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The mansion
Ralston Hall Mansion is situated on the campus of Notre Dame de Namur University, on the San Francisco Peninsula. The mansion has been built around the villa of Count Leonetto Cipriani, former owner of the Estate. It took three years to build and was completed in 1867, when San Francisco's leaders and first citizens had large summer homes on the Peninsula and was an integral part of San Francisco high society. Architect John Painter Gaynor, who later worked with Ralston on the Palace Hotel in San Francisco is thought to have worked on it. Several of the design elements of Ralston Hall Mansion were copied in the design of the Palace.
A history of San Francisco speaks of the palatial grandeur of Ralston Hall: "In a domed wing was the oval ballroom. Its walls were mirrored, and from the frescoed ceiling hung a great crystal chandelier whose reflected lights and sparkle filled the room. I have never seen a more effective setting for a ball."
The Hall is a four-floor, 55,000 square foot (5,000 m²) mansion, with a stately dining room, a mirrored ballroom in the Versailles tradition, an opera box modelled after the Opéra Garnier in Paris, a grand staircase, 23 crystal chandeliers, and in-laid wood floors. Ralston greatly admired the Palace of Versailles and incorporated several of the palace's elements in his design of the mansion. The mansion has a number of elegant sitting rooms and parlours. The Oriental Music Room has a set of Chinese high-tea chairs and buffets. Ralston Hall houses a collection of antiques accumulated by Ralston, including some valuable Thomas Hill paintings.
The grounds of the mansion contain numerous gardens, a stoney grotto, and a garden of 150-year-old bamboo trees.
Hauntings:
Our story begins in the 1900s when Ralston Mansion was bought by Alden Monroe Gardner. He turned the mansion into the Gardner Sanitarium for Nervous Disorders, or what we like to call, an insane asylum. The mansion remained an insane asylum until 1920 when the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur bought the mansion.
Gardner's granddaughter, Lorna Fosberg, grew up in the mansion during the time of the asylum, and died only a few years ago. Historians from the Belmont Historical Society report that Fosberg was always depicted as wearing a white dress in pictures.
A woman came to NDNU recently to take a tour of our campus. As the tour advanced she began to feel eyes on her and the sense that she was being watched. She left her tour to use the restroom and continued to feel looked upon.
As she was washing her hands, the woman turned and saw a little girl staring at her, wearing all white. Nothing is more unsettling than a creepy child looking at you, alive or dead!
Another story that creates questions of haunting is of the light in the window in the top front room on the third floor. This light, according to Public Safety, is a problem, because somehow in the middle of the night the light which is supposed to stay on all night long gets turned off, and Public Safety has to enter the spooky mansion at night and turn it on.
Haunted? Well I guess this question for you to decide - but as for me, I would not be caught around that place in the middle of the night!
Some shots and paper clippings set to music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVUsLPVGFxE
Posted : 03/04/2009 3:49 am
Beautiful place. Looks like my house. LOL
Posted : 03/04/2009 4:20 am
Wow thanks LG.. Great info and pics!!
Posted : 03/04/2009 6:17 am
The mansion
Ralston Hall Mansion is situated on the campus of Notre Dame de Namur University, on the San Francisco Peninsula. The mansion has been built around the villa of Count Leonetto Cipriani, former owner of the Estate. It took three years to build and was completed in 1867, when San Francisco's leaders and first citizens had large summer homes on the Peninsula and was an integral part of San Francisco high society. Architect John Painter Gaynor, who later worked with Ralston on the Palace Hotel in San Francisco is thought to have worked on it. Several of the design elements of Ralston Hall Mansion were copied in the design of the Palace.
A history of San Francisco speaks of the palatial grandeur of Ralston Hall: "In a domed wing was the oval ballroom. Its walls were mirrored, and from the frescoed ceiling hung a great crystal chandelier whose reflected lights and sparkle filled the room. I have never seen a more effective setting for a ball."
The Hall is a four-floor, 55,000 square foot (5,000 m²) mansion, with a stately dining room, a mirrored ballroom in the Versailles tradition, an opera box modelled after the Opéra Garnier in Paris, a grand staircase, 23 crystal chandeliers, and in-laid wood floors. Ralston greatly admired the Palace of Versailles and incorporated several of the palace's elements in his design of the mansion. The mansion has a number of elegant sitting rooms and parlours. The Oriental Music Room has a set of Chinese high-tea chairs and buffets. Ralston Hall houses a collection of antiques accumulated by Ralston, including some valuable Thomas Hill paintings.
The grounds of the mansion contain numerous gardens, a stoney grotto, and a garden of 150-year-old bamboo trees.
Hauntings:
Our story begins in the 1900s when Ralston Mansion was bought by Alden Monroe Gardner. He turned the mansion into the Gardner Sanitarium for Nervous Disorders, or what we like to call, an insane asylum. The mansion remained an insane asylum until 1920 when the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur bought the mansion.
Gardner's granddaughter, Lorna Fosberg, grew up in the mansion during the time of the asylum, and died only a few years ago. Historians from the Belmont Historical Society report that Fosberg was always depicted as wearing a white dress in pictures.
A woman came to NDNU recently to take a tour of our campus. As the tour advanced she began to feel eyes on her and the sense that she was being watched. She left her tour to use the restroom and continued to feel looked upon.
As she was washing her hands, the woman turned and saw a little girl staring at her, wearing all white. Nothing is more unsettling than a creepy child looking at you, alive or dead!
Another story that creates questions of haunting is of the light in the window in the top front room on the third floor. This light, according to Public Safety, is a problem, because somehow in the middle of the night the light which is supposed to stay on all night long gets turned off, and Public Safety has to enter the spooky mansion at night and turn it on.
Haunted? Well I guess this question for you to decide - but as for me, I would not be caught around that place in the middle of the night!
Some shots and paper clippings set to music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVUsLPVGFxE
great write up lg!
Posted : 03/04/2009 11:00 pm