Prohibition-era mansion asks $27M in San Francisco

2520 Pacific Avenue in San Francisco
2520 Pacific Avenue in San Francisco

WEEKENDEDITION A prohibition-era mansion in San Francisco, complete with secret bar, has hit the market asking $27 million.

Originally built for the Spreckels family, founders of Spreckels Sugar company, in 1905, the house later sold to another prominent San Francisco family in 1929. The architect Albert Farr remodeled the home at about the same time, adding a secret bar, as well as a 1,200-square-foot ballroom.

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“You press a button…and what looks like a paneled wall accordions open,” seller John Murphy, one of the founders of the for-profit education company the University of Phoenix, said of the hidden bar.

Murphy purchased the 13,000-square-foot mansion, located at 2520 Pacific Avenue, with his wife back in 1997 for $6.3 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. David Bellings of Coldwell Banker Previews International has the listing. [WSJ]Christopher Cameron