The fires of the 1906 earthquake destroyed the mansions of the Big Four railroad magnates– together Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, Mark Hopkins and Charles Crocker combined their resources to create the Central Pacific Railroad, connecting California to the rest of the United States. Today, Nob Hill’s prized address has the same grandeur it did in the late 1800’s. The Fairmont, Mark Hopkins, Huntington Hotel, Grace Cathedral, the Pacific-Union Club and the Masonic Temple Auditorium now grace Nob Hill’s summit. A few Julia Morgan Arts and Crafts-style homes remain along with several elegant mansions amid luxury apartment buildings, condominium developments and single family homes. Residents still use the cable cars that were built in 1878 for accessibility up and down the steep hills. Huntington Park, donated to the neighborhood by Collis Huntington in 1915, provides a playground and benches for the wealthy and not so wealthy alike. (Source: BoxMLS)