William Franklin Whittier (1832-1917) moved to California from Maine at age 22 and made his fortune in the glass and paint business. Whittier, Fuller & Company, which later became Fuller O’Brien Paints, is credited for being the first business on the West Coast to manufacture mirrors. In 1894 he authorized construction of a mansion at 2090 Jackson Street at Jackson and Laguna. His wife was killed in a carriage accident before construction was completed two years later. The Whittier Mansion was built with steel-reinforced brick with an overlay of Arizona red sandstone. It is a huge structure: 20,000 square feet with 30 rooms and four floors (including a basement). It was built in the Romanesque Revival style, inspired by the Romanesque cathedrals and castles of the early Middle Ages with two curved towers. The interior was fashioned with doorway arches and wood panelling. It was the largest private residence in the City. Whittier was 64 years old when he moved into the mansion with his three adult children: Billy, Mattie and Jane. Within a year, Mattie and Jane had moved out. The San Francisco Examiner[1] covered Jane’s lavish wedding in 1897 and noted that Whittier was not in attendance.
Whittier’s son Billy was an incorrigible drunk. Whittier was so angry at his son’s lifestyle that he changed his will to exclude Billy from inheriting the mansion. Whittier died in 1917 of pneumonia at age 85. He needn’t have worried about his son: Billy died a few years after his father at the age of 52. Mattie moved into the Whittier Mansion and in 1941 sold it to Germany for use as a consulate. Captain Fritz had been Hitler’s commanding officer during World War I[2] and was later Hitler’s personal assistant. When Hitler learned of Wiedemann’s affair with a Hungarian princess whom Hitler had been using for secret diplomatic missions, a furious Hitler banished Wiedemann to San Francisco to run the German consulate. The San Francisco Chronicle[3] described Wiedemann as “suave and smiling”, adding that he was Hitler’s “most astute diplomatic and espionage agent.” Wiedemann was charismatic and a playboy about town. In 1941, when the US entered World War II[4], the government kicked all German diplomats out of the country and the Whittier Mansion was seized by the Alien Property Custodian and later transferred to the US Attorney General. Wiedemann was interviewed on the front steps of the Whittier Mansion shortly before his deportation where he was quoted as saying, “I like the city and the scenery. Without politics, I would like to live here.” It is believed that Wiedemann was relocated to China as a German spy, though it was unclear whether he worked for against Germany. Years later it was revealed that Wiedemann betrayed Hitler and had urged Britain to attack Germany, warning that Hitler “had a split personality and numbered among the most cruel people in the world.”
In 1950 the US Attorney General auctioned the Whittier Mansion to Echo Leonetti. The property was then sold two more times until 1956 when it was deeded to the California Historical Society[5]. The organization remained there until 1991. When the California Historical Society moved to Mission Street the mansion was sold once again as a private residence and has not changed hands since. The Whittier Mansion was ultimately painted mustard yellow, though today one of the towers has been restored to its original sandstone. In 1976 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and in 1975 it became a San Francisco Designated Landmark.
The Whittier Mansion is one of the many old mansions in San Francisco that boasts of ghosts. People have reported seeing a dim outline of a figure and feeling cold drafts around the basement’s wine cellar and maids’ quarters. Speculation is that the ghost is either William or Billy Whittier.
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[1] San Francisco Examiner: story coming June 6th [2] World War I: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4079 [3] San Francisco Chronicle: story coming January 16th [4] World War II: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4222 [5] Visit them at https://californiahistoricalsociety.org
