InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel

The InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco opened to great fanfare in 1926. Its ownership had built the hotel upon the site of the former mansion of Mark Hopkins, one of San Francisco’s “Big Four” who founded what became the Southern Pacific Railroad. Originally built in 1878, the estate was later destroyed by the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 and rebuilt by the San Francisco Art Institute. In 1925, mining engineer George D. Smith bought the location and built a luxury hotel, which he opened on December 4, 1926. Upon completion, San Franciscans declared it to be “architecturally perfect.” The Mark Hopkins became an immediate part of San Francisco’s rich and colorful history, hosting the likes of American presidents, international heads of state, and even royalty.