A plugged-in reader delivers the behind the scenes history for the Ellinwood Mansion at 2799 Pacific, the namesake Ellinwoods, a ghost, and a gift from Queen Victoria:
Anne Ellinwood died this year, it was she that saved this house from being torn down in the 70’s and the property sub divided. It was worth 350K at the time in 1976. I worked in that house for a year on and off for Miss Ellinwood, it was an amazing depository of all and everything Victorian and saved from a long line of savers.
Miss Ellinwood had grand plans for the house and restoring it to its 1893 grander was one of them. She had restored all but the basement and it was a spooky basement at that. I kid you not there was a ghost in that house and other persons that worked there felt the presence too. Anne made many bad decisions in regards to selling and marketing that grand house and in the end lost the house to a predatory lender.
In regards to Ellinwood’s grandfather, Dr. C.N. Ellinwood, Anne and her Father, Lathrop Mc Dowell Ellinwood, spent their lives trying to right the wrong that had been done to Dr. Ellinwood by the overzealous Dr. Rix and the faculty at the time of Cooper Medical University.
A bit of history: The Ellinwood property in 1893 comprised all the property the depth of the main property and all the way down to the corner on the lower hill of Divisadero [to Clay], Divisadero was the end of the city limits.
Dr. Ellinwood kept a carriage and a buggy in the barn / carriage house and a full complement of horses to pull [the carriage, driven by] Carl the coachman whose father was the coachman to the king of Sweden.
Prior to the new swimming pool being added [atop the carriage house], there was a Cecile Brunner rose bush that had been given to Mrs. Charles Norman Ellinwood, Dr. Ellinwoods wife, by Queen Victoria herself.
If you haven’t looked at the property site since we first published our piece yesterday, you might want to look again as numerous new photos have been added. We’re keeping all comments on our original thread.
And no, we don’t know what happened to the rose bush.