The Cliff House Project

December 14, 2006 10:34 PM

The Cliff House was San Francisco Mayor Adolph Sutro's amazing 7-storey Victorian chateau built in 1896 and destroyed by fire in 1907. The Cliff House Project (photos) has a large and absorbing database of related material. [via the indefatigable gmtPlus9 (-15)]
posted by peacay (14 comments total)

This is an old site and I was surprised not to find it on searching, although it's alluded to here.

[Adolph Sutro - wikipedia]
posted by peacay at 10:35 PM on December 14, 2006

Most San Franciscans know this as the area where the ruins are of the Sutro Baths, just downhill from the Cliff house. I have one of these amazing interior shots of the baths hanging in my house. The ruins
are still there.
posted by vacapinta at 10:53 PM on December 14, 2006

This picture shows the relation of the Cliff House and the Baths.
posted by vacapinta at 10:55 PM on December 14, 2006

Go for the sunsets. Don't order the food.

[the remains of the baths are good]
posted by trip and a half at 10:57 PM on December 14, 2006

On post-view, awesome photo, vacapinta! With Playland in the background, even!
posted by trip and a half at 11:06 PM on December 14, 2006

I had no idea the Cliff House had its own site with this many photographs! There must be even more good stuff in there too..
posted by vacapinta at 11:10 PM on December 14, 2006

That's a brilliant site, what a wealth of information.
posted by fire&wings at 3:26 AM on December 15, 2006

Great post! I love this kind of stuff.
posted by Jess the Mess at 5:16 AM on December 15, 2006

Thanks. My great aunt gave me a giant conch shell with the Cliff House etched into it when I was little, I'll have to print this out and put it into my provenance file.
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:02 AM on December 15, 2006

LOST magazine, on the Sutro Baths.

Incredible collection of hi-rez postcards of the Baths and the Cliff House.

I love the quality of these old prints. Look at that!

My wife and I went to San Francisco on our honeymoon 3 years ago and "discovered" the Baths for ourselves on a trip to the Lands End pacific coast trails. I'll never forget them. Eerie and beautiful in their decay.
posted by JBennett at 7:32 AM on December 15, 2006

The pictures of the Cliff House over time are pretty much the embodiment of devolution. Sad.
posted by keswick at 10:07 AM on December 15, 2006

The Cliff House was recently remodeled. The new upscale restaurant there Sutro is quite good, a place I've been back to a few times. Not sure how the casual restaurant is but it looked good too.
posted by Nelson at 11:08 AM on December 15, 2006

Wow, what a neat building -- it looked like it was built half hanging off the cliff! Cool site, thanks.
posted by onlyconnect at 11:45 AM on December 15, 2006

I can't believe that house was built looking so precarious as it does. But I'm glad it was. Great post, great comments.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 4:26 PM on December 16, 2006