6 Best Sights in Pacific Heights, San Francisco

The somewhat quirky design of this Victorian-era house incorporates Queen Anne, Stick-Eastlake, and other architectural elements. Many claim the house—now apartments—is haunted by the ghosts of its 19th-century residents, who (supposedly) regularly whisper, glow, and generally cause a mild fuss. It's not open to the public.

Broadway uptown, unlike its garish North Beach stretch, has plenty of prestigious addresses. The three-story palace at 2222 Broadway, which has an intricately filigreed doorway, was built by Comstock silver-mine heir James Clair Flood and later donated to a religious order. The Convent of the Sacred Heart purchased the Grant House at 2220 Broadway. These two buildings, along with a Flood property at 2120 Broadway, are used as private school buildings today. A gold-mine heir, William Bowers Bourn II, commissioned Willis Polk to build the nearby brick mansion at 2550 Webster Street. Two blocks away, movie fans will surely recognize the "Mrs. Doubtfire" apartment at Broadway and Steiner ( 2640 Steiner St.). It's the home where Robin Williams donned his disguise as a lovable British nanny in the beloved 1993 comedy.

The Coleman House is an impressive twin-turret, 7,000-square-foot Queen Anne mansion that was built for a Gold Rush mining and lumber baron. Don't miss the large, brilliant-purple stained-glass window on the house's north side. The house is not open to the public.

A small display of photographs on the bottom floor of this elaborate, gray 1886 Queen Anne house makes clear that despite its lofty stature and striking, round third-story tower, the 11,500-square-foot house was modest compared with some of the giants that fell victim to the 1906 earthquake and fire. San Francisco Heritage, a foundation to preserve San Francisco's architectural history, operates the home, whose carefully kept rooms provide a glimpse into late-19th-century life through period furniture, authentic details (like the antique dishes in the kitchen built-in), and photos of the Haas family, who occupied the house for three generations until 1972. You can download free maps of two nearby walking tours highlighting the neighborhood's historic architecture on the house's website.  You can admire hundreds of gorgeous San Francisco Victorians from the outside, but this is the only one that's open to the public, and it's worth a visit.

On the west side of the 1800 block of Laguna Street, these oft-photographed private houses cost between $2,000 and $2,600 when they were built in the 1870s. Nowadays, you'd need to add three zeros to those prices; an entire house might sell for upward of $5 million. No bright colors here, though—most of the paint jobs are in soft beiges or pastels.

Two Italianate Victorians stand out on the 1800 block of California Street. The beauty at 1834, the Wormser-Coleman House, was built in the 1870s. Coleman bought the lot next door, giving this private property an unusually spacious yard for the city, even for this luxurious neighborhood.