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Adolph Sutro's forgotten SF mansion with a graveyard of crumbling statues · Best of: Features

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  Adolphe Soutro's forgotten SF mansion with a graveyard of crumbling States his
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  article is being read by an automated voice generated by Everlett. Adolf
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  Soutro was a unique millionaire. A German Jewish immigrant who arrived in
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  they United States in eighteen fifty, he amassed his fortune in Virginia
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  City, Nevada, at the Comstock Lode, not directly via mining but thanks
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  to his engineering brilliance. The
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  Comstock silver mines were deep and prone to flooding, and
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  the trapped noxious gases, all factors detrimental to unearthing the valuable ore.
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  Sutro invented a
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  solution, a nearly four mile long drainage tunnel to clear water and
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  fumes from the mineshaft. He charged mining companies a fee to utilize
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  this game changing creation, and eventually sold his stake in it, making
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  millions. He came to San Francisco with the money. Instead of hoarding
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  his wealth, Soutro built beautiful buildings and facilities which he opened up
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  to the public. Though he is best known for his eponymous baths
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  and perhaps resurrecting The Cliff house Soutro offered another gift to San
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  Francisco President sprawling, manicured gardens just steps away from his long one
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  Sutro Heights mansion. Sutro Heights In eighteen eighty one, when the baths
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  were a distant dream, Soutro purchased twenty-two acres of and at the
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  westernmost edge of San Francisco for fifteen thousand dollars, about five hundred
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  thousand dollars today. Over the years he built a conservatory, an observatory,
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  and a
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  water tower, and he established expansive guards dotted with statues on the
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  grounds. He also customized a home for himself and his family. The
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  residence was initially erected by the first owner of the cliff house,
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  James Butler, in the eighteen sixties. Sutro took over ownership from the
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  next owner, Samuel Tetlow, and made a few additions, including a side
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  room, a terrace and statues placed around the exterior wall of the
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  oceanfront residence. The Italianate style mansion overlooking Soutro's prized creations
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  featured dozens of large windows to soak in the light and scenery,
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  horizontal wood siding, land
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  an ornamental porch with a distinct wooden parapet. The intricate railings ringing
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  the house were an Eastlake element, which was popular at the
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  time, according to Noah Hill. Over the decades he hosted home of
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  the most important figures of the time, including President Benjamin Harrison, Oscar
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  Wilde, and Andrew Carnegie. But that wasn't the full picture. Despite owning
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  around a tenth of San Francisco at one point, Soutro opened his
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  marvelous gardens to the public. Visitors were met with a towering gate
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  flanked by two lions before entering Palm Avenue. Once inside, they entered
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  another world with over two hundred European style statues and numerous fountains.
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  A sign posted at the entrance laid out the simple rules. People
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  could stroll around free of charge by picking up an admission card
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  at the cliff house, but were prohibited from bringing one item. Positively
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  no lunch baskets allowed in these grounds, the notice read. Sutro didn't
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  want his visitors to get too comfortable. The stately statues on the
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  grounds also held a secret in plain sight. Many of them were
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  likely purchased from a catalogue. While their appearance gave them the aura
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  of rare, hand carved antiques. National Park Service research indicates that many
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  came from a London manufacturing company named F. Rocher, and company chances
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  are that Sutro ordered these Greco Roman replicas in bulk to fill
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  out his estate. Decline Maintaining a home and vast oceanfront
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  garden filled with plaster artwork proved to be difficult, even for a
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  family as well resourced as the Sutros. Decades of relentless battering by
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  the Pacific Ocean's salty air and winds took a toll on the
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  grounds, especially the statues. As they cracked and deteriorated, park workers took
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  a low lift approach to the problem. Damaged figures were either hauled
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  away or buried, leaving a hidden layer of history under the soil.
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  Adolphe Soutro died in august eighteen ninety eight. His daughter, Emma Soutro
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  Merritt, moved into the mansion and took over the management of the
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  grounds. Committed to her father's vision, Emma kept the gardens open, but
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  reduced the ground staff, which at one point spanned seventeen employees. She
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  spent four decades living on the property, watching the once lustrous surroundings
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  take on an apocalyptic feel. The Soutro family had given the land
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  to the city in nineteen twenty, so it could be forever held
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  and maintained as a free public resort or park under the name
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  of Soutro Heights. But after Emma's death in nineteen thirty eight the
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  Works Progress Administration took stock of the time worn structures and began
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  tearing them down. The mansion was demolished the following year. While the
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  residence has vanished, bits of it survived the wrecking crew and remain
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  to this day. A segment of the wooden parapet that surrounded the
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  home is now stored at the National Park Service Archives in the
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  Presidio, offering a rare glimpse into the past alongside century old photographs.
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  If you walk around Sutro Heights today, signs of the grandeur remain.
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  Near the cliff's edge, at the end of what was once Palm
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  Avenue, the original tiled floor of the Conservatory is still visible, sitting
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  out in the open air.