Mansion munchies

One of the partners at Puppy's law firm was kind enough to open his home to his department for a holiday meal last night and I got to tag along for the ride. I'd been warned that the partner lived in a historic San Francisco mansion, but I really didn't know what to expect.

The house was gorgeous. Absolutely stunning and huge. Far too big for a family of four, but there you go. After a very quick google search this morning, I found the following description of the home:

The large formal reception hall leads to a wide staircase with a magnificent stained glass window one half-flight up in a cascading gold-orange-red palette. Pocket doors give entry to each of the four generously-sized public rooms on the main level. The living room and study have elegant plaster details. The dining room is paneled in quartered oak. The music room is finished in birdseye maple. All of these rooms have fireplaces with marble surrounds and carved wood mantles. Floors are hardwood, with a different pattern in each room.

Double half-flights of stairs continue up to the second floor. Light enters it from a sunny south-facing study at one end, with the stained glass window at the other. Off the large central hall are four symmetrically-positioned bedrooms, with room for each to have its own bath. The third floor also has a central hall, and another four bedrooms and two baths. Parking is available at the rear of the property.

Richard E. Queen moved into the property in late 1896 and lived there for the rest of his life. He died in 1924 leaving the property to the Catholic Church with the right for his wife and sister to reside there as long as they were alive. The church eventually received clear title from Alice Queen in 1956 after the property had fallen into disrepair and soon sold it to Robert and Frances Moonan, who embarked on a restoration. That later had to include significant roof work after sections of a crane being used to build the adjacent high-rise, 2200 Sacramento, fell onto it in the early 1960's. The house was designated as San Francisco Landmark #198 in 1990 and the Moonans eventually sold the property to the present owners in 1996.

So yeah, could you imagine living in a San Francisco landmark? It truly was a magnificent home, but sort of an awkward dinner. The host kept running into the kitchen to catch a football game, everyone seemed sad that a few colleagues were stuck at the office working on a deal and all the plus ones graciously endured shop talk about attorneys gone by.

I wish I'd had a chance to tiptoe through the rest of the house and to check out the legendary wine cellar, but I was kept to the front rooms of the home. Dinner was quite delicious and festive, but I'll be glad when these holiday obligations are behind me.