- Mark Hopkins Hotel
-
InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco 
Address One Nob Hill
999 California Street
San Francisco, CaliforniaHotel chain InterContinental Coordinates 37°47′30″N 122°24′37″W / 37.791558°N 122.410364°WCoordinates: 37°47′30″N 122°24′37″W / 37.791558°N 122.410364°W Opening date 4 December 1926 Architect Weeks & Day Management InterContinental Hotels Group Owner Lurie-Mark Hopkins, Inc. Rooms 380 Suites 39 Restaurants Top of the Mark
Club InterContinentalFloors 19 Total height 92.97 m (305.0 ft) Parking US$58.14 daily (Including Tax as of 10/19/2011) Website Official website References: [1][2][3] The InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco is a luxury hotel located at the top of Nob Hill in San Francisco, California. The hotel is owned by the InterContinental Hotels Group. The chain operates over 200 hotels and resorts in approximately 75 nations.
The 19th floor penthouse suite of was converted into the glass-walled Top of the Mark restaurant cocktail lounge.[4]
Contents
History
Mark Hopkins Mansion c. 1880
Mark Hopkins, one of the founders of the Central Pacific Railroad, chose the southeastern peak of Nob Hill as the site for a dream home for his wife, Mary. The mansion was completed in 1878, after his death.
Mary Sherwood Hopkins at the age of seventy-three, on her death in 1891, left the Nob Hill mansion and a $70-million estate to her second husband, Edward Francis Searles. In 1893, Searles donated the building and grounds to the San Francisco Art Association (now San Francisco Art Institute), for use as a school and museum.[5]
The Mark Hopkins mansion survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, however, it was destroyed in the three-day fire that followed the earthquake.
Mining engineer and hotel investor George D. Smith purchased the Nob Hill site, removed the Art Association building, and began construction of a luxury hotel. The San Francisco architectural firm Weeks and Day designed the 19-story hotel, a combination of French château and Spanish ornamentation.
Detail of Califia muralOne of the banquet areas, "The Room of The Dons", contains a piece of California history. Nine seven-foot-high panels painted by artists Maynard Dixon and Frank Von Sloun in 1926 for the hotel's opening decorate the upper walls. One panel shows Queen Califia and her Amazons set against a gold leaf sky.
During World War II, the Top Of The Mark lounge was a favored place for Pacific bound servicemen and their sweethearts to meet before being deployed.
In 1962 the hotel was sold by the original owner George D. Smith to San Francisco financier Louis Lurie. In 1973 Lurie's heirs signed a long-term management contract for the Mark Hopkins with InterContinental Hotels Corporation.
The Mark Hopkins became a social center for the City, and is rated AAA Four-Diamond and has won the Gold-Key award.
Landmark status
A bronze plaque installed by the California State Park Commission, designating the site California Historical Landmark #754, was commissioned October 20, 1961.[6] It is a recognition of the fact that a place acquired some special significance beyond its geographical location—that it has become exceptional.
See also
- San Francisco's tallest buildings
- List of San Francisco Designated Landmarks
References
- ^ Mark Hopkins Hotel at Emporis
- ^ Mark Hopkins Hotel at SkyscraperPage
- ^ Mark Hopkins Hotel at Structurae
- ^ "InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco: Top Of The Mark - History:". InterContinental Mark Hopkins. 2009. http://www.intercontinentalmarkhopkins.com/top_of_the_mark/history/. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
- ^ "InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco: Overview - History". InterContinental Mark Hopkins. 2009. http://www.intercontinentalmarkhopkins.com/overview/history/. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
- ^ Alvis Hendley (2010). "California Landmark 754: Site of the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art in San Francisco". Noehill. http://www.noehill.com/sf/landmarks/cal0754.asp. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
Further reading
- Woodbridge, Sally B. (1992). San Francisco Architecture (Second ed.). San Francisco: Chronicle Books. pp. 61. ISBN 0-87701-897-9.
External links
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Category · 
CommonsCategories:- Hotels in San Francisco, California
- Landmarks in San Francisco, California
- InterContinental hotels
- Hotels established in 1926
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