. Ride any cable car up if you’d rather skip it; all three lines climb Nob Hill.
Getting there
The Powell-Hyde and Powell-Mason cable cars stop near the museum, and the California Street line runs past Grace Cathedral at the end. From Union Square it’s a steep ten-minute walk or a short ride.
Hotel hours
The lobbies are open to walk through during the day. Top of the Mark and the Tonga Room open in the late afternoon and evening with their own prices; dress is casual but tidy.
The cathedral
Grace Cathedral is an active church. Services take precedence over sightseeing; check the calendar if you want to walk the labyrinths in quiet.
Frequently asked.
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Walk Nob Hill with the guide in your pocket.
The full route, the map, and the audio for every stop, free on iOS and Android. Written by a local guide. No ads, no affiliate nonsense.