[7] Mark Hopkins, one of the founders of the Central Pacific Railroad, chose the southeastern peak of Nob Hill as the site for a dream home for his wife, Mary.

Since the tower of the mansion was at the time the highest point in San Francisco, Eadweard Muybridge chose to shoot his 1877 panoramic photograph of the city from this location.

Mary Sherwood Hopkins, on her death in 1891 at the age of 73, left the Nob Hill mansion and a $70 million estate to her second husband, Edward Francis Searles.

The San Francisco architectural firm Weeks and Day designed the 19-story hotel, a combination of French château and Spanish ornamentation.

Nine seven-foot-high panels painted by artists Maynard Dixon and Frank Von Sloun in 1926 for the hotel's opening decorate the upper walls.

During World War II, the Top Of The Mark lounge was a favored place for Pacific-bound servicemen and their sweethearts to meet before being deployed.

[18] The Mark Hopkins became a social center for the city, and is rated AAA Four-Diamond and has won the Gold-Key award.