San Francisco · Nob Hill
Fairmont San Francisco
Julia Morgan restored the fire-gutted Nob Hill hotel for its 1907 opening; UN Charter delegates met here in 1945.
- Built
- 1907Begun 1902-03 by Theresa Fair Oelrichs and Virginia Fair Vanderbilt; the nearly finished building was gutted by the 1906 fire and restored under Julia Morgan, opening in 1907. NRHP significant years 1907 and 1945.
- Style
- Beaux-Arts
- Architect
- Reid Brothers (James and Merritt Reid); restoration by Julia Morgan
- Type
- Grand hotel
- Rooms
- 606
- Area
- Nob Hill
- Credentials
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places; Local landmark; Historic Hotels of America member
The story
Silver heiresses Tessie Fair Oelrichs and Birdie Fair Vanderbilt began the hotel atop Nob Hill as a tribute to their father, Senator James Graham Fair, hiring the Reid Brothers. The 1906 fire gutted it just before opening; Stanford White was engaged to rebuild it, and after his death Julia Morgan, the first woman to graduate in architecture from the École des Beaux-Arts, restored it for its 1907 opening. Delegates to the 1945 conference that drafted the United Nations Charter met here, and Benjamin Swig, who bought the hotel that year, had Dorothy Draper redecorate it; the Venetian Room supper club opened in 1947.
The ghost story
Lore at the hotel says the Fair sisters died in the 1906 earthquake and haunt the hotel they never saw finished, as a gentle presence some guests say they feel at night, though Historic Hotels of America notes the sisters actually sold their interest days before the quake and lived on. HHA placed the Fairmont on its 2025 Most Haunted list.
Source: www.historichotels.org
Good to know
- Address: 950 Mason St, San Francisco, CA 94108
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Sources (2)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.