I have had the privilege of staying in the luxury Queen Anne Hotel in San Francisco for the last two nights. This is a unique Bed & Breakfast boutique style hotel that exhibits the Victorian style architecture and decor in all its glory.
It is unlike the other chain hotels that tend to have all the guest rooms looking exactly the same as each other. Each of the 48 rooms has different decor and furnishings, all in the Victorian era style. There is marble and bay windows. This does not mean that modern touches are skipped out on, there are modern bathrooms, wi-fi, coffee makers, flat screen TV's, and digital phones. The beds are comfy and luxurious, often combing antique bed heads with modern mattresses.
There are several different room types to choose from. I was fortunate to stay in the Executive Suite. This is the ultimate suite for the travelling executive and features one queen bed, two flat-screen TVs and a separate living room with a queen pull-out sofa bed, DVD player, coffee maker, microwave, refrigerator, Wi-Fi and deluxe continental breakfast. My daughter slept on the queen bed in the bedroom, and I slept on the queen pull-out sofa bed in the living room.
I was impressed how smooth the check-in was, and how friendly the staff were at welcoming us to this hotel.
To get to the guest rooms on the upper floors there is a choice of using the grand staircase or the modern elevator, which has the appearance of an old one with the use of oak panelling and seat and a chandelier. I often went up in the elevator but came down on the stairs.
The front reception desk, Foyer and Parlour look absolutely charming with antique furniture, guilded artworks, lighting and luscious drapes all adding to the Victorian charm. The hallways in the upper floors were also filled with antiques, some original from the Queen Anne Hotel’s previous occupants.
Each afternoon a social hour is held where drinks and freshly baked cookies are served in the Parlour. Unfortunately, we did not get to enjoy these as we were still out and about sightseeing each afternoon. Other guests commented how they appreciated these sitting by the cosy gas/wood fires.
An ample breakfast was served each morning in the Dining Room. There was a wonderful choice of cereals, fruit breads, muffins and croissants, hot food, tea, coffee and fruit juices, The self-made waffles were hug and yummy.
The Queen Anne Hotel is located on Sutter Street in the Pacific Heights area of San Francisco, a quite area away from the hustle and bustle of other areas. It is only a short bus ride that takes you to these other areas.
San Francisco has many Victorian style houses which we admired on our bus sightseeing tours. It was wonderful to stay at the Queen Anne Hotel which was the perfect example of a Victorian style building. The building was built in 1890 and opened as Miss Mary Lake’s Finishing School for Girls. It was then the Cosmos, an exclusive gentlemen’s club. The Episcopal Diocese then used it as The Girls Friendly Society Lodge. After being run down and boarded up, it opened as The Queen Anne Hotel in 1980 after extensive renovation and restoration. For a more detailed history of the Queen Anne Hotel, see yesterday’s article in The Holiday and Travel Magazine
Queen Anne Hotel
1590 Sutter Street, San Francisco, California 94109
Contact: 415-441-2828 Fax: 415-775-5212
Email:
stay@queenanne.com
Website:
http://www.queenanne.com/
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