Haunted hotel guide · San Francisco, California
Is the Fairmont San Francisco Haunted? The Fair Sisters and Nob Hill's Grand Hotel
The grand white hotel on top of Nob Hill survived the 1906 earthquake, hosted the founding of the United Nations, and has collected a handful of ghost stories along the way.
The Fairmont San Francisco has stood on the crest of Nob Hill since 1907, a white Beaux-Arts palace looking down California Street toward the Bay. It was built by two sisters in their father’s memory, gutted by the 1906 earthquake and fire before it ever opened, and rebuilt by Julia Morgan. Presidents from Taft onward have stayed here, and the Penthouse was where the leaders of the Big Five powers met during the 1945 conference that created the United Nations.
Is it haunted? The hotel itself has never said so, and this is not a Queen Anne or a Hotel Majestic, where the ghost stories are part of the welcome. But the Fairmont turns up on San Francisco haunted lists and is a regular stop for Nob Hill ghost tours, and the same handful of stories keeps being told. This guide sets out those stories honestly, alongside the history they grow from. It sits on our guide to haunted hotels in San Francisco.
The Fairmont at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address 950 Mason Street, San Francisco, CA 94108, on the crest of Nob Hill
- Opened April 18, 1907, a year to the day after the earthquake; the Fairmont Tower was added in the early 1960s
- Most haunted spots The seventh floor of the main building and the hidden staircase from the seventh floor up to the Penthouse
- Best-known ghosts The Fair sisters, a friendly woman said to have died in her room, Second World War era soldiers
- Booking the haunted room There is no named haunted room. The stories belong to the 1907 main building, so ask for a room there rather than in the tower.
- Good to know 606 rooms and suites, pets welcome for a fee, valet or self parking in the attached garage, home of the Tonga Room and Hurricane Bar
The ghosts of Fairmont San Francisco
The Fair sisters
The story told most often is that Tessie Fair Oelrichs and Virginia Fair Vanderbilt never quite left the hotel they built. According to the version on Listverse and on local ghost tours, the sisters still walk the halls checking that guests are comfortable and that all is in order. Some guests are said to have felt a light caress on the cheek while they slept, which the story attributes to the sisters looking in.
There is a neat logic to it: the sisters were overseeing the building when the 1906 earthquake struck, and they paid to rebuild it. But it is a legend, told by tour guides and list writers, not something the hotel or any named guest has put on record.
The friendly woman
A second story describes a cheerful woman who appears in a guest room, sitting on the bed and chatting with whoever is staying there. The tales say she was murdered in her room in the hotel’s early years and describe her as a working woman of the old city.
We could find no record of such a death at the Fairmont, and none of the sources that tell the story give a name, a date or a room. Treat her as one of the stock characters of San Francisco ghost lore, attached to the grandest hotel on the hill.
Soldiers on the seventh floor
Other accounts say the spirits of Second World War era soldiers walk the halls, and one version places them on the seventh floor. San Francisco was crowded with servicemen in the 1940s, which is presumably where the story comes from. As with the others, no specific sighting has been published.
The Penthouse staircase
The most specific story concerns the Penthouse, the 6,000 square foot suite built on top of the hotel in the 1920s. It is famous for its secret passageways, and The Daily Meal reports that one of them, a staircase linking the Penthouse down to the seventh floor, is said to be haunted. The Penthouse is where Secretary of State Edward Stettinius stayed in 1945 and where the Big Five met; today it can be rented for a little over $20,000 a night.
What about Flora Sommerton?
Older guides sometimes link the Fairmont to the ghost of Flora Sommerton, a young woman in an old-fashioned ball gown said to be seen walking along California Street on Nob Hill. Her story belongs to the street, not to the hotel, but if you walk out of the Fairmont at night you are on her route.
The most haunted rooms and places to look
- Main building rooms: The historic 1907 building is where every Fairmont ghost story is set. Book a room here rather than in the 1960s tower, which the Department of the Interior does not count as historic.
- The seventh floor: The floor named in the soldier stories, and the bottom of the hidden staircase to the Penthouse. You can request it, but it is not a guarantee.
- The Penthouse Suite: The eighth-floor suite with secret passageways and a history that includes the 1945 UN conference. It is priced for very special occasions.
- The Tony Bennett Suite: Named for the singer who introduced “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” in the hotel’s Venetian Room in 1961. No ghost stories, but plenty of history.
History of Fairmont San Francisco
Senator James Graham Fair made a fortune from the Comstock silver mines, and after his death his daughters Theresa (Tessie) Fair Oelrichs and Virginia Fair Vanderbilt built a grand hotel on his Nob Hill lot and named it in his honor. The Reid brothers designed it in the Beaux-Arts style. The building was nearly complete when the earthquake of April 18, 1906 struck. The frame survived, but the fire that followed gutted the interior.
The sisters first hired the architect Stanford White to rebuild, but he was killed before he could begin. They turned to Julia Morgan, the first woman to attend the architecture program of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, who repaired the building using reinforced concrete and kept the original design. The Fairmont opened on April 18, 1907, exactly a year after the earthquake.
In the mid-1940s the hotel was bought by Benjamin Swig, who brought in the decorator Dorothy Draper and opened the Venetian Room supper club in 1947. Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole and Marlene Dietrich performed there, and in December 1961 Tony Bennett first sang “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” on its stage. A statue of Bennett was unveiled outside the hotel in 2016. The Tonga Room, a tiki bar built around a former swimming pool with a band on a floating barge and indoor rainstorms, opened in 1945 and is still going.
In the spring of 1945, delegates to the United Nations Conference on International Organization met at the Fairmont, and the Big Five powers held their meetings in the Penthouse. The hotel’s Garden Room, where the Charter was finalized, carries a plaque, and the flags of the original member nations fly over the main entrance. Hitchcock used the hotel in Vertigo, and in the 1980s it stood in for the St. Gregory Hotel in the TV series Hotel.
The hotel is a San Francisco Designated Landmark, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 and is a member of Historic Hotels of America. It is owned by Mirae Asset Global Investments and operated by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts.
Tips for a haunted stay
- Ask for the main building when you book. The tower has the better views, but the 1907 building has the history and every one of the stories.
- Take a Nob Hill ghost tour. Walking tours stop outside the Fairmont and tell its stories from the street, and you can be back in the lobby in two minutes.
- Go down to the Tonga Room for the indoor thunderstorm, then walk California Street after dark, where the Flora Sommerton legend is set.
- Look for the UN plaque and the flags at the entrance, and the Tony Bennett statue outside.
- Parking is in the attached garage off Powell Street at California Street, or by valet.
- For a hotel that openly embraces its ghosts, stay a night at the Queen Anne or the Hotel Majestic as well.
More haunted hotels nearby
- Nob Hill Hotel: a small haunted 1906 hotel on Hyde Street
- Queen Anne Hotel: built by James Fair, the Fairmont sisters’ father, as Miss Mary Lake’s school
- Palace Hotel: a grand hotel rebuilt after the 1906 fire, with ghost stories of its own
- Haunted places in San Francisco: more ghost stories across the city
- Haunted hotels in California
- Haunted hotels in San Francisco
Stayed in one of these hotels? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from guests and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your stay. We read every story before it’s published.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Fairmont San Francisco haunted?
It has a modest haunted reputation. Ghost tours and haunted lists say the Fair sisters still check on guests, and tell of a friendly woman in a guest room, soldiers on the seventh floor and a haunted staircase to the Penthouse. The hotel does not promote these stories and no specific sighting has been published, so treat them as legend.
Who are the ghosts of the Fairmont Hotel?
The best-known are the hotel’s founders, Tessie Fair Oelrichs and Virginia Fair Vanderbilt, said to watch over guests. The other stories describe an unnamed woman said to have died in her room and Second World War era soldiers.
Did the Fairmont survive the 1906 earthquake?
The structure did, but the fire after the earthquake gutted the interior. Julia Morgan rebuilt it, and the hotel opened on April 18, 1907, one year after the quake.
Was the United Nations founded at the Fairmont?
Delegates to the 1945 San Francisco conference met at the Fairmont, the Big Five powers held meetings in its Penthouse, and the Charter was finalized in its Garden Room. The Charter itself was adopted on June 25, 1945, at the San Francisco Opera House.
Is the Fairmont the same as the hotel in Vertigo?
Yes, Alfred Hitchcock filmed scenes for Vertigo at the Fairmont, and the hotel also stood in for the St. Gregory in the 1980s TV series Hotel.
Can you stay in a haunted room at the Fairmont?
There is no named haunted room. Ask for a room in the historic main building, ideally on the seventh floor, which is where the soldier and Penthouse stair stories are set.
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.
- Wikipedia: Fairmont San Francisco
- Historic Hotels of America: The Fairmont San Francisco history
- Fairmont San Francisco (official site)
- Listverse: 10 most haunted locations in San Francisco (2023)
- The Daily Meal: 12 haunted hotels that are home to ghosts and gastronomy
- Amateur Traveler California: Downtown San Francisco's most haunted places
- WeJunket: San Francisco ghosts, Fairmont Hotel
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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