City mining baron James Flood, who employed a man whose sole job was to constantly polish the $30, 000 fence surrounding Flood’s property, built the mansion that houses the Pacific Union Club at California and Mason in 1886. He chose brownstone, the first use of the material west of the Mississippi, because he admired the brownstone homes of his native New York City. It proved to be a fortuitous decision. The home was the only Nob Hill mansion that was not made of wood and, thus, the only one to survive the 1906 earthquake and fire. The interior was gutted, however, and Flood moved to Pacific Heights.  His Nob Hill mansion was rebuilt in 1912 as the home of the private, exclusive, male-only Pacific Union Club. The third floor and semicircular wings were added in the 1912 remodeling. The bronze fence surrounding the club was patterned after a piece of lace favored by the wife of James Flood.    Respectfully take from SAN FRANCISCO SECRETS by John Snyder Chronicle Books 1999

Pictures of today’s Pacific Union Club
http://www.ronhenggeler.com/Nob_Hill2/5-149.htm
http://www.ronhenggeler.com/Nob_Hill2/5-151.htm

A detail of the bronze fence that surrounds the property.
http://www.ronhenggeler.com/San%20Francisco/Nob%20Hill/FloodsLion.html

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