Eccentric homes with secret passage ways

San Francisco’s Victorian era homes are undeniably iconic. You see them all over movies and tv shows. The second you lay eyes on them your brain says San Francisco.

They are bursting at the seams with a very distinct form of character that appeals deeply to lovers of the city by the Bay. It goes with out saying, houses so old have seen some things. A place will rack up some secrets over 100 plus years. Victorian good looks aside, one of the most scrumptious components of these architectural treasures are in fact, things you can’t see.

We’re talking hidden rooms and passage ways, and asking simply, why? And what the heck are they for?

There are a lot of houses we could cover, but let’s start here.

The Spreckels were a prominent SF family in the early 1900s. They had made their money from sugar companies. They built a 13,000 square foot mansion in Pacific Heights in 1905.

1905 was pre prohibition era, but subsequent owners added a special, secret component to facilitate their illicit booze consumption. The SchwabAchers, hired an architect named Farr who built the houses secret bar in 1929, when alcohol was illegal across America. They executed this secret build just a few years before the 21^st amendment ended 13 years of prohibition.  The bar is hidden behind an accordion style folding wall. A discrete button triggers the wall to be pulled back exposing a beautiful wooden bar.

Farr also added a much less discrete ballroom. At 1200 square feet, the ballroom they added was definitely the size of some less well to do peoples entire homes. But that’s neither here nor there.

Let’s pop over to the island Alameda, another Bay Area spot with amazing ambiance thanks to it’s gorgeous Victorian mansions.

Although these mansions are a little more down to earth, generally valued around 3 or 4 million as opposed to 27 in the city, they are equally full to the brim with historical value, and excellent stories.

Built in 1893 by architect Charles S Shaner, we’re talking about a highly recognizable Alameda Victorian home. This thing has all the fixings, the original fireplaces, stained glass windows and grand wooden staircase in the entryway. It’s gorgeous.

We’re bringing it up here today because of its bonus rooms, that you have to look for with intention, in order to find.

In the 1920s, this Alameda gem was owned by a wine merchant. He had the basements previously innocent floor plan, built into a secret bar beneath the house.

He also built a common prohibition hidden door to a pantry looking space that was called a canning room. These rooms can be found in lots of Bay Area Victorians and while it’s not weird for an old house to have a space called a canning room, it is weird for your canned food room to be so distinctly hidden. This is exactly the reason why, it’s illegal spirits ya’ll!

Everyone who knows Alameda would likely recognize this house, it’s ornate exterior is noteworthy. But not everyone knows about the sweet basement bar and secret booze room, so consider this a special inside scoop.

Prohibition is responsible for a lot of quarks related to the build of houses that existed due this time. If something strikes you as strange, it might help to put it in the context of attempting to mask the illegal ownership of alcohol. Then it might click into place, and suddenly make sense.

There are of course lots of other reasons for weird secret spaces, there are temperature control and building code qualities to old houses that seem weird now, but made total sense at the time. There are strange spaces built to keep foods cool, there are bathrooms built beside bathrooms, designed for a time when sanitation looked very different. The list goes on. If you come upon a Victorian weirdness in your house or someone else’s, look it up! There are answers to most everything, and the reason might surprise and delight you.