San Francisco Neighborhoods · Nob Hill
Nob Hill
also “Snob Hill”Sun zoneThe city's loftiest old-money summit — grand hotels, Grace Cathedral, and cable cars clanging past the ghosts of the railroad barons.
- Historic luxury hotels
- Grace Cathedral
- Cable cars at the door
- Sweeping city views
On the map
Open Nob Hill on the map →The story
Nob Hill became San Francisco's most prestigious address in the 1870s, when the railroad and silver tycoons known as the “Big Four” built mansions atop it — made reachable by Andrew Hallidie's new cable cars. The 1906 fire destroyed the wooden palaces; in their place rose the grand hotels and Grace Cathedral that define the hill today.
Things most people don’t know
Built by the Big Four
Railroad barons Stanford, Crocker, Hopkins, and Huntington built their mansions here in the 1870s — the source of the hill's name (from “nabob”) and its airs.
The cable car made it possible
Only after Hallidie's 1873 cable car conquered the brutal grade could the wealthy build at the top. Three cable car lines still cross Nob Hill.
Stone survived, wood didn't
The 1906 fire leveled the wooden mansions; only the granite Flood Mansion endured — now the Pacific-Union Club — while the rubble cleared the way for the grand hotels.
Grace Cathedral's golden doors
Completed in 1964, Grace Cathedral has gilded “Ghiberti” doors cast from the Florence Baptistery originals and two labyrinths open for walking meditation.
A wartime farewell
At the Top of the Mark sky lounge (1939), WWII servicemen toasted from the northwest “Squadron Corner” before shipping out across the Pacific — a ritual that became legend.
Eating and drinking
Restaurants
- Acquerello · 1722 Sacramento St
- Sons & Daughters · 708 Bush St
- Swan Oyster Depot · 1517 Polk St
- The Big Four · 1075 California St
Bars
- Top of the Mark · 999 California St
- Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar · 950 Mason St
- Harper & Rye · 1695 Polk St
Getting around and getting care
Transit. All three cable car lines cross Nob Hill — the California St line runs right over the summit, with the Powell-Hyde and Powell-Mason lines on either flank. The 1 California bus and a walk down to Powell St BART/Muni round it out.
Nearest hospital. Saint Francis Memorial Hospital, 900 Hyde St (about 0.5 mi)
Thinking about Nob Hill?
Send me an address and I will come back with its sun, wind and fog, what is under it, and what has closed on the block.