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Behold, 2800 Pacific Avenue!

Legendary Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, Mr. San Francisco himself, once declared this classical Georgian masterpiece the city’s most iconic mansion. Among locals, it’s been known as “Herbst Manor” (yes, that Herbst) for more than half a century. Some may remember it as the 2013 San Francisco Decorator Showcase house. And for a privileged few, it’s been called home.

2800 Pacific Avenue is marketed and listed exclusively by cooperating broker Sotheby’s International Realty. Image: Mike Basham

The last time the public saw inside 2800 Pacific Avenue was nearly a decade ago. That was when it was most recently on the market, and it was fresh off the Showcase circuit. The buyers paid $8.6 million for the expertly designed 8,100+ square feet home — certainly not chump change, but a bargain among trophy properties in tony Pacific Heights and nearly one-third off the initial list price. In addition to 5+ bedrooms, the property featured numerous creative spaces including a Maker’s Mark Retreat, Writer’s Retreat, Chocolatier’s Lab, Atelier and Penthouse Retreat. Presumably, at least some of those rooms have since found a more practical use.

It’s an incredible transformation from when the previous owner, the Herbst family, resided there. Long gone is the gilt detailing of the historically significant French salon (and practically every other room). A mural of the Palace of Fine Arts painted by matriarch Lee Herbst Gruhn — unveiled in 1970 by Mayor Joe Alioto with Cyril Magnin, S.I. Hayakawa and Dianne Feinstein in attendance — has been painted over. The carousel horse that once sat in an upstairs window has gone to pasture. Enduring, however, is a stylized G emblazoned on the sidewalk, the mark of a larger-than-life personality.

Below, photos courtesy of SFGATE and Open Homes Photography show the interior as it was during the 2013 San Francisco Decorator Showcase.

To be sure, the pedigree of illustrious occupants at 2800 Pacific Avenue began long before it was “Herbst Manor” and continues to the present day. Beginning with Sarah Mathilde Spooner for whom the house was built in the 19th century, it has been home to heads of industry, patrons of the arts, and fixtures of San Francisco society. An interview with the current owners, civically engaged trailblazers in their own right, was featured in the August 2023 issue of the Nob Hill Gazette. And, more likely than not, the next buyer will become part of that legacy.

From the 2013 San Francisco Decorator Showcase program book:

In 1899, Sarah Mathilde Spooner, a wealthy Philadelphian art collector, commissioned Ernest Coxhead to build the “two-story attic and basement residence.” She purchased the lot for $10, and the construction was filed as costing $12,854. Ms. Spooner traveled widely an amassed an immense, eclectic art collection that lined the walls of her home. She loaned works to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and was an early supporter of the “Museum at the Park” that later became the de Young. In 1904, Ms. Spooner donated over 1,400 art objects worth more than $50,000 to the de Young. Among these were rare ceramics, antique lace, tapestries, miniature paintings on ivory, and valuable paintings including Shepherd and Flock by French naturalist painter Jean-François Millet, whose work was later considered to have inspired Van Gogh, and pieces by two important artists from the Barbizon School of landscape painters, a landscape by Charles-François Daubigny and Twilight by Jules Dupré. In 1910, a young German artist, William Kunze, sliced the Millet painting from its frame at the de Young Museum and slipped past the guards. When apprehended in Pinkerton detectives, he claimed that he was spellbound by the beauty of the work, and absconded with it only to copy Millet’s technique.

After Ms. Spooner’s sudden death during a trip to Germany in 1914, the de Young received a large bequest from her will, and some of these works were displayed in the 1915 Pan-Pacific International Exhibition.

In 1906, just before the San Francisco earthquake, Herman Shainwald and his wife, Mathilde Gregory Shainwald, had purchased the property from Ms. Spooner. Mr. Shainwald was President of Shainwald, Buckbee & Co, which was founded in 1887 and later evolved into Buckbee Thorne & Co. For over 25 years, Shainwald was one of the most prominent realtors in the Bay Area. Mrs. Shainwald passed away in 1908. Following a disabling accidence in 1910, Mr. Shainwald passed away in 1915, leaving a $100,000 life insurance policy.

In 1914, John A. McGregor, a Canadian, and his wife, Elisa, purchased the property. Mr. McGregor had been treasurer of Bethlehem Steel Corporation, and after Bethlehem’s shipbuilding division bought Union Iron Works in 1905, he became the latter company’s president. The Mechanic’s Monument at Bush, Battery, and Market streets is dedicated to the precursor of Union Iron Works. The company built ships for both World Wars, and still operates in the earliest remaining structure on Pier 70. Mr. McGregor sat on the Park Commission and Board of Supervisors, and was an avid supporter of the San Francisco Symphony, the Boy Scouts, and Calvary Presbyterian Church. The wedding of his daughter, Katie-bel, to John Lukenbach at the flower-filled home in 1916 was a celebrated social event. The McGregors’ son, Campbell, who lived in the home in the 1940s, loved opera so much that he bankrolled two lower budget opera companies that publicly sparred with one another for audiences and for a short time, competed with the San Francisco Opera.

In 1967, Abraham Adrian Gruhn and his wife, Lee Herbst Gruhn, purchased the house from John McGregor’s children. Adrian owned the Great Western Furniture Company, a 15-store chain, and had met Lee when she was singing at a Hollywood jazz club. She had earlier appeared on Ed Sullivan’s Talk of the Town show, and toured with such stars as Ella Fitzgerald, Liberace, and Lou Rawls. The Gruhns were frequent donors to both established and fledging arts organizations, and Mayor Alioto awarded them the “Key to the City”. Mr. Gruhn made the largest single contribution, $350,000, to help secure the Avery Brundage collection of Asian art, among the largest Asian art collections in the world, for the de Young Museum. The collection is now housed at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. He made generous donations to refurbish the Veteran’s Auditorium, which was then named Herbst Hall to honor his grandfather, and to Glide Memorial Church. He also served on the boards of directors of the San Francisco Opera’s Merola training program, the American Conservatory Theatre, and the San Francisco Ballet, and Lee sat on several arts councils. Lee filled the house with art objects and collections, perhaps echoing the wide-ranging tastes and interests of the original owner, Sarah Spooner. Following her husband’s death in 1982, Lee remained in the home until she passed away in 2010. 

Ready to own one of San Francisco’s most distinguished private residences? 2800 Pacific Avenue is available to be shown by appointment to qualified buyers now, before the listing goes public.

Contact me today for additional information.